AEGEE - What it exactly is?

AEGEE is one of the biggest interdisciplinary student associations in Europe. This organization it is represented by 15.000 students that are active in 235 academic cities, in 40 countries all around Europe. AEGEE is a secular, non-profit organization, not linked to any political party. All projects and activities are based on voluntarily work of its members.

Our main aim is to promote a unified Europe without prejudices, to strive for creating an open and tolerant society of today and tomorrow and to foster democracy, human rights, tolerance, cross-boarder co-operation, mobility and European dimension in education

AEGEE activities:

• Conferences - almost on every subject; serious ones like the EU enlargement, transportation in UE, nationalism but also more slack subjects like World Behind Beer or SEX in Europe. It is the most important activity led by AEGEE. All students meet professionals, they make contacts and share their opinions with others,
• Summer Universities - unique international summer courses; every year in around 100 places all over Europe, multicultural groups of 20-50 young people enjoy together the wonders of cultural variety. They can focus on: art, history, languages, nature or sports,
• Projects - every year, during a General Assembly (AGORA), AEGEE members decide on a Yearplan Topic -the tematic frame for projects involving whole Network, e.g. "Youth & Globalization" -2003, "European Identity" -2004 and "Tolerance - Acceptance - Peace" -2005,
• Trainings - AEGEE offers to its members a professional Internal Education System with about 8 international trainings (different kinds of "European Schools") and many Local Training Courses per year. Trainings are based on a balanced combination between theory and practice in the formula of lectures followed by casework. Trainings are a tool of knowledge transfer within the organization, help members to develop their personal skills and complement education with lifetime experiences.

Structure - no national level:

In order to really promote international co-operation and avoid creating any physical or mental borders AEGEE does not recognize any national level or national administration in its unique organizational structure, which is based on:

• Local level - where people from the 235 autonomic AEGEE locals directly implement AEGEE aims in a way that serves best the needs of their local community,
• European level - which gives the great common frame and direction for all local activities and provides a platform for international co-operation in multicultural teams.

OUR HISTORY

1985-88: THE BEGINNING
16 April 1985 is recorded as the birthday of AEGEE. On this day a huge conference , called "EGEE" (Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l'Europe) was opened in Paris. EGEE wanted to be a plat-form for young Europeans to discuss the future of Europe, to present their ideas to the officials of the EC institutions and national governments. The participating students also wanted to influence European policy in favor of students. Starting in Paris, the association was soon present in Munich, Milan, Leiden, London and Madrid. In 1988 the new name was set up. Since then - AEGEE (Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l'Europe) has already established in 40 university cities.

1989-95: EMBRACING THE EAST
On the day the Berlin Wall crumbled in 1989, AEGEE decided to open up to interested students in Central and Eastern Europe. AEGEE-Europe supported the development in Central and Eastern Europe, especially by transferring major events to Eastern Europe like the AGORAs in Budapest (November 1991) and Praha (April 1993) and the Presidents' Meeting in Kraków (March 1992).

1996-99: GROWING PROFESSIONALISM IN BRUSSELS
The growing network, the rising number of external contacts in Brussels, the increasing workload for the CD and the growing lack of control all shouted for a stronger administration. In autumn 1996 everything was moved to Rue de l'Orme 10, Brussels-Etterbeek. Still, in December 1998 AEGEE-Europe had to move again, to its current location in rue Nestor de Ti?re 15, Brussels-Schaerbeek. In Brussels, being closer to the European institutions, the European board was able to focus stronger on PR and European-wide thematic projects with 10 to 20 congresses, seminars and other actions.

2000-2005: SUPPORTING THE EU ENLARGEMENT AND DEMOCRATISATION IN THE EAST
During last years AEGEE focused on intensive supporting the EU enlargement and on democratization in the Eastern Europe. In 2005 the main focus of the AEGEE member is the 20th Anniversary of the Association. Series of conferences, celebrations are organised all around Europe, not to mention the biggest Gala event ever to be organised in Praha, in September 2005.

