Throughout its existence, FECh has played a significant role in Chile's political and social history, notably taking part in events such as the overthrow of the dictatorship of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, the university reform movement that began at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso around 1967, protests against the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and various student movements since the restoration of democracy in 1990.

Throughout its history, several prominent figures have presided it, including Gabriel Boric, the current President of Chile; Jose Tohá, a minister under Salvador Allende; Luis Maira; Jaime Ravinet; Yerko Ljubetic; Álvaro Elizalde; Nicolás Grau; Camila Vallejo; and Emilia Schneider, the country's first transgender woman to enter Congress.

The FECh was founded on October 21, 1906, after a group of medical students sought to protest the seating of the ceremony held to honor their fight against smallpox, the FECh was founded the next day [1] with the unconditional support of the Radical Party politician and University of Chile law professor Valentin Letelier - who served as rector of the university from 1906 until 1913.

The FECh is one of the oldest and most influential student organizations in Chile, known for its involvement in various social and political movements throughout the country's history.

[6] The FECh became a common meeting place for leaders of the AOAN, FOCh and IWW to discuses the organization of protests and other mobilization efforts.

[5][6] On July 21, 1920 a group of conservative youth entered the federation's headquarters with force throwing books and furniture into the streets and burned them.

[6] The club was responsible for supporting underground print shops as well as the creation of pamphlets that members would pass around at protests, in the streets, and the university.

[6] After facing consistent malnourishment and torture, the death of José Domingo Gomez Rojas, an aspiring poet as well as the student chairmen of the FECh, became a symbol of the injustice and mistreatment that many people endured during Don Ladislao's War.

[8] The night Allende had won the popular vote and became president, he gave his victory speech on the balcony of the clubs headquarters.

In an interview in 1971, he called upon the youth in Chile to keep revolutionary spirts high and keep up the enthusiasm to band together in times of need through Chilean fork lore and poetry.

During the 1980s the FECh played a leading role in student mobilizations in opposition to the military regime, and built themselves back up with the return of democracy in Chile in 1990.

In this new generation of post-dictatorship youth, still feeling the left over effects of Pinochet's regime which were still deeply rooted even 20 years,[16] often joined political organizations utilizing this as a reason to increase there involvement in the anti-neoliberal and social movements without the fear that democracy would be demolished.

By July 5, 2011, President Piñera gave a speech that proposed a "new deal" reform which failed to uphold the students demands for better education, as a result the mobilization effect increased dramatically.

[16] Young adults ranging from high school to university students engaged and organized mass protests, huger strikes, class room walk outs and numerous marches across many Chilean cities.

As a result the CONFECH continued to protest in numerous ways including mass marches with over 600,000 people attending in August 2011.

[22] Student led protests continued in 2012 and by 2013 with the presidential election Michelle Bachelet, the new president promised universal access to free education.