European Level
AEGEE-Delft is one of the local of the international student
network of AEGEE-Europe. Since the establishment in 1985, AEGEE has
grown up to become a student organization which covers the most part of
Europe (more information in 'the history of AEGEE'). AEGEE-Europe has
now 241 locals in 40 different countries all over Europe. From Moscow
to Sevilla, nearly each European country has its AEGEE. What joins
those 15.000 people together is the interest into culture and
travelling, en ... Europe! AEGEE is a platform where students can talk
about the future of Europe. It maybe sounds very serious, but having in
mind that it's a very important theme, it also means that you get in
touch with AEGEE-members from each part of Europe. And it's not only
useful, but also very funny!
Missions
AEGEE is very active in four domains:
- Cultural exchanges
The AEGEE-exchange program par excellence is of course the SU program in the summer. But also during the year, weekly a lot of events are taking place. - Active participation to the society
AEGEE wants to make the students realise of the importance to be active in the society, by participating to society's debates concerning European themes, globalisation, entegration, etc. Within the AEGEE-network, jong people share their opinion on actual themes. - Higher education
AEGEE was founded when the Erasmus still didn't exist. In fact the real story is that the AEGEE-board at that time told the French president Mitterand about the necessity of a European program as the Erasmus program!
- Peace and stability
AEGEE wants the values on which Europe is build to spread and stay actual. This includes among other things democracy, the free expression of opinion, the open-mindedness and tolerance.
AEGEE makes no differences between countries - there are for example
no AEGEE-Holland. Contacts within AEGEE goes from locals to locals. Of
course people knows the locals coming from there own language area
better then those at the other side of Europe, but this has only to do
with distances. For example, AEGEE-Maastricht has a closer relation
with AEGEE-Köln than with AEGEE-Groningen. Within AEGEE, borders have
only few importance.
The AEGEE is politicly neutral and not related to a religion. The aim of AEGEE is an open and tolerant society, now and for the future.
How does AEGEE works?
AEGEE has in the course of year grown to a big, semi-professional organization. AEGEE-Europe is coordinated by a central board called the Comité Directeur (CD).
This board is directed by 9 representatives coming from different
AEGEE-locals. During one year, the work full time for AEGEE. There head
office is in the heart of Europe - Brussels. The CD's first task is the
coordination of all the locals. They work for a framework where the
different departments can find each other, en bring people from all
parts of Europe together to form working groups working on the
organisation of the Summer University, higher education,
visa-bureaucracy, or projects in order to convince jong people to go
and vote at the European elections.
AEGEE-Europe also have committees to support its own functioning, like AEGEE-Delft has:
- Audit committee: controls the finances of AEGEE.
- Juridical committee: support the CD en all AEGEE-locals on the
juridical area, for example for the setting up of statutes of niew
AEGEE-locals.
- IT-committee: maintenance of the IT infrastructure of AEGEE-Europe.
- Network committee: keep the AEGEE network active. They support AEGEE-locals, stimulate them to remain or become active en helps them for the setting up of new locals. Whenever you have a question about your AEGEE-local, they will be able to answer you.
AGORA
Two times a year, the delegates of each AEGEE-locals come together to discuss about the development of the society. This is called the "AGORA". Each year, it takes place in an other AEGEE-city. AEGEE having 241 local, imagine how big the event is!
The AGORA is the general members meeting of AEGEE-Europe en is organized 2 times a year. 800 AEGEE-members come together as delegates to a guest city somewhere in Europe. During three days, they discuss about propositions, take decisions, give workshops and there is of course als a social program.
Liaison Officers
The Liaison Officers are the face of AEGEE to the outside. On this way, AEGEE can defend its point of view to international social organisations. For example, AEGEE has liaison offices for the united nations, the UNESCO and the European youth organizations.
For more information, check on the website of AEGEE-Europe, www.aegee.org.



