SFS was founded in 1921. Today the organisation has 64 student union members, who in all represent 270 000 students of the total number of 385 000 students. The purpose of SFS is twofold; to represent the interests of its members and, on a national level, guard and spread the information about questions concerning education, science and student welfare issues.
SFS lobbies the Swedish Parliament, the Government, the political parties, the National Agency for Higher Education, the
National Board of Student Aid and the National Admissions Office to Higher Education.
In the SFS all sorts of students unions are represented, from small student unions with approximately 30 student members to big ones consisting up to 35 000 students.