The ELSA

President’s WordELSA itself has somethingspecial, something that for aperiod of our life makes it soimportant. But I doubt thatevery individual memberwho is counting ELSA as oneof the main parts of his orher life knows why he or she is ready to dedicateso much: energy, enthusiasm, ideas andtime for this association. It takes some time tounderstand what ELSA means for our personaldevelopment and what potential it has.Usually people join it intuitively attracted bysome event, or nice people with a feeling thatsomething more powerful and strong hidesbehind it.Reaching for more Qualitywith ELSA ONLINESusanna MehtonenELSA InternationalEvery ELSA event has a value bigger than theevent itself; All ELSA events are directed tosomething more sublime and are finally aimingat the fulfilment of our philosophy. ELSA’sphilosophy is concretised through our vision,purpose and our means. Our fields of activitiesand particular events serve as the means,which bring us to the ELSA members who aremaking these activities and events come true.ELSA is constituted by the actions of singleindividuals and in the end of the day ELSA aimsto develop these individuals. Everything inELSA starts and finishes with the individual –the greatest treasure of our association. ELSA’sstructures and programmes are a mere frame,which serve as a platform for individuals torealise activities and develop personally. Onlythrough the individual experiences, as organiseror participant, ELSA can reach its philosophyand aims.ELSA is a medium where the individual ELSAmembers have the possibility to get to knowtheir own capacities, their own interests. Theylearn to define their ideas, to present them toothers, to realise those ideas and to work in ateam. There are so many things you are facingwhen doing ELSA activities – you make yourfirst bigger personal achievements as well asmistakes from which you gain experience.People who come to ELSA spend a period oftheir life, make their very individual input andleave it after some time to start their professionalcareer. This makes it difficult to developELSA with the speed, in which a less dynamicorganisation can develop. However thedynamic of ELSA is exactly what brings theindividual benefits. ELSA stays there; ELSA hasbeen for many years and will stay there formany more. ELSA is always ready to receivenew individuals who are ready to meet theirchallenges and make their way through ELSA.This means that persons leave ELSA, and onemight think that is sad. But persons do not onlyleave ELSA; they bring with them their experienceand knowledge, their good and badmemories; they leave with opened minds andfriends all over Europe. And they are rememberedin ELSA as the ones bringing ELSA onestep closer to our philosophy. Through whatthe members gained in ELSA we come one stepcloser to a just world where there is respect forhuman dignity and cultural diversity.The characteristics of the StudentTrainee Exchange Programme combiningprofessional experience with culturalexchange and interlinking individualsto ELSA makes STEP one of themost significant ways for ELSA toachieve its aims and leave an impacton society. The purpose of STEP is tooffer law students and young lawyersan experience where they can developtheir professional skills and knowledgeabout law as well as experienceanother culture and society.Individuals and individual exchange iswhat disinguishes STEP from our otherkey areas. In delivering quality servicesin STEP, we fulfil our responsibilitiestowards these individuals and ELSA. Inone of the discussion sessions in theInternational STEP Meeting where theimportance of quality services wasraised one of the participants stated,“If we don’t do it well, then why do itat all?”.What does quality mean in the endand how can we reach it? Quality istraineeships, which are realised in asatisfactory way for all partiesinvolved. Meaning that employer Adefines what kind of traineeship hewill offer and what kind of trainee hewould like to have and that he canchoose amongst applications a traineeB who fits into this definition. This isquality, in a very simplified manner.Quality does not end with a perfectmatch, it ends with a satisfactoryexchange taking place. Quality meansa positive STEP experience. That containsbesides matching our servicingfor and communication with theemployers before, during and afterthe traineeship, and for the trainee itmeans preparation before and receptionduring the traineeship. From ourside, quality is a question of responsibility,efficiency and accuracy. Qualityis also a question of proper evaluationand recognising what kind of traineeshipsand applications you have,analysing what kind of services youoffer and knowing how and what todevelop. To perform this you need thesufficient administrative tools andtrained, motivated individuals. Thereare many tools available in our networkto assist quality in STEP; training,evaluation, implementation of thePolicies and for the administration andstatistics parts ELSA ONLINE.The role of ELSA ONLINE in increasingquality in STEP is evident and irreplaceable.By using it we will becomemore efficient and accurate in ouradministration, we will be able tooffer an application and matching serviceof higher quality, hence guaranteehigher exchange satisfaction. Wewill also be able to see long and short-term statistics of STEP and be able toevaluate our programme in a moredetailed manner. In short, we willbecome more professional in everyway.The first ideas of using a computerprogramme for matching in STEP werebrought up in the late 80’s, later thedream was given a name - the STEPcomputer programme and plans realisingthe dream started. Today, wehave more than a STEP matching programme,we have an online based systemfor management of our members,groups, organisations and STEP. ForSTEP this means that all our traineeshipsand applications are online,instead of on paper spread aroundEurope in folders and on diskettes. ForSTEP this means automatic matching,so that only qualified applications aresent to our employers and that ourapplicants will be matched to thetraineeships, which are tailored for astudent in their shoes. For STEP itmeans that we have detailed statistics4