Just few days away from AEGEE Spring AGORA - Valletta 2007, and AEGEE has been once again prominantly featured in Maltese Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Times. The article written by AEGEE-Szeged member Zsofia Toth, currently in Malta finalising her thesis, focuses on what AEGEE is all about, its history, functions, structures, the Summer Universities project success story and the future of our association.

Article: AEGEE - Your Key to Europe
By Ms. Zsofia Toth, ex-board member of AEGEE-Europe Public Relations Working Group.

AEGEE, which stands for Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l'Europe (European Student Forum), is one of the biggest interdisciplinary student associations in Europe. It is represented by 17,000 students, active in 260 academic cities, in 40 countries all around Europe, which presents amazing culture variety. AEGEE is a secular, non-profit organization, not linked to any political party. All projects and activities are based on voluntary work of its members.
 
The Beginning

Already halfway there. "I want to work actively for European integration for 20 more years, until 2025. This will make a total of 40 years as I started with AEGEE-Europe 22 years ago. Then I'll let the next generations take over," says Franck Biancheri, who founded AEGEE in 1985. The energetic French think-tank leader will be 66 years old by then, but he was already listed by Time Magazine as one of the "Top 20 European Heroes" in 2003 - joining a group of famous personalities like Nelson Mandela, Zinedine Zidane and Pope John Paul II. The reason for this recognition was the Newropeans Democracy Marathon, organized by Mr. Biancheri himself.

However, noone would have predicted the AEGEE project would become a success, when Biancheri started his studies in the early 80s. His reason for entering the elite French University Sciences Po did not suggest a future leader  of European integration. "I was mainly a scientific person, who made my baccalaureat with a focus in mathematics,' he recalls. "I did not want to become an engineer. But I was still unsure exactly of what I wanted instead. While I thought about it, I decided to enter Sciences Po, mainly because it is located in the centre of Paris."

Soon he became involved in university politics and served three years as president of the "Bureau des Eleves", the student office at university. This was when Franck developed the idea of creating AEGEE. "I missed quite a few classes because of my activities," he remembers. What started with nine Western European cities, today  is active in 42 European countries. It was at the first conference entitled EGEE where  he aimed to overcome the continuing paralysis of the European integration process, with 700 young Europeans from nearly all of the EC countries attending the event. Held in Paris and coordinated by Franck Biancheri, the conference presented the views of the participants to national and European institutions. Later, the participants began to establish local groups to promote European integration in their home cities, there-by creating a network which was called AEGEE from 1988 onwards.

The Erasmus Mobility Programme - an idea originated by AEGEE

It was during the early stage, that AEGEE took a big step with the successful lobbying campaign for the implementation of the Erasmus Mobility Programme. AEGEE representatives had a series of meetings with several government representatives, crucial in this respect being a lunch with French President Francois Mitterand. Mr. Christoph H. Vaagt, at that time a young student from Munich, took part in the meeting that successfully launched one of today's most important and popular student programmes throughout Europe: the Erasmus Mobility Scheme. "It was an intensive meeting, but we were very well prepared to make this happen", commented Mr. Vaagt. "Non Monsieur Mitterand, je suis representant de l'Europe!", said Mr. Vaagt, whilst recalling a small anecdote about his encounter with the French President, when he asked him if he was representing the German students.

Without AEGEE, surely over 1 million European students between 1989 and 2007 might not have had the chance to study abroad.

Today, AEGEE cooperates with other student organizations such as the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) and Erasmus Student Network (ESN). A Socrates Action Day was actioned in Autumn 1997, which not only promoted Socrates programme, but also helped to reveal its weak parts, as a first step to  improve them. Another important project, was a joint-initiative with ESIB, ESN and the European Commission, entitled: Socrates on the Move. This project took place for the first time in 2000. It produced a joint statement on the importance of mobility, the setting up of a collaborative network among the European student organizations and European institutions working in the field of mobility and the dissemination of information concerning mobility with European education. Its success was continued by Socrates on the Move II in 2001.

For 2007, AEGEE-Europe's Yearplan Project is entitled: "Unlimited Education" aiming to improve European education and promoting students' mobility.

Patrons of AEGEE-Europe

Over its 22 years of existence, AEGEE has enjoyed the support of a wide variety of important people, including Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, Francois Mitterand, former President and Jacques Chirac, current President of France, Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt, EU Commissioners Gunter Verheugen and Danuta Hubner, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer and Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament.

At present, AEGEE-Europe enjoys the patronage of Mikhail Gorbachev, Vaclav Havel, Jacques Santer, Catherine Lalumiere and Romano Prodi amongst others.

AEGEE structure - no national level

One of the factors distinguishing AEGEE from other student associations is its unique structure. As  it is an ambassador  for promoting international co-operation and braking physical and mental barriers within Europe, AEGEE does not recognize any national level or national administration in its organizational structure. The association operates on two levels, the local and the European one. Academic cities across the continent provide bases for the AEGEE locals (aka antennas), which directly implement the aims of the association in a way that serves best the needs of their local student community. Being active on campus, organizing conferences, seminars, debates, cultural excursions, sports tournaments, parties and social activities for the local and Erasmus students on their respective campus, are some of the typical activities an AEGEE local organizes throughout the year.

