ISHA is the International Students of History Association, an organisation that aims to bring students of history together. We do this by organising events such as international seminars and an Annual Conference. During these events, history students from different countries and cultural backgrounds are able to discuss and reflect on different topics and themes in history. Our meetings combine academic and social activities. ISHA belives that international perspectives constitute an important part of every history student's education. Therefore, our aim is to provide the means for establishing and maintaining a network of undergraduates and graduates of historical science in many countries, and facilitating contact and cooperation on an international level.

How was ISHA created?

An association of historical students knows its history well. Our roots lie in the Europe of 1989, when both sides of the Iron Curtain began to stir. Hungarian students wanted to stress their international aspirations and drew the plans for an international organization of history students. On the 9th of May 1990 it was founded in Budapest, in a Europe that saw tremendous changes in its political landscape. After a few years the International Secretariat was moved to Leuven, an active section by that time, and closer to the political heart of Europe, Brussels. Unfortunately, because of stricter rules in the Erasmus programs, it became impossible to keep the office in Leuven manned with international board members (that did an Erasmus exchange in Leuven while running the organization). In 2000 the International Secretariat became the International Board, a more loose way of running the organization, with board and council members across Europe, instead of convened in one place. This is still ISHA’s situation today.

How does ISHA work?

ISHA consists of many local sections. Normally, only city sections are accepted as members. That means that in the case of multiple universities in one city ISHA motivates students there to work together in one local ISHA-section. More details about member sections can be found in Article 26 of the Statutes of ISHA, available on line at our website www.isha-international.org. Local sections organize meetings on their own initiative. They can organize a seminar, a conference or any other activity that is of benefit to the association as a whole. All these activities are coordinated by the International Board, which normally consists of a president, a secretary and a treasurer. The International Board (IB) is responsible for running the international organization, representing the organization towards other institutions and convene the official General Assemblies and more informal State of Affairs Meetings. The General Assembly is the legislative meeting of ISHA, in which decisions are made with all sections present. The IB puts forward issues which are to be decided upon. Every member section has one vote, all counting equally. Also, every member has speaking rights to the General Assembly. To assist the IB, there is the Council of ISHA. In these people work on certain tasks that ask for extra focus. They work closely together with the IB. For financial matters the Treasury Committee is responsible for checking the financial situation of ISHA, and the financial registration of the International Board. The IB, the Council and the Treasury Committee form the body of officials in ISHA.

What does ISHA do?

Strictly speaking ISHA knows two forms of meeting, the Annual Conference and Seminars. Next to these many forms of activities are possible, but they are irregular, and depend mostly on the willingness of local sections to organize extra activities outside the regular Conference and Seminars. During a year ISHA also publishes its journal, titled ‘Carnival’, in which younghistorians get the chance to publicize their articles. The Carnival is available in multiple libraries across Europe. The Annual Conference is the heyday of ISHA, when most of the sectionssend representatives to convene in a Conference that hosts up to ahundred students. This conference is set up in a general historicaltheme, contrary to the seminars, that are normally more narrow inscope. The Conference also hosts the General Assembly and is theoccasion when the new officials are elected. The Seminars, that arenormally organized during New Year, in the Summer and in the Autumn,are of the same form as the Conference, but smaller in numbers. All meetings combine an academic part in the form of workshops onhistoric subjects within the bigger topic of the meeting. In theseworkshops participating students are expected to present their ownwork, be it in the form of a paper, a presentation, a film or anyother. The main goal is to learn to discuss history in an internationalsetting. The language of these meetings is English, but people shouldnot be afraid of this. People with less competence in this language areencouraged to join us and work on their language skills in a relaxedgroup of students. Next to the academic part the local organizingsection makes sure that the participants get fully introduced to thehosting city. All major historical sites will be visited, venues atnight will be discovered and excursions will be made. With the guidanceof real local students, one reaches places no tourist ever comes.By organizing these meetings, and encouraging people to attend them,ISHA seeks to create an informal and international network of younghistorians, who are aware of their differences, but also discover theircommon historical heritage.

What does ISHA need?

ISHA is working, as all the participants are joining this informalnetwork already. The only thing ISHA needs are more member sections.Currently, ISHA is only active within Europe, missing a great chance toincorporate non-European points of view. We encourage students ofhistory across Europe to join ISHA and participate in our meetings. Forstudents outside of Europe we have the Carnival to publicize in, andmany European students to connect with. In time, we hope to accommodatenon-European sections better. As a section, local students have just a few responsibilities towards the rest of the Association. The most practical one if the membership fee. This is € 75 per year per section as a whole. If this fee is paid before the beginning of the academic year, a reduction of € 25 is given, making it € 50. Obviously, member sections have to pay to beconsidered an official member, and to have full voting rights at theGeneral Assembly, to have members functioning as officials and to hosta meeting themselves. Next to the payment of the membership fee, the sections are also askedto actively motivate local students to attend ISHA meetings, and topromote our association among their students, and in universitiesnearby. Finally, local ISHA sections are asked to put themselvesforward for organizing a meeting every few years. This depends heavilyon the personal willingness of local students and is never enforced.

How to contact ISHA?

For more information, one is invited to have a look at our website www.isha-international.org.There one can find information on member sections, a forum, newsarticles, statutes and standing orders, policy papers of theInternational Board, and much more. Also, ISHA recognizes Facebook asan easy way to keep in touch with each other. Newsletters and othernews articles will always be send to the ISHA Facebook Group. Peopleare encouraged to join this Facebook Group. Otherwise, our main channelof spreading news is the Yahoo-list. To add oneself to this list iseasy and can be done here. Finally, the International Board of2009-2010 is always more than willing to answer any questions. You canreach us via the following means: