International Union of Students

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The International Union of Students (IUS) - sometimes referred to in German as the International Student Union (ISB) or the World Student Union (WSB) - is a worldwide association of national student representatives. According to its own information, it comprises around 150 member associations from over 115 countries around the world and sees itself as the largest non-partisan student organization on an international level. The IUS is an NGO member of UNESCO and has consultation status with ECOSOC .

The last contact address of the IUS referred to Prague. Her office was there until 2006 in her own property, which was later foreclosed. The legal dispute over this property as well as the question of insolvency continues.

history

The IUS was founded after the end of the Second World War on August 27, 1946 in Prague as the successor organization to the Confédération internationale des étudiants (CIE), which was dissolved in 1940 . In the following years, however, the organization was increasingly dominated by the communist associations of the Eastern Bloc and, as the communist front organization, repeatedly made itself the mouthpiece of Soviet foreign policy. In response to this, student organizations from many pro-Western-oriented countries refused to participate in the IUS and have met annually since 1950 for their own conferences ( International Student Conference, ISC ), which since 1952 also maintained a permanent secretariat (Coordinating Secretariat - COSEC) in Leiden , the Netherlands . The Austrian Students' Union (ÖH), the Association of Swiss Student Associations (VSS) and the West German Association of German Student Associations (VDS) also collaborated on the ISC , while the GDR state youth organization Free German Youth was a member of the IUS.

A real race developed between the two organizations for the sympathy of the independent third world states, which, however, often opted for double membership or observer status in both camps.

At the end of the 1960s, the ISC went into crisis after it became known that its work had been largely financed by US intelligence agencies such as the CIA for years . As a result, numerous associations, including the West German VDS, left the ISC. This was no longer able to continue its activities without the CIA funds and was finally dissolved in 1969. In order to be able to continue at least a small part of the practical cooperation in the social, educational and cultural area, several Western European associations reunited in 1982 to form a loose network, which later became today's European Students' Union (ESU).

The IUS, for its part, opened up to Western associations after the end of the Cold War , excluded the communist state associations with a few exceptions (North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba) and carried out structural reforms. Nevertheless, the organization got into a serious financial and personnel crisis that continues to this day. The IUS was heavily indebted for a long time (approx. USD 1 million ), mainly due to the breakdown of funding by the Eastern European members, who are often state-supported, through the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) and the sale of the international student ID cards (ISIC) . There were also problems with the Czech government due to its classification as a (post) communist organization.

After a short period of revival from 2000–2003 with activity mainly within the framework of the UN and in relation to regional associations (including ESIB, now ESU), in 2000 in Libya (with financial support from the Libyan student association) and in 2003 in Montreal took place, the structural problems very soon hindered effective work again. During this time, the nationwide German student union fzs took on the role of regional coordinator in Europe. A constitutional debate that was initiated during this time and the subsequent structural changes discussed were ultimately unsuccessful because the quorums required for changes could not be achieved.

For years, the IUS has not been able to hold regular congresses and the like or to provide permanent representation work. Attempts to intensify the work through closer cooperation with regional organizations such as the ESU have so far failed. The last and the media perceived action by the IUS was the call for worldwide protests against the inclusion of the tertiary level of the education sector in the GATS - trade agreements of the WTO .

According to information from 2016, the fzs is no longer a member of the IUS because it rejects its cooperation with the North Korean student council, but current own information is contradictory but because of the factual demise of the IUS has no practical relevance.

literature

  • Phil Agee, Jr .: The National Student Association Scandal. In: Campus Watch, Fall 1991, pp. 12-13.
  • Philip G. Altbach : The International Student Movement. In: Journal of Contemporary History 1970; H. 5, pp. 156-174.
  • Joël Kotek : Students and the Cold War , New York 1996, ISBN 0-312-15877-7 .
  • Walter Rüegg (Ed.): History of the University in Europe , Volume 4: From the Second World War to the End of the 20th Century , Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-36955-1 , pp. 250-254.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b fzs.de
  2. ↑ unesco.org
  3. ^ The Economist Newspapers Ltd. (2006): Let each stand in his place: Cold war survivors ; The Economist October 28, 2006.
  4. ↑ a b c Juleie Ness: A brief history of international student organization. (PDF; 1.3 MB) pp. 19-31 , accessed on March 5, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ Michael Hochgeschwender: Freedom on the offensive? Walter de Gruyter, 1998, ISBN 978-3-486-59525-3 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  6. ^ Richard F. Staar: USSR Foreign Policies After Détente. Hoover Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8179-8593-6 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
  7. ↑ a b fzs.de
  8. ↑ Jobbins, David (2003): Qatar's Iraq Gesture challenges Us Grip ; The Times Higher Education Supplement, TSL Education Limited, June 27, 2003, No. 1595, p. 11.
  9. ↑ timeshighereducation.com
  10. ↑ fzs-mv.de
  11. ↑ de-de.facebook.com
  12. ↑ Statutory provisions for the election of IUS delegations