ESN History Book 2011 by Marco La Rosa

History Book 1989-2011

Copyright ÂŠ 2011 by the Erasmus Student Network. All rights reserved. ESN History Book 2011 By Tania Berman, Project Coordinator Published by: Erasmus Student Network AISBL Design: Marco La Rosa (marco.larosa@visualimpact.eu) Editing: Marco La Rosa Photos: ESN This Information may be freely used and copied for non-commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged (ÂŠ Erasmus Student Network). For ordering additional copies of the publication, please contact secretariat@esn.org or write to: Erasmus Student Network AISBL Rue Hydraulique 15 1210 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 256 7427 www.esn.org

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Table of Contents 7

10 12 14 21 25 28 30 33

40 42 43 45 47 48 50 52 54 56 59 61 66 67 68 69 70 77 80

Introduction Introduction

History of the network Preface ESN in 2003-2004 ESN in 2004-2005 ESN in 2006-2007 ESN in 2007-2008 ESN in 2008-2009 ESN in 2009-2010 ESN in 2010-2011

History Country by country ESN Austria ESN Azerbaijan ESN Belgium ESN Bosnia-Herzegovina ESN Bulgaria ESN Cyprus ESN Czech Republic ESN Denmark ESN Estonia ESN Finland ESN France ESN Germany ESN Greece ESN Hungary ESN Iceland ESN Ireland ESN Italy ESN Latvia ESN Lithuania

82 84 86 88 90 91 92 94 97 100 102 106 108 110

ESN Macedonia ESN Norway ESN Poland ESN Romania ESN Serbia ESN Slovenia ESN Slovakia ESN Spain ESN Sweden ESN Switzerland ESN The Netherlands ESN Turkey ESN United Kingdom ESN Ukraine

History of the ESN Logo

111 History of the ESN Logo 112 Corporate Identity 114 ESN Data 115 Thanks to

Introduction “Unity in diversity”: the slogan of the Erasmus Student network applies very well to its History Book. Its challenge? Unite an extreme diversity of histories. The Erasmus Student Network was created in 1989. In the first years, only some countries were part of the network. Nowadays, in 2011, 36 countries are present. How could the histories of those countries, that also face very different national and local situations, be homogeneous? Nevertheless, this book tries to show the different histories in a homogeneous way, providing, as much as possible, the same information for all the countries. How was this history written? The whole network was asked to contribute. The book is composed by two main parts: the history “year by year” and the history “country by country”. The National Representatives wrote the texts and found the pictures for their country, very often with the help of some of their country members - or of Alumni. Previous International Board members took the time to write about their year in Brussels and the evolution of the network during that time. Therefore, the text is a text written by the network for the network. And as much as the differences in the texts reflect the differences in the network, this book reflects the network. How proud can we be about this!! In 20 years, our network changed a lot. In real: it exploded. But we found a way to structure it: National Representatives, National Board sometimes, Council of National Representatives, International Board. An International Board working in Brussels, working very hard for the whole network. Sometimes without being well-known by the sections. Let’s use this space to thank them for that. Let’s use this space as well to thank the National Representatives that dedicate a lot of time and energy to the network. Let’s use this space also to thank our ESNers that deploy an amazing creativity and willingness to help the Erasmus Students. They are the basis of our network – its most needed roots. This is the second History Book of the Erasmus Student Network. The first one was written in 2002. A lot of the information contained in it has been used for the second edition of the book. But still, some information was lost in the meanwhile. What happened since 2002? The edition of a history book every 3 or 5 years would be needed in order not to lose too much information. National history books could also become national projects – some countries showed that they have enough material to do so. Why do we need a History Book? History helps us to remember where we come from, what are our values, what we stand up for, what keeps us together. In times of doubts, of troubles, of searching to decide what our future might be, the history of the past can lead our path. Seeing so many achievements, so many successes, may help a lot, in good and in bad times. For sure, this history book will provide us with more motivation, as we see all the way that was done by the different levels of the network. How many countries began their ESN story with only some motivated members, and are, today, represented by numerous ESNers that are extremely active and present in the network, and well-structured? Let’s have, with this History Book, a look in the past in order to better look at the future: in 20 other years, what will our network look like? Only one thing is sure: it will be what we do out of it… So let’s keep up the good work, let’s keep up the good spirit and motivation: let’s make it ESN-like!! Pallomeri, Tania Berman President of Erasmus Student Network 2011/2012

ESN History Book 2011

To the memory of Melinda Horvath

History of the Network ESN History Book 2011

Preface

Written by Davide Capecchi

PREFACE

In 1987 a plan to create an extensive mobility scheme for higher education was approved by the European Community (EC). One part of this was the Erasmus programme – about exchange for students in order to provide the opportunity to spend part of their studies abroad. In 1989 the Erasmus Bureau invited 32 former Erasmus Students for an evaluation meeting in Ghent, Belgium. This meeting was a starting point for Erasmus Student Network. During that meeting many issues arose about the Erasmus experience: such problems became the main tasks for the founders of ESN International to work on. Behind all this project stood the idea of “students helping students”, which has remained the most important motto in the work of ESN. ESN sections were founded in various European universities, and with financial support from the EC, in October, 1990 the meeting for the official founding of ESN International was organized in Copenhagen, Denmark with 49 participants from almost all member states of the EC. ESN International became a legal association. Desiree Majoor from Utrecht, Netherlands became the first president in ESN history. By 1994 ESN already had 60 sections in 14 countries and it was growing year by year. Unfortunately some of the sections also disappeared. 10 years on, in 2004, the ESN network consisted of 170 sections inside and outside of Europe, from Scandinavia to Morocco. The new technologies had tremendously enhanced the opportunities for collaboration among sections and frequent meetings were strengthening the ties between ESN members, as well as increased the possibility to exchange ideas and work together for a better future. In 2003 and up to 2004 ESN was a remarkable network of local student clubs, or ‘sections’, working for the benefit of local students. However, we were still a ‘baby organisation’ at the national and especially at international level: there were but a few national boards and the yearly turnover of the organisation was tremendously undersized if compared with the networks ambitions. Furthermore, the very idea of an international level organised, structured as a centre of provision of services was questioned thoroughly and shared as a wish of a handsome of visionaries. What happened in 2004 and 2005 was that such a vision was made reality.

Growth of the Network The growth of ESN is shown in the following graphs: 30

250

20 150 15 100 10

2005 2005 (septe (march) mber)

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Sections

104

116

132

149

152

159

160

164

185

200

Countries

Overall turnover in the budget of ESN until 2007:

Turnover (in EUR) 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

PREFACE

200

Sections

Countries

2007

As all will see, while the number of sections continued to increase proportionally in the years, not so the budget managed by ESN International. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until 2005 than a remarkable augmentation of turnover took place, and consequently of activities. We can say that during the years 2005-2007, therefore, a new way of living in the ESN world was created; its basis is the same as of today and the benefits of such a development are influencing also today the life of thousands of exchange students and ESNrs all around Europe and beyond.

ESN History Book 2011

ESN in 2003-2004

Written by Davide Capecchi

During 2003 at the AGM in Siena it was decided to change the structure of ESN on the international level, which meant that seven people were elected as the Board and all the countries within ESN had their own National Representatives constituting the Council of National Representatives (CNR). During the ESN year 03/04 the CNR of ESN International had 3 meetings: • 3rd-5th July in Vilnius, Lithuania • 26th-28th October in Budapest, Hungary • 13th-15th February in Maribor, Slovenia

2003

The following seven people were elected at the AGM in Siena as the Board of ESN International: Calle Johnzén, president, Leila Al Shammary, vice president, Outi Kavakka, treasurer, Zsófia Honfi, secretary and Irene Aklin, Dawid Gutkowski and Kristof van Tomme, regular members of the Board. Dawid Gutkowski had to resign from the Board during the Board Meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania and he was succeeded by Alberto Alvaro as the webmaster of the Board. The main aim of the Board was to put ESN on a higher international level, to become more of a representative body of ESN International and the National Representatives could focus more on the national level. To clarify this new situation the Board and CNR made an agreement during the CNR Meeting in Budapest where the tasks of both sides were stated. The importance of being visible in the European educational events and policy was put to the first place as an aim of ESN International for this year. The Board found in the beginning that there were a lot of gaps in the network between its levels. Therefore, most of the work of the Board together with the CNR was dedicated to filling in these gaps. One of the most important things was that the policy of ESN International on the Bologna Process was written and with the confirmation of the CNR it could be presented at the Berlin preparation Meeting in September. Furthermore the Board presented the “Statement of Principles of ESN International” that can be also used as a shortened general policy of the organisation, but on the other hand it makes the general policy of ESN more detailed and clearly stated. During the CNR Meeting in Budapest the members of the CNR with the help of members of the Board had an idea that would have shaped the future of ESN dramatically: they set up a workgroup called ESN Reforms to help realise and develop the approved goals of the Long Term Plan. As its first initiative the members of the group spent a week in Brussels to have meetings with the headquarters of the SOCRATES Office, members of the European Parliament, Academic Cooperation Association, Eurodesk and other student organisations such as ESIB, ELSA and AEGEE. According to the Long Term Plan of ESN International (approved on the Annual General Meeting in Siena 2003) ESN was to move to Brussels in 2006. A workgroup was set up to build up communication channels and intensify contacts with official bodies of the European Union and other student organisations relating to the European Higher Education Area. The workgroup was formed by Calle Johnzén, president, Kristof van Tomme, Media and Business Development, Zsófia Honfi, secretary, Christoph Graf, NR of Austria, Carlo Lanzinger, NR of Italy, Gintare Petkeviciute, NR of Lithuania, Jakub Jirka, NR of the Czech Republic and Michal Zasada, NR of Poland.

From 2004 the official magazine of ESN International, InCommon, was published online with new content and a new structure by the ESN section, KANTO ry from Helsinki Business Polytechnic in Finland. They had been elected as the Editorial Board of InCommon for one year and there was a need for a new section that could continue the great work of KANTO ry. This section was the Technical University Prague.

