International Union of Students IUS

an international union of student organizations founded in August 1946 at the World Student Congress in Prague. In accordance with its charter, the IUS strives to defend students’ interests, struggles for peace and international security, opposes imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism, reaction, fascism, and racism, and works for national liberation, social progress, and the democratization of education. By the end of 1975, the IUS included 90 student organizations from 86 countries. The Student Council of the USSR represents Soviet students in the union.

The IUS has been active in strengthening the international solidarity of progressive students. The union helped organize the World Forums of Youth and Students, held in Moscow in 1961 and 1964, and the World Festivals of Youth and Students. It sponsored the International Conference of Youth and Students for Disarmament, Peace, and National Independence (Florence, 1964) and the International Student Conference for Solidarity With the Struggle of the Vietnamese People (Prague, 1968). It also organized conferences and meetings in support of the anti-imperialist struggle of the Arab peoples, the peoples of the Portuguese colonies, and those of South Africa (Prague, 1967; Khartoum, 1969; and Helsinki, 1971); the Meeting for the Solidarity of Youth and Students of Latin America (Santiago, 1969); international student seminars on questions of education and socioeconomic problems (Dublin and Hamburg, 1970; Prague, Paris, and Aden, 1971; Madras, 1972; Sofia, 1973; Dublin, 1974); the International Forum on Cooperation (Helsinki, 1975); and meetings and seminars on such questions as the student press and sports.

The IUS has organized the shipment of large quantities of medicine and educational, sports, and other equipment to various student organizations and has arranged for medical care for needy and ill students. IUS organizations in socialist countries grant stipends to students from countries experiencing difficulty in training national personnel.

The highest organ of the IUS is the congress, which elects the executive committee to lead the union between congresses, the president, and the secretariat. The union has its headquarters in Prague. The president of the IUS is D. Uttak (from the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, since 1970) and the general secretary is Fathi al-Fadl (from the Sudan, since 1971). The IUS publishes the monthly journal World Student News in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.