European Students' Union

On 17 October 1982, seven National Unions of Students (NUSes) from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland, France, Denmark, Norway and Austria established the Western European Students Information Bureau (WESIB) at a gathering in Stockholm.[4] In February 1990, WESIB dropped the "W" to become the European Student Information Bureau (ESIB) following the political upheaval in Europe at the time. In 1992 the name was changed yet again into the National Union of Students in Europe. This reflected the recognition of the changing mission of ESIB from being a pure information-sharing organisation into a political organisation that represented the views of students in European institutions. In May 2007, the current name, European Students' Union (ESU), was introduced.

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.

The highest ESU structure is the Board Meeting, bringing together representatives from all the National Unions of Students it represents. The Board Meeting sets the organisation's policy direction and elects members to the executive committee to run the organisation.

Executive committee

The executive committee (EC) is elected for a one-year term at the annual Board Meeting by representatives of the member organisations, with each country (not organisation) given two votes. The president and vice-presidents together make up the presidency of ESU, and are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organisation along with the seven general members of the EC.[5]

Title		Name	Country
Presidency	President	Horia Onița	Romania
	Vice Presidents	Iris Kimizoglu	Germany
		Tanguy Guibert	France
Executive Committee		Joanna Maruszczak	Poland
		Ana Gvritishvili	Georgia
		Andrej Pirjevec	Slovenia
		Ida Flemmich	Finland
		Tór Marni Weihe	Faroe Islands
		Tamara Ciobanu	Romania
		Arno Schrooyen	Belgium

Associate members of ESU are pan-European and international student organisations that have similar goals to ESU. The criteria for associate membership require the organisation to be democratic and student-run, have either students or NUSes as members, and represent students from at least 8 countries that are parties to the European Cultural Convention. Associate organizations can attend and speak at all ESU meetings, but cannot vote at Board Meetings.[6]

• Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA)
• European Dental Students Association (EDSA)
• European Deaf Students' Union (EDSU)
• European Nursing Students Association (ENSA)
• European Medical Students' Association (EMSA)
• European Pharmaceutical Students' Association (EPSA)
• European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS)
• Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisation (FEMYSO)
• International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS)
• International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA)
• International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO)
• International Students of History Association (ISHA)
• Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU)

