The ISIC student card is celebrating its 70th anniversary these days and continues to grow. Last year, 2.45 million of these cards were issued worldwide, of which 593,000 were in the Czech Republic. This year, that number will even exceed 600,000—making the student card the most popular in the world since the 1990s, right here in the Czech Republic. Nowhere else is it true that almost every student knows and has an ISIC. Representatives of ISIC publishers from 85 countries and six continents gathered in Prague these days for a large anniversary conference, celebrating the milestone and planning future steps, including further digital development of the card, expansion into the American market, and cooperation with the EU on the development of the European student card. The event will last until Thursday.
„At this moment, 758,000 students in the Czech Republic hold an ISIC card, and more than 30,000 teachers hold an ITIC card. We cooperate with 1,590 schools here—universities, secondary schools, and in recent years also primary schools. Other countries lag behind in this respect, and the Czech Republic serves as an inspiration to them. This is also why the global ISIC Association chose Prague to celebrate the 70th anniversary,“ said Radek Schich, director of GTS Alive, the company that manages ISIC and ITIC cards in the Czech Republic. GTS Alive is part of the multinational group GTS Alive Group, headquartered in Prague, with branches in seventeen countries across four continents.
The ISIC student card was created in 1953 in Copenhagen, Denmark, by the student union. In 1968, UNESCO recognized the card as the only internationally valid document proving student status. In 1989, the paper version of the ISIC card was replaced by a plastic card. It was only in the 1990s that the ISIC card came to the Czech Republic, while Western European countries had a significant head start. However, the card now has very wide use in the Czech Republic—primarily as a student identification card, but also in public transport, school canteens, and libraries. ISIC can also help secure school access or is used for a range of student discount benefits.
Today, the ISIC card is increasingly taking on a digital form. Recently, the Alive App mobile application was launched in the Czech Republic for this purpose. Newly, the Alive Verify tool also operates here, allowing merchants easy electronic verification of ISIC and ITIC cards directly in stores using a QR code. Additionally, the Alive Alumni program was launched, allowing graduates who no longer have student status to continue to use some of the ISIC card benefits.
The currently ongoing anniversary conference in Prague includes, besides representatives of ISIC publishers from around the world, guests such as UNESCO and European Commission officials, for example, the EU Youth Coordinator Biliana Sirakova. Also participating are representatives from the European University Association, the European Students’ Union, the Erasmus Student Network, and other organizations.
The conference program also features a student panel, during which Czech students will express their views on the functioning of the ISIC card and what services they would expect from it in the future. Students will also discuss, among other topics, with one of the legends of the ISIC Association, Toni Brandi, who helped develop the ISIC card in the Czech Republic in the 1990s.
Notes for editors:
The company GTS Alive s.r.o. issues and manages student cards ISIC and pupil cards ISIC Školák (ISIC Scholar), teacher cards ITIC, and occasionally other cards in the Czech Republic. The company was established in August 2000. Its predecessor in the Czech Republic was GTS International. GTS Alive s.r.o. is part of the international group GTS Alive Group, headquartered in Prague, with branches in seventeen countries across four continents.
Through the chip identification system ISIC PORT, GTS Alive also provides a number of primary and secondary schools with access security to their buildings and an electronic attendance system. The company also mediates travel or accident insurance for students, among other services.
For more information contact:
- Jan Šimral, media representative of GTS Alive
- Phone: +420 737 944 370
- E-mail: info@jansimral.com
