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Global student movements play a key role as drivers of progress in education. In particular, they serve as springboards for student education advocates to tackle critical issues alongside policymakers. For Ellen Dixon, “student unions are the pragmatism of Paulo Freire’s ‘education is freedom’, that were set up focusing not only on education but on how education connects to the rights and freedoms of students, teachers, and communities, in and out of classrooms and lecture halls.” Dixon adds that at present, it is the global student movements’ support for education for peace, sustainability, promotion of education financing, climate and gender justice, and access to education during emergencies that are the core priority issues.

As a global phenomenon occurring in almost all parts of the world and having roots to the 1600s-1700s at European universities such as the University of Bologna and Edinburgh University, student unions emerged with the spread of university structures globally to give each nation a union, or unions. This allows for very complex and rich histories that resemble the educational politics of the nations they are in. Fast forward to today and we find that one of the recommendations proposed in the United Nations Secretary General’s "," is for meaningful, diverse, and effective youth engagement, including through better political representation—a premise that student unions can offer. 

When asked how such structures allow for a more dynamic space for student engagement, Dixon reiterated that since student unions are set up in a government-like framework rather than a trade union, the configuration allows for representative democracy. While not every student is directly engaged in each decision-making procedure, each student’s interest is reflected thanks to an “elected representation”.   

According to Dixon, who has her roots in New Zealand where national student unionism boasts a strong 100-year-old history, student unions are reinforced as an essential part of the democratization of education. By maintaining excellent relationships with various ministries and non-state education actors, they provide for a balanced representation of students’ interests in the political discourse. However, this is not the case for all countries. For some, “student union activists are blacklisted by authoritarians for their activism,” added Dixon. 

Student unions have made a difference globally by creating a network of networks. They operate across different levels, serving as integral parts of a complex web that includes local, national, regional, and international groups. At the local level, student union structures exist as an interface between students on secondary schools, higher education campuses, or education institution workers. The proximity to the student body enables unions to directly address the needs and concerns of their peers: provide advocacy services, hardship grants, foodbanks, hospitality services, fund an independent student media, provide policy advice on committees and boards, and much more. 

At the national level, they work with government and national-level entities, such as trade unions. At the regional level, they act as inter-regional bodies engaging with the likes of the European Union and the African Union on education policy. The integration of networks between political parties, governments and NGOs at the regional level is done through agreements, research, policy work, lobbying, campaigns, protests, negotiations, and networking. Their key outputs are supporting funding for programmes, influencing of legislation and policy, and engaging with media.  

At the global level, unions bring awareness of education policy at an intergovernmental level and support education financing by donor nations. The global student movement also engages with international organizations, having for example previously held consultative status at UNESCO many years prior.  In 2016, the European Students’ Union invited student unions from across the world to a “Global Student Voice” Conference that produced the “”, calling for universal cooperation for education between student unions.  This led to discussions in Ghana in 2019 for the collaboration between regional platforms, the , the , the , the , and the Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes to form what would become the Global Student Forum in 2020.

By increasing the voices and advocating for the interests of young people, global student movements with student unions at the core play an essential role in ensuring the rights of students for quality and accessible education. This serves as a compelling call for students to actively engage with their respective constituencies, at the local, regional, national, or global level, and drive meaningful change in education.