Based and active mainly in Europe, ISHA's goals are to facilitate communication and provide a platform of exchange for students of history and related sciences on an international level.

[1][2][3] ISHA was founded in Budapest in May 1990 thanks to the initiative of Hungarian history students who, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, wanted to forge links with their colleagues in Western Europe.

", hosted by the newly inaugurated House of European History in Brussels, in association with the Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in South East Europe (CDRSEE) and ISHA.

[24] Sections send delegates to the Annual Conferences, where they constitute the General Assembly and elect the International Board, consisting of a President, one or more Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.

The General Assembly also elects a Council, the Treasury Supervision, the editor-in-chief for Carnival, and an Archivist, responsible for maintaining the association's archives in the Ladeuze University Library of the KU Leuven.