ISWI 2025
The “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (ISWI) is a conference for students organised by students. It takes place every other year at the campus of Technische Universität Ilmenau.
Up to 370 students from 80 different countries have participated in previous editions of ISWI, which we have been organising every two years since 1993. Compared to other similar events, ISWI is known for its focus on group work, lectures and debates on a certain main topic to which the conference is dedicated. As the main topic, the organising committee always tries to find areas of tension that include recent problems and developments in the world.
The main aim of the ISWI is to bring young people from all over the world together and serve as a platform for exchange and getting to know each other as well as for discussion and working out ideas to solve recent problems. The official language of the conference is English.
Each ISWI addresses a different topic. For 2027 we have chosen the topic “Community” with the motto: Come Together!.
Our Topic: Community
“Community” is a powerful word with many different shades, which is why we selected it as the main topic for this year’s edition of ISWI. They appear nowadays in many different spheres – local, international, online, political and many more. However, are we actually more connected through them? Do we feel like our relationships are meaningful? Is it easy to feel represented? We want to find a way to build positive communities which help us create meaningful relationships and give us the chance to bond well with our environment. Therefore, we want to put a big focus on student communities, as they work nowadays as melting pots gathering young people from many different countries. These communities shape our universities and the society around them. During the conference, we will explore many topics surrounding this theme. We aim to offer a platform where people can come together and listen to each other’s perspectives and then feel empowered to lead, grow, and participate fully in the collective experience, fostering a sense of community, inclusion, and shared responsibility.
The people behind ISWI: The association ISWI e.V.
The “Initiative Solidarische Welt Ilmenau e.V.” (ISWI e.V.), established in 1992, is an incorporated society and NGO led by students who organise the projects as volunteers. Its status is that of a non-profit and benevolent organisation. We set ourselves the goal to fight against social inequality, racism and intolerance as well as to promote mutual understanding.
To reach this aim, we organise projects that raise awareness to recent problems and offer an open platform to get to know each other, exchange views and work out solutions for these problems. Our main project, the “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (ISWI), takes place every two years since 1993 at the Technische Universität Ilmenau. Since 2024, we have organised an additional German-wide student conference every two years, the Intercultural Week in Ilmenau (ICW), focusing on the challenges international students face in Germany.
If you are interested in more information on ISWI e.V. and its projects, please visit our homepage.