IAESTE Review Cover 01

IAESTE and thanked him for his dedication to
the Association and for his care and attention to
all its members and co-operating institutions
over the last six years. As the outgoing General
Secretary is somewhat of a thespian in his leisure
time he appreciated the Japanese masks
presented to him by the incoming AC member,
Professor Tanimoto. Jim also
received a number of individual
gifts from delegates. Mr Jeff
Lange, former AC member and
current SID Co-ordinator paid
tribute to Ms Susan Mollon for
her excellent contribution as
meeting secretary and assistant
to Jim Reid and the former GS Professor
Abdallah Sfeir. The General Secretary, Pauline
Ferguson, then thanked IAESTE Austria for their
excellent organisation, hospitality and
friendship during the Conference with special
thanks to Ms Monika Kümmel, National
secretary and Thomas Faltner, the Conference
organiser.
At the final Conference session Ms
Christina Vakomies, National Secretary,
IAESTE UK informed the members of the
sudden death of Professor Henry Cohen,
former Chair of IAESTE UK’s Advisory
Committee. Professor Cohen had been
responsible for IAESTE in the early years of
its development in Imperial College
London and was a true friend to IAESTE.
He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
Professor Dr Mohamed Harajli, National
Secretary, IAESTE Lebanon and Chairperson,
received a presentation from former AC member
Henning Huuse, to acknowledge the excellent
manner in which he had conducted the
Conference sessions.
Finally the General Conference thanked the
Honorary President, Rolf Kratochwil, sponsors
and guests who had supported IAESTE Austria
and the conference events and the hotel
management and staff for their courtesy and
support during the conference.
GC 2004: My New Experience
BY MARYAM FARAHANI SECRETARY OF THE IAESTE COMMITTEE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN
In 2002 the University of Tehran joined the
International Association for the Exchange of
Students for Technical Experience as a new cooperating
institution. Simultaneously, I started
to work as the Secretary of the Committee.
Although the work seemed to be timeconsuming
and required a person with too
much energy and concentration, I found it
really interesting to be involved in an
international organisation. Besides increasing
my knowledge, I could learn many new aspects
of life through this worldwide activity. I
became familiar with different nations by
reading about various countries. In summer
2003 we received three trainees from Europe
whose presence in our first year of membership
provided us with lifelong memories.
In January 2004 I had the great opportunity of
participating in the 56th IAESTE Annual
Conference, which was held in Vienna. It could
be mentioned as one of my life’s best
experiences. The Conference was much more
than an ordinary seminar. I took part in the
Meet and Greet session the very first night where
I met new members of IAESTE, and the new
General Secretary Ms. Pauline Ferguson, then the
opening ceremony, the exchange sessions, the
conference sessions, the international party, and
the social programme which were all full of nice
incidents. Through the exchange sessions I had
the chance to meet those people with whom I
had been acquainted through e mails during the
two years of my work in IAESTE.
Thanks to the efforts and co-operation of all
our committee members; executive and
scientific, the support of the University of
Tehran, other universities and companies, we
were able to increase our offers from 20 in 2003
to 100 in 2004. During the seven days of our
stay in Vienna, we exchanged 43 offers with
different countries including among others
Greece, Germany, Brazil, China, UK, Oman,
Switzerland, Finland and Sweden.
As well as attending the very well organised
Conference, I had the chance to visit Vienna’s
Albertina, Stadtsoper, Stephansdom,
Karlskirche, and lots of other beautiful places. I
made many new friends from different IAESTE
committees, and learned new methods of
working during the conference sessions. The
important thing for me was that this
conference was an exchange of knowledge and
viewpoints as well as information sharing on
culture and experience.
I hope that IAESTE Iran at the University of
Tehran continues to be a successful cooperating
institution of IAESTE for many
years, and I hope that we can form a
National Committee in the near future.
I would like to thank Mr. James E. Reid;
previous GS, Dr. Gheitanchi; one of my
university professors, Dr. Shekarchizadeh;
person responsible for IAESTE in the
University of Tehran, Dr. Jabbehdar; the Head
of our scientific committee, and Mr. Alizadeh,
our committee advisor, and all those who made
this journey to GC 2004 a memory that I will
never forget.
Professor Pulat Pulatov
NS Tajikistan presented
the former General
Secretary with a
traditional Tajik gift
Maryam Farahani and
Dr Shekarchizadeh,
University of Tehran,
Iran, at an Exchange
Session at the Vienna
General Conference
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