2003

Before the end of 2003 ESN had 164 full members in 25 countries. In 2003 ESN could approve a new country, Latvia and its first member section, ESN Riga, which was formed by three universities of Riga. At the end of the year 2003 ESN had lost Russia as a member country, along with Ukraine. Further new sections: ESN Riga from Latvia, ESN UCAM Murcia from Spain, ESN Tallinn from Estonia, ESN Paris from France, ESN Arcada from Finland, ESN Edinburgh from the United Kingdom, ESN M체nchen from Germany, ESN Eger from Hungary, ESN Viterbo from Italy, ESN Primorska from Slovenia, ESN Kufstein, ESN Steyr and ESN Med Uni Wien from Austira, ESN W채denswil and ESN Fribourg from Switzerland and ESN PO-Opole, ESN University of Gdansk, ESN GSE-Warsaw, ESN University of Warsaw, ESN AE Krakow, ESN Torun and ESN Wroclaw from Poland. The ESNCard was still a vision: in 2003, there were two national cards (Italy and Poland) as well as several local cards, which do not contain the ESN Logo. The Netherlands, France and Austria had plans on a national card as well. The vision was to have only one common card in the future, with the ESNLogo on it.

New Regional Platforms were furthermore organised: the Nordic Network Meeting in Bergen, Norway, the Southern European Platform in Sevilla, Spain and as a new project, the Central European Platform was organised for the first time in Ghent, Belgium. The Southern European Platform had to be cancelled due to lack of interest and lack of sponsors. Finally, concerning money, the yearly turnover of ESN in 2003 was 7237,01 EUR.

ESN History Book 2011

ESN in 2004-2005

Written by Davide Capecchi

In September 2004, the CNR in Tallinn approved four new countries: Cyprus, Morocco, Romania, Slovakia. So at the time of the AGM in Gdansk (March 2005) ESN had members in 27 countries in Europe and, for the first time in the network life, in Africa.

2004

During the year the Board of ESN International approved 22 new sections: Czech Republic (2): ESN Brno, ESN Olomouc Denmark (1): ESN Copenhagen France (3): ESN Lyon, ESN Troyes, ESN Télécom Bretagne Germany (1): ESN Hannover Italy (2): ESN AURE Camerino, ESN GEF Firenze Lithuania (2) : ESN Siauliai, ESN Kaunas Morocco (2): ESN Ifrane, ESN Marrakech Norway (1) : ESN Agder University College Poland (2): ESN-UL Lodz, ESN-UAM Poznan Portugal (1): ESN Lisbon School of Law Romania (1) : ESN Cluj-Napoca Spain (1): ESN EISN-UAB Barcelona Slovakia (1) : ESN Bratislava Sweden (1) : ESN Gàvle Switzerland (1) : ESN Sion This brought the total number of full members of ESN International to 185 sections. Four Regional Platforms took place: South European Platform (SEP) in Marrakesh (Morocco) from 9th to 12th of October, Central European Platform (CEP) in Velden (Austria) from 15th to 17th of October and Nordic Network Meeting (NNM) in Odense (Denmark) from 18th to 21st of November.

At the AGM in Helsinki the number of Board Members was reduced from seven to five. The following four people were elected at the AGM in Helsinki as the Board of ESN International: Zsofi Honfi, president, Pascal Gemperli, vice president, Giuseppe Lugano, network administrator and Stefan Jaeger, regular member of the Board. The fifth board member was elected at the CNR meeting of Debrecen (May 2004); Nick Andries, NR of Belgium was elected as treasurer of ESN International. In September, at the CNR meeting of Tallinn, the CNR moved a vote of no confidence to the president, Zsofi Honfi, who had practically waned in the atmosphere with no trace left behind. As a result, the Board reshuffled internally and Pascal Gemperli was elected as president and Giuseppe Lugano as vice-president. Stefan Jaeger agreed to be the network administrator. To fill the vacant place, Merilyn Keskula, NR of Estonia, was elected as regular board member. Due to the lack of time due to his new job, Stefan Jaeger couldn’t contribute and participate to most meetings, so the CNR moved a vote of no confidence to him at the CNR meeting in Athens in January 2005.

2005

The Board of ESN International had twelve meetings: • 22nd March in Helsinki, Finland • 24th-27th April in Winterthur, Switzerland • 5th-7th May in Debrecen, Hungary • 19th-20th June in Minho, Portugal • 3rd-4th July in Genoa, Italy • 13th-15th August in Dresden, Germany • 23rd-24th September in Tartu, Estonia • 19th-20th November in Odense, Denmark • 13th-15th December in Parma, Italy • 6th-8th January in Francavilla Fontana, Italy • 11th-13th February in Riga, Latvia • 12th-13th March in Warsaw, Poland

Financially, the Income Statement of 2004 consisted, on the income side, of the following turnover: membership fees 1.630,00 ,ESN Cards 3.597,50, with a total turnover of 5.227,50 EUR.

A partnership was launched with Petrus Communications: Kristof van Thomme, former ESN Int. Board member did an internship with them during 2004 and brought ESN in touch with PC. Before summer 2004 Pascal Gemperli went to Paris to meet with Kirsten Williamson, Managing Director of PC in order to negotiate our cooperation. After some further emails and phone calls they fixed an agreement so that PC would pay 500 Euro per quarter year for advertisement on www.esn.org with a link to a further page containing more information about the advertised organisation. The same principle could also be applied for www.incommon.info. With regard to the ESNCard, it was immediately clear that it would constitute probably one of the most important projects of ESN. For the first time the CNR approved to have one common card and a fixed price of 0.85 Euro per card. The first issue of 6’650 cards was printed in beginning of September 2004 and distributed as follows: • Czech Rep. 1‘400 • Spain 1‘350 • Belgium 1‘000 • Switzerland 1‘000 • France 300 • Board 250 • ESN Aalborg, Denmark 200 cards • Austria 1’400 For the first time in ESN, mention was made about a common corporate identity, to increase visibility and recognition in the network. Early in 2005 the Board set up guidelines for the common application of 4 key graphical elements. The use of the CI became mandatory for ESN International (Board and CNR) through its approval by the CNR in Debrecen, Hungary on 8th of May 2004. It has been adapted at the CNR meeting in Athens on 10th of January 2005 in order to represent Morocco, the new ESN country, on the map background used.

ESN History Book 2011

Although a visionary first step, the CI was not really implemented due to the low quality of the visual elements used. It wasn’t be before the AGM in Krakow that a solid visual language would be implemented.

2005

The first CNR meeting in 2005 was in Athens in January, 10th-11th and it went to history for the heat and beauty of the city, the warmth of Kostas-the-magician – our host - and the sleep-on-the-floor accommodation in a rented two-room flat. As the President, Zsofi, had disappeared, the existence of ESN was ensured and saved by the commitment of those persons. During the ESN year 03/04 four Meetings of the CNR have been organised: • 3rd-5th May in Debrecen, Hungary • 26th-28th September in Tallinn, Estonia • 10th-12th January in Athens, Greece • 14th-16th March in Gdansk, Poland AGM Gdansk – March 2005 The chair of the meeting was Luca Laudiero, former President of ESN Italia and Vice-Chair Agnieska Skraburska, President of ESN Jagellionian University (Krakow). At the AGM in Gdansk, the first one held in Poland and in general in one former communist European country, the following International Board was elected: - Davide Capecchi (President, Italy) - Ewa Krzaklewska (Vice President, Poland) - Toon Macharis (Network Administrator, Belgium) - Natalja Tocelovska (Treasurer, Latvia) - Lisa Andersson (Regular Board Member, Sweden) After Lisa resigned, Hielei Heider (Austria) was elected as Regular Board Member by the CNR in Bratislava in September 2007. From the previous Boards and especially from members of the Reforms Group and from Pascal, Giuseppe, Marilyn and Nick we inherited four crucial actions, ideas or key-words that were already initiated or had to be initiated: • ESNCard • Headquarters in Brussels • Official and legal basis for the Network • Corporate Identity While the leadership of ESN before 2005 has the merit of having launched the aforementioned mainstreams, their accomplishments came in the following two years. The Board elected at AGM Gdansk committed explicitly to move to Brussels the organisation and personally. In the following year, another crucial project was initiated under the leadership of Ewa: the ESNSurvey. Finally but no less important, a new innovative approach to distributed web services was started being implemented by the webmaster Antonio De Marco: the ESNGalaxy project became a reality in 2006.

After the AGM Our wishes were to receive notice to have obtained the operating grant the previous board applied to the European Commission for. Unsurprisingly, one week before our first Board Meeting Pascal received a letter from the responsible office at the EC stating that the grant had not been assigned to ESN due to lack of eligibility criteria. In fact, only registered bodies were eligible to receive support, as we got to know soon after our election. What we wanted to make out of our group was to develop a shared strategy, a project that each of us would consider something personal, for whose success to strive and struggle.

2005

The brainstorming Our first Board Meeting was held in Louvain-la-Neuve, a university town near Brussels. The reason why we decided to meet there was for being as close as possible to the city where we were to find a headquarters for ESN and a house where to live. The second goal for our first Board Meeting was to build a team around and for a common strategy. It was extremely important for us to decide together in that occasion at least what to do. On this occasion, we developed :

“OUR VISION In one year we see Erasmus Student Network as the Number 1 “Exchange Student Organisation” in Europe and beyond, officially registered, meaning ESN to be a voice in Europe, visible and known, present at conferences, symposia and regular meetings with the EC Directorate for Education by providing meaningful data and presentations and by meeting once Commissioner Figel’.

In our vision, in one year from now ESN will implement projects, will adopt a corporate identity, will have a clear strategy both for long and short planning, with an approved and clear mission statement and a list of patrons, ESN operating within defined areas of intervention, led by happy and relaxed volunteers that do not worry for travel and working expenses, gathered at an office in Brussels living and working full time as a team for ESN and, through this work, for their personal growth.

In one year from now we also want ESN to provide sections with a package of services, like e.g. a quality checking and training programmes; we see all National Representatives to be informed by the sections in their countries and most of them being active in working groups and involved in the Network’s life; we want ESN to offer PR materials and different products (mainly through an e-shop) applying and obtaining grants, organizing one big project that would increase the awareness of ESN, being its alumni involved in the network’s life. We wish ESN, in one year from now, can start thinking big, setting up a human network with a 10% increased number of sections and supporting poorer sections and countries, through reimbursements to NRs and differentiated fees, with an advisory board, elected for two years. We wish ESN to be a recognizable brand, with predictable finances, all its sections being convinced that using ESN logo in addition to their one implies bringing the latter much more value; we see national boards set up in all countries that have enough sections

ESN History Book 2011

(three ones according to the Statutes), working effectively for keeping the knowledge within the network, which is to be more and better known by media. This being our vision, we promise we will hardly work for making this wish being real through doing our best to reach the following Eight Aims for ESN. Pallomeri, Davide, Ewa, Lisa, Natalja, Toon.” Most of that eventually became a reality.

