What is ISFiT?
ISFiT- The International Student Festival in Trondheim is the world’s largest student festival with a thematic focus. Every second year since 1990, ISFiT has been arranged in Trondheim, Norway. The festival themes have changed during the history, but have always been related to social and political topics with international relevance, and hence attracted students from all over the world.
During the 10 days of the festival, more than 400 students from all continents gather in Trondheim. The purpose of ISFiT is to be a meeting place for discussion and debate, an arena where ideas are born, friendships are made, and valuable lessons are learned. The core program for the participants are the workshops. ISFiT 2007 has 16 different workshops which highlight the festival theme from various aspects, and the students are to follow one of these during the whole festival. In the afternoon and during night time, the participants and the Trondheim students in general, are welcome to join a vast cultural programme of concerts, art exhibitions and performing arts. Several lectures and thematic meetings will also be arranged, where eg. politicians or scientists share their views with the ISFiT participants.
World figures often attend ISFiT and past speakers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, former Director-General of WHO Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Dr. José Ramos-Horta and Professor Wangari Maathai, and former Soviet president Mr Mikhail Gorbachev. Using modern technology, former US president Bill Clinton relayed his thoughts about the global significance of ISFiT to a plenum ceremony at the festival. To be able to organize a huge arrangement as ISFiT, there are more than 350 Trondheim students working voluntarily, making sure every detail goes as planned.
The next ISFiT will be arranged 16th – 25th of February 2007. The main topic this time is globalization, and the title of the festival is Global Boundaries.