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AnniversaryCongratulationsIAESTE Portugal -Celebrating its Golden JubileeIn 1954 Portugal was elected as an Associatemember of IAESTE at the General Conferencein Vienna, where the founding NationalCommittee was represented by the lateProfessor Correia de Barros. Since that date ithas been possible for Portugal to exchangeevery year, without any interruption, studentsof higher education for training abroad throughIAESTE. Professor Bernardo Herold was NationalSecretary from 1965 to 2003. For the first 30years from 1954, IAESTE was, together withAIESEC, the only international exchangeprogramme open to university students fromPortugal. Before Portugal joined the EuropeanCommunity, and before becoming a democraticstate, this was a unique opportunity forPortuguese students to spend a period oftraining in a foreign country during theirundergraduate studies. In spite of havinginvolved only a small number of students(between 20 and 60) every year, theconsequences of the existence of thisprogramme were enormous. Many of thestudents, who had been selected among manycandidates based solely on academic merit andlanguage skills, became in their later life keyfigures in industry and public service. They allagree that training abroad with IAESTEdramatically changed their outlook on science,engineering and culture at large, and thushelped them to contribute successfully towardsthe modernisation of the country. A moredetailed history of IAESTE Portugal can befound in the IAESTE Annual Review 2003,pages 17 to 18.“Bernardo’s dedication to IAESTE will beunsurpassable. I doubt that I will be able todedicate as many years as he did. I can onlypromise to do the best I can, as NationalSecretary.IAESTE Portugal still has a long way to go.There are many things that need to be done,but with willingness, our objectives will be met.I am honoured to be part of this internationalfamily that is so kind to receive new membersin such a warm way.”Professor Bernardo HeroldNational Secretary IAESTEPortugal 1965-2003Mrs Silvia Santos is nowthe new NationalSecretary of IAESTEPortugal.IAESTE Japan : 40th Anniversary YearIt was in the Spring of 1963 that theEngineering Student Friendship Association ofthe University of Tokyo received an official letterof invitation to the IAESTE organisation fromthe Headquarters of IAESTE International inBonn. Through consultation with the Ministryof Education, four leading universities, namelythe University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute ofTechnology, the Waseda and Keio Universities inthe Tokyo Area formed the core of IAESTE Japan,and Japan was accepted as an Associate memberat the Lucerne GC in January 1964. Three moreuniversities in the Osaka Area also joined - theOsaka, Kyoto, and Doshisha Universities. Since1965 these seven universities have played animportant role as core institutions.Japan reached its 40th Anniversary in 2004. ByJanuary 2004 we had successfully exchanged5,500 students with the help of 18 localuniversities and more than 400 companies.IAESTE Japan was registered as a legal body inthe Ministry of Education in 1982. In thebeginning the management of IAESTE activitieswas through students’ efforts, which weresupported by distinguished executives such asMasaru Ibuka, Soichiro Honda and KonosukeMatushita to name but a few. They were thedriving force of Japanese industries as foundersof SONY, HONDA, and PANASONIC companiesrespectively.Based on the energetic contribution ofconsecutive National Secretaries IAESTE Japanhas been kept in good shape up to today. TheNational Committee is very thankful to Messrs.K.Ozawa, H.Ishiwatari, Y.Yasoshima, K.Ohta,D.Takahashi, H.Fujimura, H.Ikeda, M.Hirano,T.Hosoda, M.Tanaka, K.Izawa, T.Kunio, S.Murai,Y.Morita, O.Nittono, and S.Fukuda.14 I A E S T E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 0 4