AIESEC

and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society”. Its international office is currently in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The AIESEC network as of February 2008 includes 25,000 students in 105 countries at over 1100 universities across the globe, and realizing around 5000 exchanges yearly.

History

The idea behind AIESEC started in the 1930s, when representatives from schools across Europe exchanged information about various programs and schools that specialized in business and economy: by the late ’30s, students were carrying out internships in other countries, but mostly at their own incentive, and it all came to a standstill with the onslaught of World War II. In 1944, though, the neutral Scandinavian countries were still exchanging: in Stockholm, Bertil Hedberg (official at the Stockholm School of Economics) and the two students Jaroslav Zich of Czechoslovakia and Stanislas Callens of Belgium founded “AIESE”, the predecessor of AIESEC.

Informal activity “to help develop ‘friendly relations’ between member countries” began in 1946. AIESEC was officially founded in 1948. Callens said the goal was “to expand the understanding of a nation by expanding the understanding of the individuals, changing the world one person at a time.” In 1949, 89 students participated in the so-called “Stockholm Congress”, the first of many “Exchange Programs”. Soon, AIESEC became popular: by the end of 1960, 2467 exchanges were reported, and 4232 by the end of 1970. A landmark in AIESEC history was the “International Theme Programme” that officially established all international, regional, and local seminars on specific topics, which in time grew to be a guideline for future AIESEC generations. In the following decades, debated topics were International Trade, Management Education, Sustainable development, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsability, and in the 1990s, intranets called Insight were established to facilitate networking. As stated in the website, current AIESEC “provides over 5,000 leadership opportunities, 3,500 work abroad opportunities, 350 conferences, and virtual tools to build networks.”

AIESEC Today

AIESEC claims to be “the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential”. It claims to annually offer “5,000 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences to our membership of over 22,000 students, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in another country.” AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organisation.


AIESEC, former United Nations general secretary Kofi Annan said:

The United Nations has long recognised that the imagination, ideals and energies of young men and women are vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live. AIESEC has contributed to this development by serving as an agent of positive change through education and cultural exchange to develop a broader understanding of cultural, socio-economic and business management issues.
2008 marks the 60th anniversary of AIESEC's founding. Celebrations have occurred in London (January 2008)and Tokyo (March 2008). Upcoming celebrations are planned in Budapest (May 2008), Brussels (June 2008) and in Brazil (August 2008).
Structure
Each country (sometimes group of countries, or territories within a country) with an AIESEC presence has its own national Member Committee (MC), which coordinates activities for that area. Members also belong to a Local Committee (LC) for each university or city.

AIESEC Approach

As stated on their webpage, AIESEC strives for “positive social change” by using the so-called “AIESEC Way”. The AIESEC Way is described as a way of reaching “Peace and fulfillment of humankind’s potential.” According to AIESEC, there are six main values, namely Activating Leadership, Demonstrating Integrity, Living Diversity, Enjoying Participation, Striving for Excellence and Acting Sustainably.
On an individual level, AIESEC aims for the so-called AIESEC Experience, which aims at “young people to discover and develop their potential”. There are five key principles, namely Taking an Active Role (main goal: proactive behaviour), Developing Self-Awareness and Personal Vision (assuming responsiblity), Increasing Capacity (learning theory and applying it in practice), Building a Network (networking) and Challenging Worldview (holistic world view).

Partners
AIESEC holds several high-profile partnerships, among them with companies like Alcatel, ABNAMRO, Cadbury Schweppes, DHL, Electrolux, InBev, PwC, Enterprise Asia, Microsoft and UBS.

International Relations 4 class
Anar Zeynelov