2005

In addition, one of the most notable achievements of those months in 2005 was the recognition from the Council of Europe, through the European Youth Foundation, as a partner organisation – that allowed us to apply for current and extraordinary funds made available by such an institution. However, despite some applications that ensued, ESN never received funding as we were seen as a “European Union” organisation. Hence our strategy to enter in the Programming Committee that manages the allocation of grants in the European Youth Foundation, achieved in 2008. Bocconi Although in Milan ESN was present with 5 local sections, no section had ever been founded at the best-known Italian economy, finance and management University. I would never think at that time that Bocconi University would become our best partner and our main source of income for the next years, bringing to ESN International 21,000 EUR for sponsorships and communication in 2005 and more than 60.000 EUR in 2006. Brussels The first time that it was decided to move the official seat of ESN to the very core of the European Institutions, i.e. to Brussels, was the far 2001. Many generations of ESNers dreamt about it and thousands of documents and papers were written on this topic, and hundreds of hours discussing upon how it would be possible to start, finally, the final rush to move towards where we were destined to. Evidently, one of the major obstacles that impeded to settle down in the capital of Belgium was the lack of the needed financial resources not strictly by terms of the office rental and equipment, but rather for that even little amount of money to offer to the members of the international board who would be supposed to live and work there. Hence, even though possible at times, the last and final step was never made. I clearly foresaw that for the structure and the essence of ESN it would fit better to separate office and house, thence displaying professionalism and fostering credibility. Having available 500 EUR per month for opening the office, it was with some luck that in June 2005 we got in contact with the Italian Conference of Rectors, that rented us one room in their premises in rue du Trone, 98 – the first official seat of ESN as a registered organisation.

Finally, after 16 years of existence, the organisation was based in Brussels in an appropriate, professional environment. This was the precondition the further development of ESN. It had been crucial to register ESN very quickly and by all means before November 30th as by that date, one year later, we should have been registered in order for ESN to be eligible to receiving the operating grant we were working so hard to get. Naturally, after having found for the board a place where to work, and provided that we had gained, in the meanwhile, enough resources, I needed to find a place where to let them sleep and finally to live.

2005

ESNHouse I loved our future house since the first moment. The new ESNHouse, a four-room and three-floor very centrally situated typically Brussellian apartment, was situated in Rue Hydraulique 15. Registration and legal basis in Belgium (AISBL) After sixteen years of existence and fourteen months of attempts, the final status of AISBL was gained on November 30th, 2005 in Ghent, and thanks to the great support of Nick Andries. The Fun(d)Raising Conference The first International training that ESN was able to organise was held in Vienna 30th August - 3rd September 2005 with the support of the Austrian National Board, who had been able to sign the first, important agreement linked with the ESNCard: this happened with a mobile phone company.

ESN-Bocconi Training on Human Resources and Management. The Fun(d)raising Conference had arisen such a high interest amongst the network, that our commitment on managing a second training to be held as soon as possible and at the higher possible level was immediately pushed at the top of our agenda. This was done in the framework of our partnership with Universita’ Bocconi.

This course aimed at providing ESNrs working with responsibility and abnegation at local, national or international level with theoretical skills for enhancing their professional development covering the topics • Managing Strategic Processes in Large Multinational Firms • The Dynamics of Creative Teams ESNSurvey The Survey was first launched in 2005 after lots of work of many people and under the supervision of Ewa. Its main goals were to gather data on exchange students’ issue but also to provide ESN with credibility and a broader role in Europe. The ESN Survey 2005 was organised in cooperation with Petrus Communications. The project was developed by the ESN Vice President Ewa and Seweryn Krupnik with the help of several individuals and organisations. The aim of the research was to evaluate the

ESN History Book 2011

experience of studying abroad and the quality of services offered to exchange students. The research was performed during June and July 2005. The online survey was filled by 7754 exchange students from universities around Europe and beyond. We launched this survey to identify the motivation and learning of international and exchange students, and above all to look at the ‘success’ of their experience from a number of perspectives. We particularly wanted to identify themes contributing to the success or otherwise of international education experiences. What is more, we wanted to see if and how incoming students benefit from the presence of student organisation at the receiving institution.

2006

Corporate Identity The first time than ESN discussed about the Corporate Identity was during the somehow enlightened year 2000-2001, President Stefanie Kothmiller, when the International Board adopted the decision, later ratified by the AGM, to elaborate a definition of what ESN is and what we exist for. Having moved to Brussels, having got our official registration and found a reasonable equilibrium for the balance; once developed important and successful projects such as the ESNSurvey on students’ satisfaction and the ESNCard; once having accomplished all those important steps we needed to review our identity to shed the basis for a strong international organisation and its visibility. Therefore we issued a questionnaire diffused to the active members in the period September – December 2005. The questionnaire was aiming at collecting data about the values of ESN at any level, and secondly at evaluating how the visual aspects of the Corporate Design in use at that time were communicating such values. This process was undergone in cooperation with the Dutch-leading branding companies Koeweiden Postma and Globrand with the support of Ever Ypma, former president of ESN Switzerland, During the AGM, Hugo van den Bos, Strategic Director of Koeweiden Postma presented the process that led to the finalisation of the logo and all the other visual aspects, that were presented and approved by a large majority of votes. As a result, ESN adopted a coherent, professional, effective, powerful corporate identity elements – showing leadership among all student organisations.

ESN in 2006-2007

Written by Ewa Krzaklewska, Davide Capecchi

During the years 2005 – 2007 ESN experienced a true transformation, from a widespread student network without a central office or coordination to a well-structured and organised international non-profit organisation providing services to members from a centralised level. Therefore we had managed an explosion and at the same time directly the developing in a sustainable manner and in a long-lasting structural solidity. That was a true challenge as most of the organisation was not prepared yet for such a fast and radical development. Our main task was to make sure that all ESN would feel part of the change and identify with the new way of being members, by avoiding the risk of increasing the gap among the different levels of ESN.

2006

This year was a true one to remember, the one of the celebrations of 20 Years of Erasmus Programme to name the most engaging project ESN had undergone in its history.

Secondly, it was the year in which we have implemented with determination the Corporate Identity: the first ESNCards with the new logo and visual elements were distributed; new guidelines for sections were set and distributed throughout the network. The new logo was registered at a European trademark.

With the addiction of Malta, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia there were, in March 2007, 31 countries in ESN, getting closer and closer to 250 sections. Most impressing yet, 39 new sections joined ESN from April till December 2006. To summarise: • • • •

In April 2003 there were 159 sections. 49 From April 03 to March 04: 22 new sections, 17 expelled (total: 164); 50 from April 04 to March 05: 22 new sections, 1 expelled (total: 185); from April 04 to March 06: 22 new sections 1 (total: 207).

The Board 2006/2007 consisted of: Davide Capecchi – President Ewa Krzaklewska – Vice President Corrine Bryner - Treasurer* Tomaso Bisol – Network Administrator Jakob Smets – External Relations working together with: Patrick Fiquet - ESN Secretary (until AGM in March 2006) Magda Niemcewicz – ESN Intern (July to 2006 to October 2006) communication and PR Ivana Petricevic – ESN Secretary (until AGM in Prague, March 2007) Zahira Leticia Servera – ESN Intern for 20 years of ESN celebrations Antonio de Marco - webmaster

- support for

*Elected in May 2006 by the CNR (Linköping, Sweden). The position had been vacant after the AGM in Krakow. During the period of vacancy, Karri Teikari took care of the

ESN History Book 2011

financial matters as an interim treasurer.

2006

Board meetings in 2006 BM 01: 25-29/04, Brussels (Belgium) BM 02: 11-15/05, Linköping (Sweden)* BM 03: 02-08/06, Brussels (Belgium) BM 04: 13-16/07, Montisola (Italy) BM 05: 31/08 – 03/09, Brussels (Belgium) BM 06: 14-17/09, Teramo (Italy)* BM 07: 05-08/10, Brussels (Belgium) BM 08: 03-07/11, Padova (Italy)** BM 09: 02-03/12, Brussels (Belgium) BM 10: 07-10/12, Koper (Slovenia)* Board meetings in 2007 (until March) BM 11: 18-21/01, Brussels (Belgium)* BM 12: 22-25/02, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)*** BM 13: 16-21/03, Prague (Czech Republic)* *with CNR; **hosted by AEP - ESN Padova; ***hosted by ESN Sarajevo. The year 2007 was a year of celebrations – this year ESN was celebrating 20 years of the Erasmus Programme. It was therefore a special year for us, as ESN as such was created by the first generation of the Erasmus students. The idea to create our network was born during the first Erasmus evaluation meeting in Gent. The previous years (2005 and 2006) were very crucial for the development of ESN and its financial and institutional stability – most importantly, we moved to Brussels, registered ESN in Belgium, found sponsors and partners for ESN, enlarged greatly the budget of the organisation, established contacts with NGOs and institutions there. We continued to establish our position as an important and active student organisation having a say on academic mobility. One very important step to it was creation of the ESNSurvey project. As the aim of ESN was and is to support exchange students, we decided to gather the real knowledge about students’ situation through an empirical research (survey). The first ESNSurvey was organised in 2005 with partnership of Petrus Communications. We received almost 8000 answers to it and the results were communicated to all relevant bodies, as well to the European Commission. There was much interest in the results as they were giving up -to-date information on most important aspects of exchange and were a basis for recommendations to stakeholders. At the same time, in 2006, we were already concentrating on the preparation for the celebrations. Together with Davide we prepared a grant application for celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Erasmus and we received funding for it from the European Commission! Since then, the work started for good and each day more and more people were engaged in preparing the birthday parties (not only parties of course) around Europe. We welcomed an intern in the ESN Office – Zahira arrived from Spain and supported us through most of the project.

The starting event for celebrations was an Opening Conference in Brussels, organised on the 18-19th of January 2007 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. 250 students from all over Europe gathered to meet with Margot Wallstrom, Vice President of the European Commission, alumni of ESN and alumni of Erasmus programme, as well as researchers studying mobility. We discussed about our experiences, the meaning of Erasmus as well as about the ways to improve it. The conference finished with the Birthday Party, where Jan Figel celebrated Erasmus’ birthday together with the students. All the National Representatives were present also, as the Council of National Representatives was organised at the same time in the Belgium capital city.