Year (Mandate)	President	Country	Vice Presidents	Executive Committee	Coordinators (appointed by the Executive Committee)
2023–2024	Horia-Șerban Onița	Romania	Iris Kimizoglu  Germany	Joanna, Maruszczak, Andrej Pirjevec, Ana Gvritishvili, Arno Schrooyen, Ida Flemmich, Tamara Ciobanu, Tór Marni Weihe	Emily MacPherson, Bastien Degardins, Lauren Pray
			Tanguy Guibert  France
2022–2023	Matteo Vespa	Italy	Katrīna Sproģe  Latvia	Tanguy Guibert, Iris Kimizoglu, Andrej Pirjevec, Emily MacPherson, Tór Marni Weihe, Oraz Myradov, Ana Gvritishvili	Antoine Bakhash, Joanna Maruszczak, Sandi Rizvić
			Horia-Șerban Onița  Romania
2021–2022	Martina Darmanin	Malta	Zamzam Ibrahim  UK	Matteo Vespa, Kristel Jakobson, Martin Hammerbauer, Pegi Pavletić, Ruben Janssens, Meral Nur, Stanimir Boyadzhiev	Katrīna Sproģe, Borna Nemet, Anastasia Kreis
			Jakub Grodecki  Poland
2021	Martina Darmanin	Malta	Zamzam Ibrahim  UK	Matteo Vespa, Kristel Jakobson, Martin Hammerbauer, Pegi Pavletić, Ruben Janssens, Ronja Hesse, Otto Rosenlund	Vicky Reichling, Borna Nemet, Carmen Romero (until June), Katrīna Sproģe (substituting Carmen Romero)
			Jakub Grodecki  Poland
2019–2020	Gohar Hovhannisyan (Oct.-Dec. 2020)	Armenia	Martina Darmanin  Malta	Monika Skadborg, Ursa Leban, Nina De Winter, Rajko Golovic, Helene Mariaud, Daniel Altman, Jakub Grodecki,	Martin Paluoja, Daniel Lindblom (until November), Carmen Romero (substituting Daniel Lindblom)
			Sebastian Berger  Austria
	Robert Napier (until Sept. 2020)	Malta	Gohar Hovhannisyan  Armenia	Daniel Altman, Jakub Grodecki, Monika Skadborg, Ursa Leban, Nina De Winter, Rajko Golovic, Helene Mariaud	Martina Darmanin, Daniel Lindblom, Martin Paluoja
			Sebastian Berger  Austria
2018–2019	Adam Gajek	Poland	Katrina Koppel  Estonia	Daniel Altma, Joāo Martins, Gohar Hovhannisyan, Monika Skadborg, Sebastian Berger, Ursa Leban, Yulia Dobyshuk	Rob Henthorn, Hélène Mariaud, Marie Desrousseaux, (1st part of mandate), Martina Darmanin (substituting Marie Desrousseaux)
			Robert Napier  Malta
2017–2018	Helge Schwitters	Norway	Caroline Sundberg  Sweden	Chiara Patricolo, Aleksandar Šušnjar, Filip Prihoda, Gohar Hovhannisyan, João Pedro Estêvão Martins, Katrina Koppel, Yolanda Trujillo Adriá	Simona Gamonte, Patrick Dempsey, Robert Henthorn
			Adam Gajek  Poland
2016–2017	Lea Meister	Switzerland	Līva Vikmane  Latvia	Beth Button, Gramoz Shpendi, Adam Gajek, Aleksandar Šušnjar, Frederik Bach, Chiara Patricolo, Milana Jankovic (1st part of mandate), Helga Lind Mar (substituting Milana Jankovic)	Melanie Fröhlich, Filip Prihoda, Helge Schwitters
			Blazhe Todorovski  North Macedonia
2015–2016	Fernando Miguel Galán Palomares	Spain	Lea Meister   Switzerland	Liva Vikmane, Karolina Pietkiewicz, Cristi Popescu, Rebecka Stenkvist, Tijana Isoski, Viktor Grønne	Melanie Fröhlich, Chiara Patricolo, Martin Retelj
			Blazhe Todorovski  North Macedonia
2014–2015	Elisabeth Gehrke	Sweden	Erin Nordal  Norway	Blazhe Todorovski, Maksimas Milta, Cat O’Driscoll, Karolina Pietkiewicz, Lea Meister, Tiago Estêvão Martins, Tijana Isoski	Melanie Fröhlich, William Benn, Viktor Grønne
			Fernando Miguel Galán Palomares  Spain
2013–2014	Rok Primozic	Slovenia	Elisabeth Gehrke  Sweden	Fernando Miguel Galán Palomares, Erin Nordal, Elin Blomqvist, Nevena Vuksanovic, Blazhe Todorovski, Maroš Korman, Maksim Milto, Michael Tolentino Frederiksen	Gabriela Bergan, Tiago Estêvão Martins, Aengus Ó Maoláin (1st part of mandate), Melanie Fröhlich (substituting Aengus Ó Maoláin)
			Fernando Miguel Galán Palomares  Spain
2012–2013	Karina Ufert	Lithuania	Taina Moisander  Finland	Fernando M.Galan Palomares, Florian Kaiser, Blazhe Todorovski, Tinja Zerzer, Nevena Vuksanovic, Elisabeth Gehrke, Liliya Ivanova	Aengus Ó Maoláin, Karl Agius, Brikena Xhomaqi (until November 2012), Gabriela Bergan (substituting Brikena Xhomaqi)
			Rok Primozic  Slovenia
2011–2012	Allan Päll	Estonia	Rok Primozic  Slovenia	Nevena Vuksanovic, Kaloyan Kostadinov
2010–2011	Bert Vandenkendelaere	Belgium	Rasa Cincyte  Lithuania	Robert Santa, Karina Ufert
2009–2010	Ligia Deca	Romania	Allan Päll  Estonia	Andrea Blättler, Alma Joensen, Bert Vandenkendelaere
2008–2009	Ligia Deca	Romania	Anita Lice  Latvia	Bruno Carapinha, Alma Joensen, Olav Øye
2007	Koen Geven	The Netherlands		Anela Beso, Bartlomiej Banaszak, Lara Lena Tischler, Maria Noleryd, Matthew Tabone, Viorel Proteasa, Rossella Iraci Capuccinello
2006	Justin Fenech	Malta		Maher Tekaya, Sime Visic, Marja-Liisa Alop, Tatsiana Khoma, Victor Vidilles, Janja Komljenovic
2005	Vanja Ivosevic	Croatia		Öyvind Reidar Bakke, Justin Fenech, Marzia Foroni, Katja Kamsek, Jean-Baptiste Prévost, Marija Stambolieva
2004	Johan Almqvist	Sweden		Marzia Foroni, Lene Henriksen, Vanja Ivosevic, Péter Puskás, Robin Semal, Chris Weavers
2003	Stefan Bienefeld	Germany		Johan Almqvist, Mads Aspelin, Nikki Heerens, Vanja Ivosevic, Marija Mitrovic, Bettina Schwarzmayr
2002	Martina Vukasovic	Serbia		Petra Arsic, Stefan Bienefeld, John C. Friend-Pereira, Chris O’Sullivan
2001	Jacob Henricson	Sweden		Stefan Bienefeld, Ante Matic, Marlous Veldt, Martina Vukasovic
2000	Remi Bordu	France		Polona Car, Aleksandar Dimiskov, Magne Hustavenes, Taru Liira
1999	Antti Pentikäinen	Finland		Remi Bourdu, Anja Kovacs, Marieke Rietbergen, Uros Vajgl
1998	Peter Sondgaard	Denmark		Antti Pentikäinen, Judith Sargentini, Emese Szitasi, Hilde W. Wibe
1997	Agnieszka Bolimowska	Poland		Malcolm Byrne, Outi Hannula, Helena Randerborg, Reuben Seychell

Prior to 1997 ESIB was Chaired by a NUS instead of an individual

Year	Union	Country
1996	Hökosz	Hungary
1995	SYL	Finland
1994	SYL	Finland
1993	SFS	Sweden
1992	SFS	Sweden
1991	VVS-UNES	Switzerland
1990	NUS (UK)	United Kingdom
1989	NUS (UK)	United Kingdom
1988	ÖH	Austria

• Eurodoc
• European University Association
• Education International

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