European Students' Union

European Students' Union

Institution	see member list
Location	Rue de l'Industrie 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Established	1982
President	Fernando M Galán Palomares (Spain)
Vice presidents	Lea Meister (Switzerland), Blazhe Todorovski (Macedonia)
Members	45 (38 Countries)
Affiliations	see member list
Executive Committee	Karolina Pietkiewicz (Poland), Tijana Isoski (Serbia), William Benn (France), Rebecka Stenkvist (Sweden), Viktor Kjeldgaard Grønne (Denmark), Liva Vikmane (Latvia) and Cristi Popescu (Romania).
Website	http://www.esu-online.org/

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The European Students' Union (ESU) is the umbrella organisation of 45 national unions of students from 38 countries and through these members represents over 15 million students. The aim of ESU is to represent and promote the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at a European level towards all relevant bodies and in particular those of the European Union, Council of Europe and UNESCO. ESU is representing the voice of the students in Europe by being a consultative member to the Bologna Process. ESU is also a full member of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), the ESU nominee for 2006 was elected as YFJ president.

History

On 17 October 1982, seven National Unions of Students (NUSes) from The United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland, France, Denmark, Norway and Austria gathered in Stockholm to create WESIB, the Western European Students Information Bureau. In February 1990, WESIB dropped the "W" to become the European Student Information Bureau following the political upheaval in Europe at the time. In 1992 the name was changed into the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB). This reflected the recognition of the changing mission of ESIB from just an information sharing organisation to political organisation that represented the views of students to European institutions. In May 2007 the name changed to European Students' Union (ESU).

Over the years the office of ESU has moved around Europe and was first hosted by the member NUSes. Following the establishment of WESIB in Stockholm the office was based in the SFS Office in Sweden from 1982 until 1985, funded by a grant by the Swedish Government. By 1985 the grant was running low and so NUS UK offered to host WESIB in their London headquarters. In 1988 the office moved to the ÖH offices in Vienna and remained there until 2000, when it was decided that for reasons of being near the European institutions the office should move to Brussels and was hosted by VVS.

Structures

The highest structure of ESU is the Board Meeting, bringing together representatives from all the National Unions of Students it represents. The Board Meeting sets the policy direction of the organisation, and elects members to see to run the organisation. There are currently 10 elected members, formed into an executive committee. Further more there are three coordinators and working groups that work on specific higher education topics.

Members

• Armenian National Students’ Association (ANSA)
• Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH)
• Azerbaijan Student Youth Organizations' Union (ASYOU)
• Azerbaijan Students Union (ASU)
• Belarusian Students' Association (BSA)
• Federation of French-speaking Students in Belgium (FEF)
• Flemish Union of Students (VVS)
• Student Union of Republika Srpska (SURS)
• National Assembly of Student’s Councils in the Republic of Bulgaria (NASC)
• Union of Bulgarian Students (UBS)
• Croatian Student's Council (CSC)
• Pancyprian Federation of Student Unions (POFEN)
• Student Chamber of the Council of Higher Education Institutions (SK RVŠ)
• National Union of Students in Denmark (DSF)
• Federation of Estonian Student Unions (EÜL)
• Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK)
• National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL)
• National Federation of Student’s Associations in France (Fage)
• National Union of Students of France (UNEF)
• freier zusammenschluss von studentInnenschaften (fzs)
• Students Organisation League of Georgia (SOLG)
• National Union of Students in Hungary (HÖOK)
• Student Council of the University of Iceland (SHÍ)
• Union of Students in Ireland (USI)
• National Union of Israeli Students (NUIS)
• National Union of Italian University Students (UdU)
• Student Union of Latvia (LSA)
• Lithuanian National Union of Students (LSS)
• National Union of Students in Luxembourg (UNEL)
• Luxembourg University Students (LUS)
• National Student Union of Macedonia (NSUM)
• Kunsill Studenti Universitarji (KSU - Malta)
• Dutch National Students Association (ISO)
• Dutch National Union of Students (LSVb)
• Norwegian Student Organisation (NSO)
• Students' Parliament of Poland (PSRP)
• Academic Forum for Information and External Information in Portugal (FAIRe)
• National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR)
• Student Union of Serbia (SUS)
• University Student Council of the Slovak Republic (ŠRVŠ)
• Slovene Student Union (SSU)
• Coordinator of Student Representatives of Public Universities (CREUP)
• Swedish National Union of Students (SFS)
• National Union of Students in Switzerland (VSS-UNES-USU)
• National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS)
• Ukrainian Association of Student Self- government (UASS)

Candidates

• ESU has four candidate members at the moment (January 2015) - Candidate Members

Associate organisations

• Association of Nordic and Pol-Balt LGBTQ Student Organizations (ANSO)
• Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA)
• Erasmus Student Network (ESN)
• European Dental Students Association (EDSA)
• European Pharmaceutical Students' Association (EPSA)
• European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS)
• Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisation (FEMYSO)
• International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA)
• International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS)
• International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Youth and Student Network (IGLYO)
• International Students of History Association (ISHA)
• Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU)

See also

• Eurodoc
• European University Association
• Education International

External links

• ESU Website
• Blog of the ESU Committee on the Commodification of Education