AEGEE in action

AEGEE has consultative status at the United Nations, operational status at UNESCO, and participatory status at the Council of Europe. It is also a member of the European Youth Forum and has close relations with OSCE and the World Bank. AEGEE has always been on the frontline of action shaping Europe. It was one of the first European NGO's to expand beyond the iron curtain, one of the first European NGO's to accept local branches in Turkey, offered support to students in Bosnia, supported democracy movements such as in Serbia and in Ukraine and set-up a grant programme for students from the Balkans. Peace and Stability is one of the 4 main fields of action that AEGEE today adopts and pursues effectively throughout the network. The other fields of action are Cultural Exchange, Active Citizenship and Higher Education.

Several Working Groups within the European Level have been created so that debates and serious discussion are held amongst the network, enticing further events and seminars to happen across the 240 antennas. The Cultural Working Group was created in 1997 to enhance knowledge and understanding of Europe's cultural riches. The East-West Working Group was influential in the first enlargement of AEGEE into Central and Eastern Europe. AEGEE had been a Western European association until 1990. With the reopening of the East, the organization was forced to find a new structure which would suit its future needs. "The Berlin Wall was not only present in the minds of people in the East of Europe, but also in the West" commented Michael Merker, today working for the European Commission in Brussels. Merker was the person responsible to spearhead the integration of East and West for AEGEE. "In its first years in the 80's, AEGEE only addressed student matters within the EC. At the time the Wall fell, this approach was in peril already, because people knew that Europe was bigger than the EC. The collapse of the communist countries opened the door once and for all".

The meeting point for people who are interested in the European dimension of higher education is the Education Working Group, whereas, founded in 1994, the Human Rights Working Group addresses issues such as civil society, migration, and crimes against humanity. It organizes conferences on human rights issues, and its members campaign against human rights violations. A particularly active Working Group is the International Politics Working Group. The IPWG as it is commonly known, has been organizing a wide variety of conferences, seminars and workshops on international relations and politics issues. In 2004, the IPWG coordinated the Yearplan Project "Europe's identity".

 

A Public Relations Working Group supports the whole network, working groups and antennas in PR activities. It organizes twice a year, a PR European School, which is highly attended by members that want to become active on the European level. It also develops strategies for attracting and involving members at all levels of AEGEE. Last but not least, AEGEE has its own Academy, where it provides strategic support for AEGEE's work by training and motivating members. It organizes training seminars, provides trainers for local training courses and maintains a large database of teaching materials.

The latest addition to the list of working groups is AEGEE TV, where students interested in journalism, communications as well as film making, come together to work on various related projects and seminars, in a truly multi-cultural environment. An annual AEGEE Film Festival event is organized within the network.

Summer Universities - a story of success.

AEGEE Summer Universities is the most successful project ever. History was made in 1988, when 11 summer language courses were organized in ten different cities in Europe - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Heidelberg, Kiel, Madrid, Milan, Orleans, Paris, Seville and Toulouse. 290 lucky people participated. Since than, AEGEE has given the opportunity to thousands of European students, to explore Europe in a different way, every summer. An unforgettable two-week summer experience spent with a group of young people from different academic backgrounds from all over Europe for as little as 120 Euros, is the essence of an AEGEE Summer University. Over 150 destinations to choose from, and organized by students for students, the Summer University provides an exceptional first-hand experience to explore new cultures, improve language skills and make new friends. One could be learning Italian cooking in Salerno, become a medieval knight in Munster, sail on a ship in Peiraias, volunteer in a children's theatre in Zaragoza, be a movie star in Istanbul, learning Maltese language in Valletta and more. This explains the diversity and endless opportunities on offer.

The future of AEGEE

Since AEGEE was founded in Paris, now 22 years ago, the association has worked intensively for European integration.  Europe in 2007 is no longer  in the same reality as it was in 1985. With European integration close to completion, what is left for AEGEE to fight for? Does the association still have a goal? The answer is a definite YES.

In the past years, the contours of a new world order with new threats and opportunities have slowly become more visible. With the ideological battle between communism and capitalism won by the latter, the struggle seems to have shifted to the cultural and religious divisions in the world. European integration is not just based on political and economic motives. AEGEE believes in the fundamental values of tolerance, human rights, freedom of speech and religion and international understanding. With a  Europe comprised of so many different cultures, AEGEE has to argue as strongly as possible against discrimination and simplistic populism. We must continue our efforts to bridge cultural and ethnic divisions, acting as an international example.

Our association can look back with pride on the results achieved for the benefit of Europe. The future will demand students who are strong, stubborn and open-minded. AEGEE has changed and its role in Europe is changing, so it is important that students - the future leaders - set new goals that address the needs of our time.

AEGEE is and remains the Key to Europe. We make Europe happen! For more information about AEGEE, click on www.aegee.org or the AGORA event website: www.agoravalletta2007.org