In the modern history of Jordan the student sector has been regarded one of the vital sectors whose movement is an inseparable part of national public work, leading political forces to bestow a special status on the students. Membership may often have surpassed other sectors such as the labor, women and other sectors. On the other hand, owing to subjective causes related to the requirements of study and the environment of academic achievement, the students had to voice trade unionist demands that differed from those presented by workers and official groups.

These two factors, the national and the trade unionist, have continued to motivate the students’ endeavors to set up a representative body which covers all Jordanian students at home and abroad and which is independent of the administration of educational institutions and other relevant and concerned governmental agencies. Furthermore, the results of political development in Jordan from one stage to the next, along with the successes and privileges earned by other social segments, served as sources of inspiration for the students to claim equality with those segments—especially when governmental obstacles constituted the main reason for foiling the possibilities of students’ success in this field

With the beginnings of organized student action in Jordan during the early 1950s, the students tried to establish a united student body. They succeeded in this attempt in 1953 when they established "The Jordanian Students’ Conference," which nevertheless was viewed as representing only the students inside the country. However, this student activity was frozen after the events of 1957, which witnessed the dismissal of parliamentary government and the declaration of a state of emergency. Political parties were banned and civil society institutions were suspended. In the wake of these events, the students moved their work outside Jordan. Yet despite the successes achieved by the students there, student action had in fact lost its real arena inside the Kingdom.

With the political relaxation which took place in Jordan in 1989, and the resulting atmosphere that heralded the development of political life and civil society inside the country, the students moved to establish the student organization they dreamt of and which came to be called "The General Union of Jordanian Students." They managed to obtain government recognition of their preparatory steps in this sphere, but this endeavor was disrupted early in 1992 when the administrations of universities announced the establishment of positional (i.e., partitioned) or on-site student unions in state universities; this was met with blessings from some sectors and with rejection by others. Since 1998 these unions witnessed dramatic events by the approval of the “one vote for one voter” system in their elections. These events reached their climax early in the year 2000 when the administration of the University of Jordan decided to appoint half the members of its students.

In brief, the problems of the Jordanian student movement which prevented it from achieving its objectives in the establishment of the General Union of Jordanian Students are political problems related on the one hand to the general political development of the country, and on the other to the outlook of Jordanian forces and parties towards student work. It is impossible, therefore, to say that it was subjective reasons alone that prevented the students from achieving their objectives.