Student Spirit : The story of the International Forestry Students' Association

From an early idea that took root at Bangor University in the mid-Sixties to the global student community it is today, IFSA’s history is one marked by collaboration, shared learning… and lively social gatherings.

The International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) and its local chapter, the Bangor Forestry Students’ Association (BFSA), have been closely connected since the creation of the International Forestry Students’ Symposium (IFSS) in 1973.
From its founding until the 18th IFSS in Lisbon in 1990, the organisation was simply known as IFSS. At the 1990 event, forestry students decided to redesignate the ‘students’ infocentre’ (the informal secretariat function through which annual symposia had been coordinated) into a more formal communication and information body to expand collaboration beyond the annual symposium.