The college was formed because the SSU and the Swedish Social Democratic Party planned to educate and train the next generation of trade union and political leaders by establishing an institution of higher learning with the mission to instruct these young social democrats on political matters such as trade union agreements and laws. Today it offers many popular courses each year on political science subjects. The curriculum is different from a regular political science academy in that the content of the courses is primarily focused on issues concerning the politics of the labour movement.