2007

After the fantastic AGM in Prague in March 2007, ESN Van departed for its travel around Europe. The Van, decorated with the colourful ribbons in various languages and colours, toured 23 countries and visited more than 50 cities. The Van volunteers drove more than 25,000 km to promote mobility among the students and local citizens. The most active Van volunteer I shall mention was Paul Puylaert – he treated the Van as his baby, taking care of its technical status. Each time when in a different city, ESNVan with its crew took part in an Erasmus Day – organised by the local section of ESN (and few times by other student associations). Erasmus Days were amazing events, gathering students with university with local authorities, and had different forms. There were conferences, debates, lectures, street markets, visits during classes, seminars, parties, International Days, barbecue, Erasmus trams and tents. Once, we even turned our Van into an icecream van, giving around ice sticks and Interactive CDs about the Erasmus programme. We tried to meet as many of young people as possible. We visited sometimes secondary schools to show already to the pupils how exciting mobility is. The volunteers that were traveling with me on the Van were a great support and a volcano of energy! Thanks to them the Van was always so warmly welcomed and we were hosted with great care. The Van was carrying also a lot of presents. I mentioned already interactive CDs, made especially for this occasion. The new technologies allowed us to make the CD both attractive and interactive – they included students stories, photos and all the information important when one wants to go on Erasmus. We had with us also the results of the ESNSurvey in the form of the booklets, as well as T-shirts, leaflets, stickers and other gadgets. If you want to see the photos from the tour and read students/ volunteers experiences please read our report, to be found the the ESN website: http:// www.esn.org/content/20-years-erasmus. What is more, the young persons TV station ‘Europocket TV’ travelled with us in the Van (in the person of Meabh) – still now, if you search YouTube by Erasmus Van and Europocket you can see the TV coverage (short movies) about the van tour. One of the main aims of the project “20 years of the Erasmus programme”, besides organising celebrations was to evaluate the Erasmus experience. In order to gather experiences of students we used two tools. First of all, the second edition of the ESNSurvey was organised already in the year 2006. The edition was entitled “Exchange students’ rights”. 12,000 students filled in the survey and expressed their opinions about the programme. We concluded with the survey that universities, European Commission, national agencies and students organisations have to concentrate on three matters in order to improve quality of mobility: recognition of studying abroad, financial issues and provision of information (still now, projects dealing with these matters are

ESN History Book 2011

being conducted by the ESN). Secondly, we gathered student experiences on a special website. 500 students described their experience abroad and uploaded photos and movies showing best moments abroad. On this website one could also follow the tour of the Van and read day by day what happened on the road.

2007

In summary, it was a happy year for ESN â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there were plenty of events, we were present in the public view and in the media coverage. Hopefully we managed to spread widely our love for mobility and international experience. All the bodies of ESN, from the International Board to the Erasmus students themselves, were involved in the celebrations, we all could feel that we all had a common goal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to foster student mobility under the principle of students-helping-students. When we toured with the Van around Europe, we used to meet the same people in different countries and no matter where we where we always felt at home. That shows what the real mobility is and that is the way of live we want to enjoy and promote Ewa Krzaklewska

ESN in 2007-2008

Written by Giorgio Marinoni

I was elected president of ESN at the AGM 2007 in Prague, one of the best organised AGM I have ever followed, thanks to the great organisation of the ESN sections in Prague and the OC directed by Michal Mildorf.

2007

I became president after two years in a row of Davide Capecchi; himself and Ewa Krzaklewska, as vice-president, had done the history of ESN in the previous two years: moved the seat of ESN to Brussels, legally registered the association, gave a financial stability to ESN, won for the first time the Youth in Action Administrative Grant and an Accompanying Measures Grant under Erasmus, for the development of the project “The celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the Erasmus programme”, and many other things you have probably read in the report of their years, so the year I had in front of me was indeed a special one, full of many events, many challenges, many projects. I inherited ESN at a high level with the mission to bring it even higher.

Fortunately I had the possibility to work with a great Board during that year, Matthias Fenner as vice-president, Kamila Wroblewska as treasurer, Andim Doldurucu as Network Administrator and Francesca Marcuzzo as Regular Board Member were the people who helped me every day in achieving all the results we finally achieved during that year. But we were not alone in Brussels, where we had the help of the very first European Volunteer ESN has ever had: Sara Lanzillotta from ESN Roma La Sapienza was fundamental in the success of the project “The celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the Erasmus programme”. And I can’t forget the first two paid secretaries of ESN: Agnes Dabek and Melinda Horvath.

Last but not the least in our team was Antonio De Marco who joined us in Brussels as the head of the ESN Webteam. These were the people who worked closely with me in Brussels and who with the help of the CNR and of all the ESN members active in the working groups and the liaisons officers, help ESN in achieving the following: - Final establishment of the ESN headquarters with the moving of the full Board in Brussels, the opening of the new ESN house and the transformation of the old ESN house in what is now the ESN office. - Introduction of the figure of the ESN secretary as a salaried dependent. - Successful execution of the “The celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the Erasmus programme” with the successful completion of the van tour with all the Erasmus days around Europe, the presentation at the EAIE conference in Trondheim and at the final conference organised by the Portuguese presidency of the EU in Lisbon, where ESN had the honor to have two keynote speakers (me and Ewa Krzaklewska); the success of the story competition, the creation and distribution of the final booklet and the successful submission of the final report to the European Commission. - Successful management of the Youth in Action Administrative Grant 2007 until its conclusion and successful submission of its report to the European Commission. - Successful submission of the application for the Youth in Action Administrative Grant 2008. - Successful submission of the application for the EVS Grant for the year 2008 - 2009. - Successful submission of the application for the Youth in Action Grant for the conference

ESN History Book 2011

2008

“Building Europe piece by piece” which was then held in Brussels in October 2008. - Successful submission of the application for the Accompanying Measures Grant under Erasmus for the PRIME project, later developed and concluded by the two following Boards. - Production of the final report of the ESN Survey 2007 and launch and management of the ESN Survey 2008. - Launch of the ESN Galaxy, ESN Identity and the ESN Satellite, products done for the sections and now widely used. - Successful submission of the application for participatory status in the Council of Europe. - Active involvement in the European Youth Forum. - Creation of the Council of National Delegates (CND), and its successful first implementation in Winterthur in September 2007 (special thanks to Jonas Epp for the help in the WG and as head of the OC). - Change of the formation of the Board with the introduction of the Web project administrator and Board member in charge of External Relations positions in substitution of the Network Administrator and Regular Board member positions and reshuffling of functions of the other positions. - Introduction of the transition period between the concluding and upcoming Board. - Exchange of associate memberships with the European Students Union (ESU). - Partnership agreements with other students’ organisations (AEGEE, EPSA, EMSA). - Co-organisation of the June 2007 IFISO meeting in Brussels. - Successful implementation of the ESN card project, ESN Magazine and ESN Newsletter, launch of new ESN promotional material. - Admission of three new countries in ESN: F.Y.R.O. Macedonia, Iceland and Azerbaijan. The major events held in that year were: AGM 2007 in Prague AGM 2008 in Besancon CND 2007 in Winterthur CNR May 2007 in Utrecht CNR December 2007 in Sarajevo CNR February 2008 in Brussels CNR May 2008 in Warsaw NEP 2007 in Trondheim WEP 2007 in Lausanne CEP 2007 in Warsaw SEEP 2007 in Istanbul SWEP 2007 in Ifrane Cultural Medley 2007 in Munich I hope to have listed all the major achievements and events went on during my presidency, and I am sorry not to have been able to mention in this small text all the people who shared the same feelings and ideas, who worked hard, always believed and at the end contributed to the success of ESN in that year. Many of you are still ones of my closest friends and this means something.

At a distance of two years since I left the ESN presidency I can start to judge better what we did, and only now I can conclude with what for me is definitely the best achievement of my ESN year: our major goal was the creation of a unique ESN identity where words such as professionalism, seriousness, self-confidence, reliability, openness, tolerance, collaboration, friendship and fun go together without any problem. We wanted people to be happy and proud to be part of ESN and now I can see that that idea was not that crazy. Always happy and proud to have been your president, Giorgio Marinoni

2008 ESN History Book 2011

ESN in 2008-2009

Written by Marketa Tokova

The elections of the International Board 2008/2009 took place at the end of March 2008 at the Annual General Meeting in Besançon (France). Out of 5 positions, only three were filled – Matthias Fenner from Switzerland (ESN Winterthur) was elected as President, Marketa Tokova from the Czech Republic (ESN VSE Prague) as Vice President and Magdalena Wawrzonkowska from Poland (ESN Torun) as the Board member in charge of External Relations. There was no candidate for the Web Project Administrator and the only candidate for the position of treasurer was not elected.

2008

Fortunately, due to the transition period which lasted until the CNR meeting in Warsaw (at the end of May), there was a time to deal with this situation. New candidates were found, and eventually, Piotr Cylke from Poland (ESN EYE Lodz) was elected as WPA and Erdeniz Unvan from Turkey (ESN Anadolu) as Treasurer. The Board year could start! However, it was not until the beginning of August when the whole Board finally got together in Brussels. Dussia and Piotr needed to finish their studies, Erdeniz was fighting with the visa system of Turkey and thus, it was only Matthias, Marketa and Melinda Horvath – ESN Secretary until December 2008 from Hungary (ESN Budapest BME) - who were in Brussels after the handover. To complete the team – Jorgen Talkop from Estonia (ESN Tallinn) joined the Board as the EVS. Last but not least, from January 2009, Ana Silva from Portugal (ESN Porto) replaced Melinda as a new secretary. The Board worked and travelled relentlessly – keeping its members and sections in mind. One of the most important projects was the network wide consultation on the mission, vision and values of ESN – the results of which were presented and approved at the AGM in Utrecht in 2009. The new vision of ESN is since then: “Enrichment of society through international students.” In 2009 ESN was going to celebrate its 20th year of existence and thus the preparations for the 20th anniversary were also on a daily task list – including the fundraising campaign Give20 for which ESN cooperated with Unicef, Postcard campaign and ESNtrain. It is almost impossible to mention all the activities, success stories or less thriving duties – as every day was bringing a new challenge and new way to follow. However, here are some – to name just few: first successful grant application under the Jean Monnet programme amounting to EUR 95.000, Bulgaria as the new ESN country, participatory status of the Council of Europe and creation of a new liaison office for the Council of Europe, successful grant applications for the BEST summer school and for the Postcard campaign, ESN representative elected to the Advisory council of the Council of Europe (Dominika Skotkova from Slovakia), introduction of the calls with NRs, first recruitment weekend for possible Board candidates, screening of the websites and increase of the usage of Satellites among ESN sections or development of the PRIME questionnaire. The days were not sunny all the time, though, and the Board had to deal also with less pleasant situations such as the expulsion of Cyprus in August 2008 and internal problems in ESN Sarajevo. Probably the most difficult period came paradoxically during and after the AGM in Utrecht – when the so-called ESNtrain – which was promoted by ESN – was cancelled at the last

moment. The cancellation meant hundreds of stranded passengers, ESN sections facing a financial loss, the possibility of losing a good reputation… At the post-AGM CNR meeting, due to the high pressure, Matthias Fenner decided to resign from the position of President to allow for a more reasonable and sensible discussion. Immediately, a Care team was created to follow the cancellation, support the Board, ESN sections and members, collect information and evaluate possible threats for ESN.

