[2] The stated 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.

[1] The festival aims at fostering inspiration and being a starting point for international cooperation amongst students.

[1] The ISFiT participants take part in different workshops, which highlight the festival theme in various ways.

Several lectures and thematic meetings are arranged, where well-known international speakers share their views with the participants and others.

The thought was to gather students from different parts of the world in a combination of a conference and a festival.

Many world figures have attended ISFiT, and past speakers include former Director-General of WHO Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates José Ramos-Horta, Wangari Maathai,[7] Desmond Tutu,[8] Betty Williams[9] and Shirin Ebadi.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Desmond Tutu, Dr. Shirin Ebadi and Betty Williams are some of the introductory speakers at the festival.

Peacebuilding appears between different actors on global, regional, national, local and interpersonal level.

"[14] The Dialogue Groups 2009 kicked off 10 days before ISFiT 2009 with a seminar at Røros, and continued into the festival in Trondheim.

In addition to the workshops and the dialogue groups there were several lectures and thematic meetings, as well as concerts, exhibitions and performing arts.

525 students from 104 countries gathered in Trondheim to discuss the festival's main theme, global health.

The workshops of ISFiT 2011 were: On 25 November 2010 it was announced that human rights activist Duško Kostić was awarded the Student Peace Prize.

He was also honored with a memory plate in Jomfrugata in Trondheim as a part of the Walk of Peace-project, that was unveiled during ISFiT 2011.

On April 6, 2011, a plenary session was held at the Student Society in Trondheim to elect the President for the upcoming festival in 2013.

Several pre-announced candidates ran for president and presented what they believed should be the main of ISFiT 2013; among them were Guro Grytli Seim (Energy), Marianne Ytterbø (Technology) and Kaja Juul Skarbø (Trade).

She pointed to power structures, sustainability, ethics and human trafficking as interesting approaches to the theme.

Juul Skarbø proposed topics as diverse as finance, economies of war, subsidies, human trafficking and local and global markets, for some of the workshops during the festival.

[25] ISFiT 2013 defined trade as legal and illegal exchange of goods, services, labour, capital and financial instruments.

[citation needed] The theme was discussed in the workshops, at plenary sessions and under the event ISFiT open.

A diversity of concerts is arranged during ISFiT, both at the Student Society and external scenes, like the Nidaros Cathedral.

The workshops also have the opportunity to invite famous and knowledgeable people from all over the world to start and lead discussion and debate.

South Africa, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Kashmir, Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Balkan and Russia/Chechnya, Ukraine, Iran/USA, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sudan, the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Congo), Azerbaijan/Armenia, Georgia/Abkhazia and Cyprus have been represented since 1997.