When OBESSU was founded in Ireland 1975 by the national school student unions from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark), United Kingdom and Ireland the aim of the organisation was to create an all European school student organisation that could be a platform for cooperation between the national school student unions.

The organisation was in many ways a result of the will to unite east and west but it took almost 20 years until OBESSU gets its first member organisation from the former east block.

Much of the exchange and the work of OBESSU have always been organised through conferences and seminars. There have been at least one conference organised every year since the founding of the organisation and from the mid nineties, when the OBESSU secretariat in Amsterdam was established, the number of conferences organised have been increasing radically (during 2006 five conferences were held).
During the eighties OBESSU releases a newsletter under the name “on the blackboard” 3-5 times a year. In this newsletter the member organisations could read about international events and promote their most important events. Today the OBESSU website and the e-newsletters serve the same puropose.
During the eighties there was a general boom in Europe for international work and international solidarity not only in the political sphere but also in the cultural (expressed, among else, through happenings such as “band aid” and “live aid”). This also affected OBESSU which during these years was involved in a lot of international work.
 
With the development of the European Union the debate on educational policy on the European level have increased immensely. This motivates an increased Euroepan cooperation between the national school student unions which will demand more from OBESSU, a challenge we gladly accept.
 

Important events

 
1975     OBESSU is founded on Ireland by national school student unions from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark), United Kingdom and Ireland.
 
1976-1980    Organisations from Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and West Germany join OBESSU
 
1982     The national school student union of France, Union Nationale des Étudiants Lycéens, joins OBESSU
 
1984     OBESSU organises a seminar on school student solidarity campaigns. This seminar results in the Nordic countries organising a joint Operation Dayswork for the school students in El Salvador. The Campaign was one of the biggest single donations to the country during their 12 years of civil war.
 
1985     OBESSU organises a conference on school student structures in southern Europe. This is the first time representatives from Spain, Portugal and Malta are participating in an OBESSU event.
 
1985     OBESSU and its member organisations state their support for COSAS (the Congress of the South African Students) in their struggle against the apartheid regime. A study visit to South Africa is planned but cancelled since the regime have banned COSAS and all the leaders in the organisation have been forced to flee the country or go underground.
 
1987     The international initiative was also strong in the former east block countries. The organisation IUS (international Union of Students) that had their secretariat in Prague had started to work more with secondary students and in 1987 the first international school student meeting was organised in La Havana where representatives of the OBESSU board and many of OBESSU’s member organisations participated.
 
1987     Representatives from USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and DDR participate in an OBESSU conference in Strasbourg. The conference’s aim is to establish a more stable contact between the national school student unions in Eastern and Western Europe.
 
1991     OBESSU starts a project called ESSE (European School Student Exchange). ESSE is planned to be a non-profit exchange program by students for students.
 
1994     The OBESSU project “All rights included” was kicked off through a conference in Copenhagen. The aim of the project was to create a European student rights charter ratified by all governments.
 
1995     OBESSU gets an office of its own in Amsterdam. Before this different member organisations were hosting the OBESSU secretariat depending on where the Secretary General lived.
 
1995     OBESSU launches a major project for supporting the growth of school student unions in central and Eastern Europe. Since the early nineties national organisations have been established in Slovenia, Slovakia, Macedonia, and Hungary. Most of these organisations were unstable, in need of support. Since then, DOS (Slovenia), SUSKA (Slovakia), USM (FYRM) and have become full members of OBESSU. 

1999     OBESSU launches the UNBASCO project which focuses at supporting the stabilization of school student unions in the Baltic States. Today OBESSU have member organisations in both Estonia and Lithuania.
 
2001     OBESSU adopts the first political platform on educational and school student related policy. Before this OBESSU’s political work had been regulated through single one-issue-declarations and resolutions adopted on OBESSU events.

2003     OBESSU starts a project which aims at supporting the growth of school student structures in South Eastern Europe. Today, OBESSU counts members in the Serbia and in Bosnia Herzegovina.

2005     The first European School Student Convention took place from 14th to 18th of December in Campobasso, Italy, aiming at building strategies and giving policical visions to OBESSU. 2005 was the 30th anniversary of the Bureau.

2006     The first COMEM (Council of Members) of OBESSU met during the 2nd European School Student Convention in Helsinki in December. The members decided on internal regulations and the Workplan for 2007-2008.