2009

Despite quite difficult times for ESN, the Board, with the support of the care team, managed the situation that slowly but steadily began to calm down. Many steps and measures were taken to limit damages of the cancellation, restore the reputation and prevent danger in the future (such as consultation of the lawyer, offer of the mediation or communication with stranded and disappointed participants). Fortunately, none of the sections were impacted financially, though in some cases, they faced problems with their partners.

The Board (including Matthias Fenner who after the resignation was appointed as Designated Representative to help and support his colleagues from the Board, as well as the whole network thanks to his rich and long experience in ESN) continued to work until 15 July 2009 when the transition period with their successors elected in March at the AGM finished. Meetings and events of 2008/2009:

September 2008: • National Presidents’ meeting in Prague • Puzzle conference in Brussels • CNR meeting in Rimini October 2008: • SWEP in Milan • SEEP in Sarajevo November 2008: • CEP in Budapest • NEP in Tartu • WEP in Dusseldorf December 2008: • CND meeting in Gdansk (including a surprise event where Dalai Lama was present) January 2009: • Recruitment weekend in Brussels February 2009: • CNR meeting in Skopje March 2009: • Pre and post AGM CNR meetings in Utrecht • AGM in Utrecht May 2009: • CNR meeting in Porto

ESN History Book 2011

ESN in 2009-2010

Written by Marketa Tokova

The International Board of 2009/2010 was elected at the AGM in Utrecht, Netherlands with the following composition: Marketa Tokova from the Czech Republic as President, Veeli Oeselg from Estonia as Vice President, Troels Frost Christensen from Denmark as Treasurer, Tajana Nikolic from Croatia as Board member in charge of External Relations and Marc Janson from the Netherlands as Web Project Administrator. The Board officially entered in the office only on July 2009. Before starting, two additional colleagues were chosen – Gosia Trusczynska from Poland as the new EVS and Simone Dalle Nogare from Italy as the Secretary.

2009

The start of the year was in token of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of ESN. Most of the projects were started already before the elections so it was up to the current Board to finalise them – special edition of postcards and posters, together with the booklets were produced for the Postcard campaign and more than 50.000 EUR was fundraised for Give20. All the sections and individuals who contributed to this effort deserve a huge thank from the whole network. Last but not least, the Board had to deal with the aftermath of the last-minute cancellation of the ESNtrain. In order to help find the solution for all the parties of the disagreement, ESN offered mediation between the participants, the representative of platform GmbH and ESN. However, no conclusions were reached. From September 2009, a new body of ESN was introduced – so called committees, one per a Board member to assist and share the workload. After a slow start and recruitment of its members, the Committees slowly but steadily became important working bodies. The idea of the very first meeting of all committees (CoMeet) was developed during the mandate of the Board, in cooperation with ESN VSE Prague. During the year, ESN started to work more on its role as a representative of international students – promoting and discussing the topic with its members and participating or imitating projects which aimed at improvements of the situation of international students. One of the biggest successes of the Board was the finalisation of the PRIME project. The project as such was started already two years ago, however, the developments in 2008/2009 were quite slow and thus most of the work was done from October 2009 to January 2010. Thanks to the amazing commitment of the research team and PRIME coordinators, the project produced a very relevant study on problems of recognition. 10 local conferences and one final dissemination conference in Brussels was organised in order to present the results and promote the research. Moreover, as a follow-up to the project, a new grant application was submitted and approved. Secondly, ESN became an important partner in the EMQT project, coordinated by the University of Padova. The Erasmus Mobility Quality Tools project aims to create a tool box for universities to assess the quality of their Erasmus mobility. ESN is representing the international students and their needs and wishes.

Furthermore, ESN continued its work on the ExchangeAbility project – involving students with disabilities in the work of ESN sections and promoting mobility opportunities among them. A very nice and inspiring training was organised at the end of May 2010 in Antwerp for both ESN members, as well as students with disabilities to help them understand the differences and lose prejudices and fears. Last but not least, after almost three years of candidate membership of the European Youth Forum, ESN was finally approved as a full member. This could not have happened without the involvement and work of many people, especially members of the Liaison Office – Jelena Brankovic, Madara Apsalone and Dominika Skotkova.

2010

Concerning the network care, the main aim of the Board was to be member-oriented and to focus on the needs of the sections. The Board supported initiatives and proactive approach of ESN section members, organised various meetings and provide opportunities for self development. Another sign of a growing interest of members in ESN was the unprecedented number of candidates for the Board. All together, there were 13 candidates for 5 positions. Additionally, the network was growing also in numbers – the new countries joined ESN – Cyprus in December 2009 and Ukraine in April 2010.

For the second time in a row, ESN received the Jean Monnet operating grant for associations active in the field of international education – an amount of 100.000 EUR. Next to it, ESN also benefited from the administrative grant of the Council of Europe, which proves its relevance among the volunteer and youth organisations in Europe.

However, not everything was going as smoothly and thus, the financial year ended with a deficit of 20.000 EUR. It was mainly due to overestimated expectations of sponsor money. Therefore, it was very important and encouraging that a new partnership deal was crafted. Not only did it provide new services to ESN sections and ESN members, but it also had a crucial importance for the budget. All in all, it was a very dynamic year – rich with events, meetings, experiences, travels and new challenges. Despite some problems and ups and downs, the Board led the network through the year safely and made ESN stronger and ready for its future challenges! Meetings and events of 2009/2010: September 2009: • National Board Meeting in Poznan • CNR meeting in Novi Sad October 2009: • CEP in Brno • ESN celebrates in Ghent November 2008: • NEP in Stockholm • WEP in Zurich December 2008: • CND meeting in Athens • SEEP in Ljubljana

ESN History Book 2011

2010

January 2010: • Recruitment weekend in Brussels • Final PRIME conference in Brussels • National Board Meeting in Besancon February 2010: • CNR meeting in Warsaw April 2010: • Pre and post AGM CNR meetings in Istanbul • AGM in Istanbul May 2010: • ExchangeAbility meeting in Antwerp June 2010: • CNR meeting in Prague

ESN in 2010-2011

Written by Eva Ntovolou, with the valuable contribution of Marco La Rosa and Joachim Wyssling History is being written every day. It is very difficult however to document it objectively when it is very fresh. I will thus try to write down some facts hoping to get most of the numerous things that happened during this year. This year was the first time after quite a long period that the Board was changing completely from the previous year fact which initially led to uncertainty but later on to many significant changes and big developments to the network.

2010

The Board of 2010/2011 consisted of • Eva Ntovolou, President • Joachim Wyssling, Vice President • Damien Lamy Preto, Treasurer • Marco La Rosa, Member in charge of External Relations and later Communication Manager • Ourania “Rania” Chantzopoulou, Web Project Administrator

and was assisted by • Leo Smith as Secretary, • Justyna Pisera as PRIME Coordinator • Benjamin Bertrand as IT intern. For the first time in the History of ESN, the Board employed a full time working person under a project grant who worked at the Headquarters of the association in Brussels.

Before the AGM (when it was officially counted) the network consisted of 364 sections around Europe as 38 new sections joined but 21 left the network since the previous year. With the addition of Malta, Georgia and Croatia the network expanded to 36 countries. Due to budgetary reasons the Board decided to hold all Board Meetings in Brussels and save money for other purposes within the network. The other main meetings of the year were: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

CoMeet Prague September 2010 CNR Vilnius September 2010 NBM Vienna October 2010 NEP Turku October 2010 CEP Bratislava October 2010 SEEP Sofia October 2010 Alumni Meeting October 2010 WEP Groningen November 2010 SWEP Padova November 2010 CND Milano December 2010 NBM Helsinki February 2011 CNR Eskisehir February 2011 CoMeet Madrid March 2011 AGM Budapest April 2011 CNR Tartu June 2011

ESN History Book 2011

The developments of the year focused both on the internal structure and strengthening as well as on the external relations and partnerships for the promotion of the network and the support of international students.

2010

Education & Erasmus As the framework of the Erasmus Programme was to last in this form until 2013, 2010 was the year when the consultations with the various stakeholders on the programme post 2013 started. We participated in the Expert Group of the Commission, voicing the needs of all Erasmus students in order to create a better and stronger programme for the future. Many of our ideas – product of the PRIME and ESNSurvey’s as well as of consultations with the network and the Education Committee- were taken on board as the Communication later on published by the Commission showed. During the year, ESN was present in all meetings held regarding mobility and internationalisation as well as youth. We were more active than ever in writing opinion papers and promoting them among our stakeholders and partners. Some of the papers written were: • Reaction to the Youth on the Move communication • Paper on the Future of Erasmus • Reaction on the Paper on the Modernisation of Higher Education • Reaction on the Paper on the Validation of Non Formal and Informal Learning and more which can be found in the AGM Documents of the year. We also wrote a declaration to the Council of Europe on the promotion of mobility which was to be followed up by the Liaison Office. At the same time we took active part in the discussions on Youth on the Move with the Youth Unit of the Commission, participated in several relevant meetings with important personalities (President Barroso, Commissioner Vassiliou etc) and promoted the inclusion of the ESN Card in the plans of the Commission to create a Youth on the Move Card. As the Commission was discussing at the time the creation of an Erasmus Alumni Association as well as the founding of “Erasmus Experts” similar to the “Bologna Experts” we managed to include ESN into the discussions and advocate strongly for our international students and get the promise that ESN would be the association providing both of the above. Of course this was to be followed up and discussed further in the future. Cooperation with other organisations ESN was already member of the European Youth Forum (YFJ) as well as the Council of Europe (CoE). During the year, we also applied for a membership to the European Civil Society Platform on Life Long Learning (EUCIS-LLL) which was unanimously approved at the General Assembly of EUCIS, held in Poland. In order to organise the work needed in these fields, ESN had already for many years Liaison Officers who were taking care of all the things related to the YFJ and CoE. The change that took place this year is that we decided to make a unified Liaison Office for all the cooperating institutions. This helped a lot with the communication among the officers as well as with the accomplishment of the

wanted results. As some of the initial officers had to leave, the new Liaison Office consisted of Lea Benirschke and Carla Filetti, completed by Madara Apsalone. We continued the cooperation with the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations (IFISO) and took part in the meetings held, where we run and got selected to organise the IFISO meeting of the upcoming spring. The presence and performance of ESN at the Annual European Association for International Education (EAIE) meeting was enhanced as more proposals for sessions were approved and after a successful collaboration with the European Association of Erasmus Coordinators (EAEC) we managed to share a booth with them at the exhibition of the conference. What is more, articles of ESN were published in both the FORUM magazine of the EAIE and the newsletter of the EAEC.

