Dutch National Students Association
The Dutch National Students Association is the largest national student organization in the Netherlands and represents the general interests of more than 800,000 students at universities and universities of applied sciences.
ISO is the umbrella organization for all student participation councils and parties in the Netherlands. The ISO is a regular contact for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, political parties, and the umbrella organizations of universities and universities of applied sciences.
The ISO was founded in 1973 by students from university councils at various institutions. These students felt the need to exchange information and experiences to strengthen their position at their own institutions. In 1973, the letters ISO stood for Interuniversity Student Consultation. Since 1995, the ISO has also represented students from universities of applied sciences, and the name was changed to Intercity Student Consultation.
ISO is a full member of the European Students' Union.
History
The ISO was founded in 1973. Originally, the ISO began as a national umbrella organization for five university council factions from various cities in the Netherlands. It became clear that there was a need for national representation of student interests, particularly regarding political relations. Each student city usually has several university council factions and a student union. These student factions and unions felt the need to discuss certain issues with fellow student officials from other cities. To meet this need, the ISO was established. The ISO then expanded rapidly and, until 1995, represented students from across the Netherlands.Expansion to higher professional education
In 1995, the ISO changed its name from the Interuniversity Student Consultation to the Intercity Student Consultation. With this name change, the ISO had a very clear goal in mind: to ensure that students in higher professional education in the Netherlands were also represented nationally. The ISO now also has a large number of member organizations within higher professional education.In addition, the ISO works closely with national student organizations such as the National Chamber of Associations, Studenten Sport Nederland, AIESEC, Integrand, UniPartners, and Erasmus Student Network.