Helpful AEGEE dictionary

Academy	- The Academy is an AEGEE working group whose primary goal is to facilitate transfer of knowledge within the AEGEE network to new members. The board together with about 70 dedicated Academy members devote their time to organize several training schools during the year, of which the European School probably is the most famous. In one week participants are guided through the entire process of event organization and other aspects of working in an intercultural team.
Agora	- The Agora, the General Assembly of AEGEE, meets twice a year. Almost 1000 AEGEE members gather for three days in order to discuss proposals, projects, strategies and policies for the following several months. It is also the meeting at which all important decisions concerning the future of AEGEE are taken.
Antenna	- it's the name of an AEGEE local group. An antenna usually organizes at least one European event per year as well as any number of local activities. Currently there are over 235 antennae in 40 European countries.
Biancheri Frank	- the founder and the first president of AEGEE-Europe (1985- 1988).
Booklet	- a brochure with some information, which is distributed to event's participants.
Comité Directeur (CD)	- board of directors which consists of up to of nine AEGEE members from at least four countries. Every CD member has a particular area of responsibility. As a team, the CD is the chief administrative and representative body of AEGEE, with responsibility for contact with the European Union institutions and The Council of Europe.
Commissions	- The Commissions are elected to support and monitor the work of the CD. There are currently four commissions: the Audit Commission, the Members Commission, the Juridical Commission and the Network Commission.
Contact (C)	- one person or group of people that are interested in creating AEGEE local in their city.
CSN (Card Serial Number)	- serial number of AEGEE member card. It is very important because you need it to apply to every AEGEE event.
European School (ES)	- an Internal Education event designed for new AEGEE members giving them a crash course in basic project management, attracting and keeping members, fundraising and PR techniques. It also provides experienced AEGEE members with the necessary skills in the field of advanced project management.
European Night	- one of the most popular, traditional and unforgettable AEGEE party. It is organized on almost every event and international meeting.
Event	- every activity and meeting organized by AEGEE, for example Agora, RegMet, SU, ES etc.
Key to Europe	- AEGEE newspaper, which is published once a year (for a spring Agora). In this newspaper you can find information about everything that our organization did during last year.
Planning Meeting (PM)	- the association's think tank. It serves to give orientation for AEGEE's thematic work and takes place twice a year: in March under the title "Think Europe!" and in September as the "Action Europe!" meeting.
Project Teams	- teams which manage the Europe-wide projects of AEGEE. These projects are composed of multiple coordinated activities in different places intended to achieve specific goals, either in the long term, or over a set period.
Region	- in AEGEE you can't find something like AEGEE - Poland or AEGEE - Spain, so to make it easier the whole Europe was divided into smallest regions. Poland with east part of Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast belong to Central Region.
Regional Meeting (RegMet)	- it's a meeting that gather in one place people from one region. They talk about the most important issues, make friends and plan their future.
Spirit, AEGEE Spirit	- this is something that can't be described with words. It's an extreme atmosphere, spirit that is present in every AEGEE meeting.
Summer University	- unique international summer courses, successfully carried out by AEGEE already for 18 years! Every year, in around 100 places all over Europe, multicultural groups of 20-50 young people, enjoy together the wonders of cultural variety. They can focus on: art, history, languages, nature or sports.
Training For Trainers (T4T)	- as Internal Education events can't exist without trainers, we are paying special attention to them. In order to offer our trainers the best possible development opportunities we organize regular Training for Trainers. Trainers get the opportunity to learn more about how to prepare an Internal Education event and how to structure different elements (lectures, workhops, simulation,...) in the best way.
Working Groups (WG)	- the thematic and specialist backbone of AEGEE. They are international groups of AEGEE members who are interested a particular field. Some focus on a particular theme, such as Human Rights, and others offer support in a particular discipline, such as Public Relations.
Workshop	- exercises and trainings that are led during AEGEE meetings.