2011

Communication policies As the communication was deemed a crucial point of the network development we decided to focus on it (thus the assignment of a special position of the Board, the Communication Manager). During the year, three ESN magazines were designed and printed. The online readers of the magazine increased from approx. 200 to more than 3000. From 22.000 followers on the ESN Facebook page we reached 52.000. The twitter account was mainly used during the AGM, which was also broadcasted live so that all ESNers could have the chance to watch from their houses. The newsletter tripled the number of subscriptions and space to it was given for partners and advertisers. Same goes for the website which had a 5% increase in visitors. Its content was revised and google analytics was used as a tool to monitor the value of the pages and the content. During the year, we took part in a Google competition with Google AdWord. Even though the results were not that satisfactory we managed to make a partnership with Google and received Google Apps Education for free. The Corporate Identity was strengthened and a Visual Identity Manual was created in order to raise awareness of the CI within the network. A Corporate Identity Team was set up in the Communication Committee in order to monitor the use of it. At the same time a Graphics Team was set up with the double purpose to sustain the growth of the network providing logo for the new sections, correcting wrong logo, providing templates and as well to lighten the work of the Board taking care of designing booklets, receiving directly requests from the Board giving a precious help to the Communication Manager. As a result a long term Communication Strategy was proposed and approved by the network and the position of Local Representative was promoted to the sections. Projects Multiple projects were run at the same time but it is worth mentioning the following: ESNSurvey: A new coordinator was chosen (Emanuel Alfranseder). We managed to recover the printed ESNSurvey 2008 and send it to the sections. ESNSurvey 2009 was analysed, finished and printed, ESNSurvey2010 questionnaire touched a new record in terms of number of respondents, it was as well analysed, finished and printed. ESNSurvey 2011 questionnaire was finalised, loaded on esn.org and left to the new Board. The members of the ESNSurvey2010 Team were Emamuel Alfranseder (coordinator), Ewa Krzaklewska,

ESN History Book 2011

Julia Fellinger, Marge Taivere and Marco La Rosa (Board Member). The ESNSurvey Team was more integrated in the Education Committee, commercial partners were found and a future strategy was drafted. PRIME 2010: After the big success of the first edition of the project and the successful grant of the previous Board we continued the project, significantly improved and with a full time coordinator working on it in Brussels. The number of answers received was unprecedented and exceed all expectations and goals set by the grant. Several conferences took place and promotion was done all year long. The finalization of the project was left to the next Board.

2011

ExchangeAbility: The project started with the grant from the European Youth Foundation continued following the two aims of making ESN a more accessible organisation and fostering mobility among students with disabilities. The first part was carried out by the International Coordinators (Ana Frangova, Bjorn Lemmens, Alexandros Vigkos, Galina Krysteva) with the support of the secretary. The second one was supported by a LLP Grant with UNICA (Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe) as coordinator and a consortium composed by ESN and five Universities. ESN took care of Quality Assurance, Dissemination and part of the organisation of the site visits. The project received wide recognition and was also mentioned in a report of the European Parliament. Moreover interest was shown from the European Commission. ESN EduK8: A new project was developed and took place for the first time under the name ESN EducK8. The purpose of the project was to train ESN volunteers to become trainers to other ESNers and thus circulate the knowledge within the network but also raise awareness on several issues and methods of collaboration. SocialErasmus: This project became an international project after a relevant proposal of the CNR and was developed by the international coordinators, Katerina Vigkou, Paulo Nogueira Ramos and later Remo Ughini to what later on formed the proposal for an LLP project and the 25th year celebration of the Erasmus Programme. Another project which was launced during the year was Ride For your Rights, a project aiming at enhancing mobility and promoting its value to the world. ESN also took part very actively in the events of the European Year of Volunteering as well as the EU China Year of Youth. It is important to mention that a distinction was made between projects and labeled activities so that project management is facilitated in the network. Finances In terms of financing, we applied again for the Jean Monnet grant which was approved (100.000 euros) and for a project under the Accompanying Measures of the LLP Programme of the European Commission which would form the main project of next year for the Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Erasmus Programme. The project grant was SocialErasmus and it was approved (approx. 146000 euros). In order to apply for the Jean Monnet grant we had to make some significant changes to the Statutes of ESN. ESN has obviously been moving towards Education throughout

the years but this was never documented in the goals of the association in the Statutes, fact which at some point formed a threat for the JM fund as it was a prerequisite for associations to have Higher Education as a clearly listed goal in order to be eligible for the grant. Together with this and as it was a part of the Long Term Strategy of ESN, we restructured completely the statutes and set the basis for a clearer and more stable text which will hopefully not change that often in the future. A more professional approach was taken as due to the network growth and complexity we had to consult a notary, who set several clrearer rules for the statutes, the legal issues and the conduct of the AGM. The year 2010 closed with a positive balance and a positive balance was also presented as a mid-term report for 2011.

2011

General developments to the network In order to facilitate the work of the Board, the newly shaped body of the Committees (International Committee for Education – ICE, Network and Events Committee – NEC, Finance Committee – FiCo, Communication Committee – ComCom and IT Committee) was put to action and significantly developed during the year. The first Committee Meetings (CoMeet) took place and a platform of communication among the Chairs was set on a monthly basis. The role of the National Boards was also strengthened and got a new form with the implementation of recommendation papers to the CNR, the NB buddy system, the changes to the NB meeting and the inclusion of NBs to the discussions in the CNR mailing list. The ESN Alumni also elected a new Board and held several meetings during the year. As all bodies were developing, the need to improve the CNR emerged. At first in order to facilitate the work of the CNR, the position of CNR Administrator was created and included in the standing orders. The first CNR Administrator was Christoph Bachman and the second one elected after him was Emanuel Alfrasender. During the CNR in Tartu which took place in June, the idea to create strategy fields for the CNR was introduced in order to enhance the strategic power of this body and their involvement to policy and decision making. Several Policy papers were revised and made more concise. The AGM guidelines were revised and an Event Policy Paper was created in order to collect all guidelines and rules for the organisation of all ESN events. The Associate Membership Policy Paper was also rewritten in an attempt to include the fast developments in the growth of the network and the increasing interest of partner organisations all over the world which coincided with the plans for expansion of the Erasmus Programme outside Europe. The need to expand and create the structures which would support further growth was evident, thus we introduced the idea of the creation of a secretariat which would take over the administrative tasks of the Board and allow time for strategic development. We already had a Secretary and a Project Coordinator in Brussels, we introduced the interns and at the end of our mandate we also secured a fund for ESN which would allow us to have an extra employee in Brussels (Maribel fund). Furthermore the decision to move to a bigger ESN house was taken in collaboration with the newly elected Board. Last but not least, we tried to tackle the long lasting problem of knowledge transfer

ESN History Book 2011

between Boards and organised a professional training during the transition period for the new Board as well as a full programme of discussions and partner visiting combined with closing the office for a week in order to completely focus on the Board transition.

2011

All in all, it was a really full year with many many developments and a whole lot of vision for the promising future of ESN. I hope I have managed to include everything although it is very hard to describe a year in just a few lines. I believe what made all this possible was the great collaboration of the network and the amazing teamwork of the Board members in Brussels. It has certainly been an honour to be in this network for years and serve as its President and I hope that the past and the history documented here can help build a better and even more ambitious future for ESN no matter the challenges!

History Country by Country

ESN History Book 2011

ESN Austria

Written by Lea Benirschke, Robert Leili and Stefan Melbinger

The first NR of Austria was active in ESN already in 1992. At that time, the network was still small and the first ESN sections were founded in Graz (University of Graz, Technical University of Graz). Slowly also other sections like the University of Vienna, the University of Economics and Business Administration (WU Wien) and the Technical University of Vienna joined. Renate Rieder was mainly involved in developing and expanding the network among Austrian universities. The main difficulties in the beginning were to set up the statutes and standing orders, to finance various projects and to recruit reliable members. What more, the financial situation of ESN Austria as a national body was totally unsure until 2005 when finally sponsoring partners (such as a phone and bank company) were found. Sometimes it was difficult to keep all sections active in ESN, especially when it came to handovers. Some universities were not so easy to be in cooperation with either. From the beginning, some of the Austrian ESN sections were integrated into the international departments of the Austrian students’ association – Österreichische Hochschülerschaft (ÖH). The ÖH is by law the official representation organisation for all Austrian students. At most universities, the departments for international affairs worked hard for the integration of the incoming students: therefore, it seemed quite logical to connect the ESN network with the existing network of the international departments. In ESN’s early years in Austria there were meetings at a national level, but they were organised by the network of the students’ association. Later on, the students’ associations of University of Innsbruck,

University of Linz, University of Salzburg, University of Klagenfurt, FHS Kufstein, FH Steyr, FH St.Pölten, BOKU Vienna, FH Campus Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, BFI Vienna, FH Vienna WKW also joined the Erasmus Student Network (this is not the chronological order). By the year 2010 there were 17 sections established which all have been more or less active within ESN. Between 2002-2004 Thomas Schneider, Harry Ackerlauer, Annika Gumhalter, Renate Rieder, Christoph Graf, Christoph Schön-Pigisch, Reingard Schandl and many others worked hard on establishing ESN Austria as an independent association. The first National Platform, in addition to the meetings organised by the students’ association, took place in Klagenfurt in 2002. The first ESN National Winter Event was the skiing trip to Zell am See in 1996, started by Robert Leili (WU Wien). Since 2005 there has been a National Summer Event as well. This is a trip to an Austrian lake, initiated by Lea Benirschke (FHS Kufstein) and Robert Leili (WU Wien). In 2003 all sections of Vienna started to organize a common weekly Erasmus Night in “La Havanna” with about 1000 Erasmus Students. Since 2007 there are more then 2000 Erasmus students participating, and the Erasmus Night has become an Erasmus Karaoke Night in the “Loco Club”, Vienna. On both national and international level, Christoph Graf was one of the initiators of the ESN Card Project. He was also busy setting up new sections both in Austria and abroad. Together with Julia Mandl, they expanded the coverage of a mobile phone provider from the section WU Wien to the national level. Pedram Payami and Anna Tichy

carried on the project within the scope of their fundraising efforts. In August 2005 the first ESN Fun(d)raising Conference, which had been the idea of IB in the beginning, took place together with the international BM in Vienna. The coordinators were the NB members (Anna Tichy, Hielei Heider, Pedram Payami, Lea Benirschke, Christoph Schön-Pigisch). There have been two IB presidents from Austria: Stefanie Kothmiller (2001–2002) and Elke Resch (1998– 1999). As the ESN International Knowledge Management Working Group is concerned, Harry Ackerlauer took a very active part and he was the one to set up the first ESN Austria Homepage. In 2007 several members from Austrian sections were volunteering in the ESN Van Project in the course of 20 Years of Erasmus Program Projects by ESN International. From 2009 to 2010 Julia Fellinger was actively promoting the Give20 Project, and more than 5000 Euros was raised. SECTIONS ESN TU Graz, 1992 ESN Uni Graz, 1993 ESN WU Wien, 1995 ESN TU Wien, 1996 ESN Uni Wien, 1996 ESN Innsbruck, 1998 ESN Linz, 1999 ESN Salzburg, 2000 ESN Klagenfurt, 2002 ESN Kufstein, 2003 ESN BOKU Wien, 2003 ESN Steyr, 2004 ESN Med Uni Wien, 2004 ESN UAS Vienna, 2006 2006: ISN St Poelten ESN Wien WKW, 2006 ESN FH Campus Wien, 2006 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED AGM Graz, 1998 CEP Velden, 2004 CEP Vienna, 2006 Section Meeting Vienna, 2008 IT Committee Meeting in Vienna, 2010 NBM Vienna, 2010 Section Meeting Vienna, 2010 Section Meeting Graz, 2010 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Elke Resch, President, 1998 - 1999

