Key 20 - AEGEE Europe

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20 years, 20 people EuroManagers: Creating a European job market The idea behind EuroManagers was simple and fresh: to create a cross-border marketplace for graduates’ jobs. In 1987, everybody was talking about the internal market of 1992, and AEGEE was lobbying for the Erasmus mobility programme. It became clear that companies would need more European managers, and students would look for careers suited to their international education. Therefore, as founding president of AEGEE-Köln I suggested organising a colloquium on cross-border recruitment of European graduates in Cologne. The response from universities and sponsors to our event was great. Many large companies such as Commerzbank, Siemens, Henkel and business schools such as Insead, HEC and Essec agreed to join. The colloquium became EuroManagers’87, the pilot project for a larger event the following year. I contacted two potential partners in Belgium: Spiros Nomicos of AEGEE-Bruxelles and Christian Hunt of AEGEE- Louvain-La Neuve. We decided to aim for a large job fair in Brussels. We had some professional experience in marketing and finance and wanted high standards. Quite a few of the Comité Directeur members were doubtful of our chances of success. To motivate us and to reduce the risk for AEGEE, we got the green light for creating an independent association, and it was set up in August 1987. One year of hard work followed. We cooperated with a professional exhibition company, AEGEE-Europe, AEGEE- Bruxelles and 20 “EuroManagers contacts” all over Europe. In February 1988, EuroManagers’88 included both a well-attended congress with wide press coverage and a forum, bringing together six companies and 30 universities with visitors from Brussels and beyond. A few months after the event, I joined McKinsey: EuroManagers needed new management. I introduced Stéphane Wajskop, a young Belgian lawyer, to the project. He and Christian transformed the fair into a “suite-based selection event”: Selected candidates were invited to meet employers in the suites of a prestigious hotel. Since they could not agree with AEGEE-Europe on any further cooperation, EuroManagers continued its activities alone as the Hunt/Wajskop company EMDS. They had great success in the following years. In 1994, for example, the seventh EuroManagers forum gave 675 top graduates, selected from 20.000 inquiries, the opportunity to meet recruiters from 34 multinational groups. They launched Euroengineers and several other products, and had up to ten offices around the world. In addition, our concept of a cross-border job fair for graduates, which was completely new, has been copied many times since then. What became a profitable company also clearly contributed to European integration. During the dotcom boom, EMDS was taken over by Vivendi at a high price and then sank into decline. Later, it was abandoned as part of Vivendi’s restructuring. It still exists on a smaller scale, but I cannot help feeling disappointed. Anyway, we should rejoice at the tens of thousands of graduates who found a job outside their country thanks to this venture born from AEGEE. For many years, I have heard the question: should the CD have refused to let EuroManagers become independent? My answer is: certainly not, it was a natural development. Organisations, like children, leave home when they grow up. Good parents should not be upset but proud. We planned a separate structure right from the start, immediately after the Cologne pilot project, with the explicit agreement from the CD and information given at the next Agora in Leiden in 1987. There were only few questions at that time, but more were posed later – once it became very successful. In fact, the biggest clash was with the think-tank Prometheus, whose founder was trying to use EuroManagers as a funding machine for the future party IDE, which ran candidates in the European Parliament elections in 1989. We maintained our autonomy, and I still believe that it was the right choice. A more general point is: should AEGEE encourage its projects to become professional and leave the student organisation? The answer for me is a clear yes. AEGEE is in an ongoing process of self renewal anyway. Of course, it is best to do this with good written principles and experience from the past is helpful. If AEGEE had not allowed us to carry out the EuroManagers project when we were in our twenties, perhaps we would not have been able to help AEGEE today – 20 years later. Christophe Leclercq 50 Photo: Portalier AEGEE-Europe
Europe meets Africa The first AEGEE event that concentrated on matters outside of the European Community was the Europe- Africa congress, organised by AEGEE-Paris from 7th until 10th December 1987. This event aimed to promote the establishment of an association of the same kind as AEGEE-Europe. Moreover, in combination with the Europe-Latin America Week organised by Jean-François Monteil and AEGEE-Strasbourg a few weeks later, the event was an attempt to constitute the embryo of AEGEE’s external relations policy. Alain Mathioudakis, president of AEGEE-Paris, and Ibrahima Din, the African student who was in charge of the congress managed to attract 100 African and 200 European students. European Commissioner Lorenzo Natali gave the keynote speech in the Grand Amphithéâtre of La Sorbonne next to the French minister for co-operation, Michel Aurillac. “The highlight that is still in the memories of many was a reception at the Elysée Palace by French President François Mitterrand, attended by around 50 Some event highlights of 1987 January Heidelberg (D): European Ecology Politics February Leiden (NL): Agora Leiden (NL): EGEE III - Europe, Unfinished Symphony March Amsterdam (NL): Which Defence for Europe? Delft (NL): Genetic Engineering in Europe London (UK): Air Transport in Europe Köln (D): Euromanagers 1987 Madrid (E): Mediterranean Environment Milano (I): A Technology Strategy for Europe Nice (F): Sports in Europe Paris (F): Political Marketing in Europe Lyon (F): Media in the Membership Countries April Athina (GR): Between Europe & Middle East July Heidelberg (D): European Literature August Madrid (E): Apoikia Summer Camp September Delft (NL): Presidents’ Meeting October Nürnberg (D): Europe Beyond Reykjavik Hamburg (D): Completing the Internal Market November Louvain-la-Neuve (B): European Currency Unit Sevilla (E): Agora München (D): European Space Congress December Paris (F): Primer Congress Europe-Afrique 20th Anniversary 20 years, 20 people European and 50 African participants,” recalls Bart Kuitwagen, participant. The follow-up with the African students, though, was less effective. Despite the general euphoria at the end of the final meeting, a network comparable to AEGEE has never been established in Africa. “We were, once more, 10 or 20 years ahead,” concludes Franck. Olivier Genkin Air transport in Europe Photo: Portalier Deregulation and security were the focus of the colloquium “Air Transport in Europe” by EGEE-London, which took place from 3rd to 8th March 1987. “This topic provides us with a good example of European cooperation, in both an economic and political sense,” announced Tim Rogmans, president of EGEE-London. During the autumn of 1986, European transport ministers had discussed the obstacles to liberalisation of European air fares in a series of meetings. The issues raised concerned consumers and governments, as well as both state-owned and private airlines. Sadly, Tim was proved right with the following statement: “With terrorism becoming a major problem for all airlines, co-operation in combating it is necessary”. Most of the conference was hosted by the London School of Economics, and it welcomed around 50 people. Representatives of KLM and British Airways spoke on deregulation and privatisation issues, along with academics and politicians. One of the highlights was the evaluation of “consumer interests and deregulation” by Mr Lipman, Executive Director of the International Foundation of Airline Passenger Associations. In the context of this event, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher accepted the patronage of EGEE. OG 51
Page 2 and 3: Our Mission We work hard to fulfill
Page 4 and 5: Greetings Dear Reader, Twenty years
Page 6: Starting from a spectacular student
Page 9 and 10: 20 years - 20 facts Did you know th
Page 11 and 12: The early years: “We got so much
Page 13 and 14: The network’s future: from the bo
Page 15 and 16: Activities With 100 Summer Universi
Page 17 and 18: From Paris to the heart of the EU -
Page 19 and 20: 20th Anniversary The idea: students
Page 21 and 22: etween, we visited everything from
Page 23 and 24: Patrons of AEGEE-Europe Over its 20
Page 25 and 26: Former AEGEE members: Career at int
Page 27 and 28: Dirk Berndsen during an Anciens sai
Page 30 and 31: Fields of Action Active European ci
Page 32 and 33: Fields of Action Cultural exchange
Page 34 and 35: Fields of Action AEGEE & Higher Edu
Page 36 and 37: Fields of Action Active for peace a
Page 38: AEGEE would be nothing without its
Page 41 and 42: However, no one would have predicte
Page 43 and 44: longer come from national politics.
Page 45 and 46: This short anecdote illustrates the
Page 47 and 48: What were the main results and the
Page 49: What does your schedule look like o
Page 53 and 54: This becomes obvious when he discou
Page 55 and 56: Through the years, SUs were taking
Page 57 and 58: Describe yourself at the age of 20,
Page 59 and 60: IDE in the 1989 EP elections 20th A
Page 61 and 62: “One month later we founded AEGEE
Page 63 and 64: Seven years on the front page Some
Page 65 and 66: How did you join AEGEE? During my s
Page 67 and 68: ipants during this ES made it an im
Page 69 and 70: What does AEGEE mean to you? AEGEE
Page 71 and 72: Europe of the Regions - A new struc
Page 73 and 74: David’s life story made him a pri
Page 75 and 76: Renewable energy is the future AEGE
Page 77 and 78: Why did you join AEGEE? AEGEE-Eindh
Page 79 and 80: Sports gyms and cold showers Ltd. I
Page 81 and 82: Oleh, we met for the first time in
Page 83 and 84: Albanians. A huge discussion starte
Page 85 and 86: dents, I took over and established
Page 87 and 88: The CST researchers in Novi Sad. In
Page 89 and 90: How did you join AEGEE? In 1995, I
Page 91 and 92: Socrates Action Day: Attention to e
Page 93 and 94: Although Bernhard left AEGEE in 200
Page 95 and 96: The borders are gone, but the probl
Page 97 and 98: While talking with her, Faní radia
Page 99 and 100: Some event highlights of 1999 Febru
Page 101 and 102:
active antennae on both sides of th
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Education for Democracy “Educatio
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AEGEE in Serbia was quite critical
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Socrates Promoters on the Move “S
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lot like it was my baby.” Another
Page 111 and 112:
Nomads in the job market The Europe
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guy in the Goethe Institute in summ
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Youth& Globalisation In 2002, AEGEE
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same way. These are only some of th
Page 119 and 120:
Artists on the stage Performance is
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Facing the problems of the future M
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Facing the problems of the future N
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Facing the problems of the future I
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Happy Birthday to AEGEE from our fr
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Key 20 - AEGEE Europe

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