It represents the voice of student councils and action committees in 15 higher education institutes including all major universities and technical colleges in Sri Lanka.

This eventually culminated in the shooting and death of Rohana Weerasuriya by the police on November 12, 1976, at the University of Peradeniya.

[17][18] With a formation of a leftist mass movement, Shantha Bandara, a student in the science faculty of University of Peradeniya, was elected as its convener after reforms in 1977.

Accordingly, the first official discussion was held on 23 July 1988, with the then-incumbent Minister of Higher Education, Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed, at the University Grants Commission in Sri Lanka.

Boycotting lectures has caused delays in student graduation time and cancellation of studentships on a number of occasions.

[33] Initially, senior students claimed that ragging served as a social equalizer in the universities, but with the emergence of JVP-backed student unions such as the IUSF, ragging has served primarily to ensure the continuing domination of JVP political power within universities, according to academics.

[36][37] In 2009, Prof. Nalin de Silva – Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Kelaniya – complained that pro-JVP IUSF students have sent him death threats for not agreeing to their political ideologies.

Picketings around Lipton Circus, Maradana and the country's busiest suburbs have become common in recent times.