Stefanie Kothmiller, President, 2001 - 2002

ACHIEVEMENTS THANKS TO

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Gottfried Bauernfeind, 1994 1996 Elke Resch, 1996 - 1997 Renate Rieder, 2003 - 2004 Christoph Schön-Pigisch, 2004 2005 Hielei Heider, 2005 Stefan Rosanelli, 2005 - 2006 Markus Matzner, 2006 - 2007 Markus Fröhlich, 2007 - 2008 Patrick Jörg, 2008 - 2009 Julia Fellinger, 2009 - 2010 Tanja Foss, 2010 - 2010 Stefan Melbinger, 2010 - 2011 Katharina Ma, 2011-2012

(in alphabetical order)

NATIONAL BOARD PRESIDENTS Annika Gumhalter, 2003 - 2005 Anna Tichy, 2005 - 2007 Karin Köckeis, 2007 - 2008 Julia Fellinger, 2008 - 2009 President resigned, 2009 - 2010 Patrick Jörg, 2010 - 2011 NATIONAL EVENTS ESN Austria Summer Event ESN Austria Ski Event AMONG MANY ACTIVE MEMBERS, THERE HAVE BEEN

ESN History Book 2011

SOME OUTSTANDING PEOPLE Harry Ackerlauer (NB Member IT), Lea Benirschke (NB Communications), Christoph Graf, Annika Gumhalter (NB President), Hielei Heider (NR, IB Member for External Relations), Robert Leili, Pedram Payami (NB Member Treasurer), Renate Rieder (NR), Stefan Rosanelli (NR), Reingard Schandl (NB Treasurer, Communications), Thomas Schneider, Christoph Schön-Pigisch (NR), Anna Tichy (NB President) OTHER INVOLVEMENTS ON THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL Lea Benirschke, AGM Chairing Team in Prague, 2007 Lea Benirschke, AGM Chairing Team in Besancon, 2008 Patrick Jörg, AGM Chairing Team in Istanbul, 2010

ESN Azerbaijan Baku International Students Club (BISC) was founded in 2006 by a group of friends from the Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan. This group of friends acted as volunteers with the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) one of the leading NGOs in Azerbaijan. In September of 2007, Azerbaijan became the 34th member country of ESN; BISC was accepted after long discussion with a consensus reached by all National representatives present at the Council of National Delegates Meeting of ESN in Switzerland, Winterthur. The Baku International Students Club a section of the Erasmus Student Network, on the 24th of May 2008 held the “Cultural Day of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. The ceremony was held in Baku the capital city of Azerbaijan. At CNR Novi Sad in 2009, the membership of ESN BISC Baku was challenged due to lack of communication and inactiveness on the

Written by Veeli Written Oeselg by

international level of ESN. On the initiative of NR of Germany and the support of the CNR, the section and NR was obliged to submit a report to the CNR and secure their participation at the upcoming statutory ESN meeting. A study trip was conducted to ESN BISC Baku to find out more about the section and it’s activities. With this study visit it became clear that there is potential for network growth in Azerbaijan. At CND Athens in December 2009, the NR presented the submitted report and verified the activeness of the section and their right to belong to the network.

Written by Paul Puylaert

ESN Belgium

Belgium and ESN have a kind of special relationship since in a way there can be said that since a couple of years the circle is round : you can find now in Brussels the ESN Headquarters with the ESN House and the ESN Office, but the actual start for ESN also began in Belgium. There was the first AGM in Copenhagen in February 1990, since the 16th of October 1989 the first ‘ESN-section’ in Utrecht but ESN’s starting-point was in fact January 1989 in Gent, when the Erasmus Bureau invited 32 former Erasmus Students for an evaluation-meeting. There some practical problems became obvious and some of them were seen by ‘the founders of ESN’ as main tasks to work on, which resulted in the ‘Erasmus Student Network’ and reflected in the idea of ‘students helping students’. That ESN is now based in Brussels and that this preliminary ESN meeting was held in Belgium has/ had its practical reasons, like the central location in Europe and that you can find there the very core of the European Institutions. But there is more than only this ‘practical coincidence’ : Belgium is a country with two major, equal communities with completely different languages and cultures but also a tradition of open-minded cooperation, working together and ‘equality through diversity’. And seeing possibilities and taking opportunities resulted in the fact that Belgium was one of the founders of the European Union, took the lead in the development of the Erasmus Program and also stood at the cradle of the birth of ESN. Despite the fact that Belgium is not that big and hasn’t that many cities where there are institutions of higher education, soon local ESN sections were

ESN History Book 2010 2011

founded in Gent, Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp, Namur and at the HEC-Liège. They all organised typical ESN activities such as parties, city tours, sports activities, weekend trips and all kind of other ‘social activities’ but they also had immediate and regular contact with each other. This resulted in different national activities such as seminars, day activities and national weekends but also in the creation of the first National Platform within ESN, and this was already in 1991-92. A nice anecdote concerning the Belgian National Platforms is the ‘meeting-language’ : for ages there is in Belgium a French- and a Dutch-speaking part (which is also the case in the origin of the local sections) and since not everybody speaks both languages always even fluently, often the reunions of the National Platform are ‘English speaking’. During the years the sections of Namur and Leuven disappeared, sections like Brussels and Antwerp had for a while problems with continuity, which also resulted in low level-activity on the national level, but since a couple of years there is a revival in Belgium. New sections joined ESN, on the national level there are more regular meetings which means that at the end of 2010 there are 7 active sections: Antwerpen, Gent, VUB Brussels, HUB Brussels, Louvain-la-Neuve, HEC Liège and University Liège. Also on the international level the Belgian sections played an active role : besides an active participation in most of the international ESN-events throughout the years the Belgians also organised several of these events themselves : there were the many (Executive) Board and CNR meetings, other conferences and celebrations, but also some of the major ESN-events took place in Belgium.

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Evaluation Meeting / Preliminary ESN-Meeting, Gent, 1989 AGM II, Brussels, 1992 ESN-Gent Erasmus Prize Winner, 1994 AGM VII, Gent, 1997 10th Anniversary of the Erasmus Program, Brussels, 1997 Conference on Exchange Students’ Rights and Obligations, Liège, 2000 First Central European Platform, Gent, 2003 Alumni Meeting / 15th ESNanniversary, Gent / Brussels, 2004 Erasmus Days in Gent / Brussels, 2007 20th Anniversary Celebration Gent / Brussels, 2009 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Bart Van Der Velde, Brussels, Treasurer, 1991 - 1992 Bart Van Der Velde, Brussels, Vice-President, 1992 - 1993 Nicolas Ancot, Namur, Treasurer, 1993 - 1994 Jan Verbrugghe, Leuven, VicePresident, 1994 Paul Puylaert, Gent, Treasurer,

1995 - 1996 David Sempels, HEC-Liège, Treasurer, 1998 - 1999 Didier Lemmens, HEC-Liège, Treasurer, 1999 - 2000 Cathy Van Der Ha, Gent, Board Member, 2000 - 2001 Dominique Benoot, Gent, International Administrator, 2001 - 2002 Kristof Van Tomme, Gent, Board Member, 2003 - 2004 Nick Andries, Gent, Treasurer, 2004 - 2005 Toon Macharis, Gent, Network Administrator, 2005 - 2006 Jakob Smets, Brussels, Board Member, 2006 - 2007 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Bart Van De Velde, ESN Brussel / Flemish & Nicolas Stassen, Walloon, 1990 - 1991 Bart Van De Velde, ESN Brussel, 1991 - 1992 Bart Van De Velde, ESN Brussel, 1992 - 1993 Nicolas Ancot, ESN Namur, 1993 - 1994 Jan Verbrugghe, ESN Leuven & Paul Puylaert, ESN Gent, 1994 1995 Paul Puylaert, ESN Gent, 1995 1996

Paul Puylaert, ESN Gent, 1996 1997 Benedicte Lemmens, ESN HECLiège, 1997 - 1998 David Sempels, ESN HEC-Liège, 1998 - 1999 Didier Lemmens, ESN HEC-Liège, 1999 - 2000 Cathy Van Der Ha, ESN Gent, 2000 - 2001 Fritz Dillen, ESN Brussel, 2001 2002 Annelies Hamerlinck, ESN Gent, 2002 - 2003 Rui de Carvalho / Annabelle Bayo, 2003 - 2004 Nick Andries & Toon Macharis, ESN Gent & Patrick, ESN Antwerpen, 2004 - 2005 Nick Andries, ESN Gent, 2005 2006 Christof Devriendt, ESN Brussel, 2006 - 2007 Christof Devriendt, ESN Brussel, 2007 - 2008 Elke Behiels, ESN Gent, 2008 2009 Liesbeth Casier, ESN Gent, 2009 - 2010 Ann-Sophie Vanderscheuren, ESN Brussel, 2010 - 2011 Sandra Fernandez, ESN Brussel, 2011-2012

ESN Bosnia-Herzegovina

Written by Nihada Prnjavorac and Ismet Lisica For ESN Bosnia and Herzegovina, it all started in December 2006, at the CNR which took place in the slovenian town of Koper. Four young students presented our plans and ideas and with all NRs voting YES, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of this unique and great community. We have realized it was a time for change, so we wanted to introduce a new concept and ways of studying, which became the idea that led us ever since. Our next presentation was at AGM in Prague, followed by numerous international meetings. In November 2007, ESN Bosnia and Herzegovina organized a very successful Council of National Representatives. Participating in AGM Besancon, France is where we got some new ideas and contacts, which turned out to be very beneficial. SEEP 2008 was our next big event, and after a short presentation, the AGM gave us their trust. Our friendship with neighboring countries, especially ESN sections from Slovenia resulted in many international projects we did together. The first result of this great international relationship was called “Getting EUropean identity”, an exchange project which took place in several Slovenian cities in May 2008 in cooperation with ESN Ljubljana, ESN Primorska and ESN Kranj. As there were still some issues with exchange programs at University in Sarajevo, we thought it would be good to gather some information about new exchange opportunities for students, so we organized a conference “Students in BiH are a part of Europe”, supported by the Faculty of Political Sciences in June 2008.

ESN History Book 2011

We are also proud of our collaboration with Youth alliance from Kruševo, Macedonia, who invited us to be their partner in project “International Youth Conference” in September 2008. In October 2008 Sarajevo was the ESN no.1 place to be. South Eastern European Platform was an event that brought the ESN spirit to our capital and it was a great success. Exchange students in our country were not numerous at the beginning and it was an even greater motivation to help them get to know our country, our heritage, our culture and to give them our support. Many of them became our friends for life and that is the greatest value of all. The following months gave us a chance to promote exchange and ESN in many events, starting with The 2nd Meeting of BH Youth from the World in July 2008, Scholarships fair in February 2009, The Youth fair in May 2009, etc. The year 2010 has brought us less projects, but at the same time, more exchange students and some new ESN Sarajevo members. It has also brought us a very valuable contract: Memorandum of Understanding, signed by representatives of the Directorate for European Integration of BH Council of Ministers and of an initiative of nine non-governmental organisations dealing with youth issues. This document formalises the co-operation among young people in the non-governmental sector, on one side, and the Directorate for European Integration, on the other, in areas of joint interest in the process of European integration, and we are proud that ESN Bosnia and Herzegovina is a part of it. During all of this time, we had a support from the

national CEEPUS coordinator and office, Federal ministry of education and science, Ministry of civil affairs, OIA – the Information Youth agency, student organizations from University of Mostar and University of Tuzla, international organizations, private enterprises and many more. Even though our history can fit into a single page, we believe it was a great thing we did by bringing ESN to our country. We certainly gave our contribution to the promotion of exchange programs and the idea of mobility and we can only hope the results in the future will be even better. ESN Bosnia and Herzegovina is registered within the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Mreža studenata u BiH, and it is the only association in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the main mission of helping students in their exchange experiences. The National Board is placed in Sarajevo, as well as SECTIONS ESN Sarajevo INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED CNR, 2007 SEEP, 2008

our only local section - ESN Sarajevo, which at the moment has 7 members. It was, and still is our aim to create a more mobile and flexible education environment by supporting and developing student exchange from different levels in order to provide an intercultural experience to exchange students. Our goal was and still is to inspire students in Bosnia and Herzegovina to use available resources and opportunities for new educational and life experiences through exchange programs. Even though it was not always easy, it was always fun and an experience to remember. At the end, we would like to say thanks to the International Board for their endless support during these past years, and to other ESN countries for being such great friends and coworkers. Pallomeri!

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Mirza Softić, 2006 - 2007 Ismet Lisica, 2008 - 2010 Nihada Prnjavorac, vice-NR, 2008 - 2010 Nadina Muslić, 2011-2012

ESN Bulgaria

Written by Mariya Dineva

The history of the Erasmus organization in Sofia starts in 2006/2007 when two students from the University of Sofia decide to help the local Erasmus, but not as any kind of organization, but just as their friends. The things get a bit more serious when Gueorgui (a.k.a Horhe) Filipov, Kristina Toncheva and Mariya Dineva take over in February 2008. After a meeting with about 10 more students, an agenda for the whole semester is prepared and Sofia appears on the Erasmus map of Europe as a city that has a lot of amusements to offer. Since all of the founders had already been on exchange where they had had the chance to get to know ESN, they were all convinced that Bulgaria should join as well. ESN Sofia University was approved as a candidate section by CNR Rimini and in December 2008 CND Gdansk turned it into a full member of ESN. Mariya Dineva was elected as the 1st NR of the country. The second section applied right after – ESN NBU (New Bulgarian University, Sofia) obtained the candidate section status in February 2009 at the CNR Skopje, in May 2009 it SECTIONS ESN Sofia University ESN NBU, New Bulgarian University, Sofia ESN Varna ESN Veliko Tarnovo

became the 2nd official Bulgarian section at the CNR in Porto. With ESN Varna on board (after the Bulgarian NP in February 2010), ESN Bulgaria could officially constitute its first board – Kristina Toncheva (president), Horhe (Gueorgui) Filipov (vicepresident, internal relations), Mariya Dineva (vicepresident, external relations), Anastasiya Ignatova (treasurer), Iva Karaivanova (secretary). The next applicant sections came from Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo. Ruse decided to postpone the membership, so currently only the University of Veliko Tarnovo is waiting for approval. ESN Sofia organized the 1st ever summer school of ESN in 2009 – Bulgaria Education Summer Training a.k.a. BEST. It was a great motivation for the participants and for the organizers as well! The event turned into the big kick-off of ESN Bulgaria and brought international fame to this ESN country. BEST turned into their trademark. ESN Bulgaria also organised BEST 2 and the South Eastern European Platform 2010 in Veliko Tarnovo.

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED BEST I, 30 July - 4 August 2009 BEST II, 5 - 23 August 2010 SEEP, Veliko Tarnovo, 11 - 14 November 2010

ESN History Book 2011

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Mariya Dineva, 2008 - 2010 Lora Zasheva, 2011-2012

ESN Cyprus

Written by Veeli Oeselg and Andrzej Sochacki

In 2004, Cyprus entered ESN for the first time. In 2006, a total of 4 sections were established in the North and in the South of Cyprus. After some time, several problems were raised on the national level. First, the NR was expelled from the CNR at the post-AGM CNR Besançon in 2008. As the communication and cooperation between the sections from northern and southern Cyprus was already problematic, they didn‘t manage to elect a new NR. Therefore, in the end, the last existing sections were expelled as they didn‘t fulfill their obligations towards ESN International. Nevertheless, in 2009 ESN Cyprus had a vital new start. Andrzej Sochacki, a previous section member of ESN Cyprus, had the idea together with the ESN member Marco Segreto who was at that moment on Erasmus in Cyprus and some other exchange students to organise something for the international students in Nicosia. Thus, the idea to create the association called ESA (Erasmus Student Association – Cyprus) emerged. Since the number of exchange and international students of the single universities in Nicosia was not so big, the ESA group decided to organise the structure of the association as an “umbrella” for all universities in Cyprus, and to offer their help to all the international students in the capital city of Cyprus and in other cities like Larnaca and Limassoll. At the beginning, in September 2008, ESA organized several meetings among all the students in order to get to know each other. Then ESA started “officially” making some thematic parties in clubs and trips in order to explore and give the possibility to all the people to know the wonderful places around the island.

During that time more people joined the group of ESA, including some Cypriot Former Erasmus students. One of them, Sthephy Yannaky, was included in the first Draft of the ESA board, which was organized as follows: President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and External Relations Board Member. Also, six university coordinators were decided among the Erasmus Students, one for each university, with the duty of spreading news among the foreign students of their university about ESA activities. In September 2009, the ESA Board also got in contact with ESN International in order to join the ESN network. After submission of the application, the representatives of ESA were invited to CND Athens in December, where they held a presentation about their association. As the political situation in Cyprus, the past of the association in ESN and the wished name for the association with „ESN-Cyprus“ were quite controversial, the candiate membership was discussed at the meeting by the CND for more than 5 hours over two days. In the end, a compromise solution was proposed by the Board that two study trips by neutral ESN members will be conducted about Cyprus over a long time period and that the association had to choose another name like „ESNESA“, if ESA was to be approved as a candidate member. This was also successful. An Open Call was made in the network to find ESN members, who would be interested to go on a study trip to ESA. Davide Capecchi, the former President of ESN International carried out the first study trip, and the results were highly positive. The study trip report results were presented at CNR Warsaw in February 2009, where also Andrzej Sochacki and

Marco Segreto from ESA were present. Thanks to the Study Trip it was proved that ESA is working well and taking care better as some of the official ESN sections. Therefore, the Board proposed to have to vote of full membership already at CNR Warsaw and to skip the second study trip. Even though discussions of several hours raised again, in the end the voting took place and ESN-ESA was approved

as a full member of ESN. Dora Charalambous was nominated as the NR of ESN Cyprus. Since then, no new sections have been created in Cyprus, but ESN-ESA is taking good care of their international students and is always well represented at the ESN International meeting by Andrzej Sochacki, the Vice-NR of ESN Cyprus.

SECTIONS ESN-ESA, 2009 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Dora Charalambous, 2009 - 2010 Andrzej Sochacki, 2010 - 2012

ESN History Book 2010 2011

ESN Czech Republic

Written by Lenka Stodulkovรก and Martin Moravec

SN entered Czech Republic with the acceptance of ISC CTU in Prague to the network in May 2002. The country grew during these years and after entering more cities, the idea to set up a National Board was being realised. The National Board worked gradually and on 26th August 2007, ESN Czech Republic was formally established as legal organization. Currently 7 members of the National Board are working on behalf of ESN CR, which is proud to have a network of 10 sections. One of the key milestones that influenced ESN in the Czech Republic was undoubtedly the acceptance of ISC CTU in Prague to ESN Network as the country`s first section. The network grew steadily and soon the first ESN International event was organized in the Czech Republic as well as the very first weekend National Platform, that since

then has become an inherent part of ESN semester in ESN Czech Republic. More national and local projects rose up, such as ESN CR Olympics or Erasmus Days. The key was also the establishment of cooperation with the National Agency dating back to 2007. Furthermore, the National Board was established in order to coordinate projects on a National level and work on behalf of sections. The hard work of people on the local and national level was rewarded in 2008 by receiving ESN Award StarLand, that motivated ESN CR to keep up the good work. The challenge that ESN CR is facing is the level of recognition of ESN CR among external stakeholders. Another challenge is the relatively small budget on national level.

SECTIONS ISC CTU in Prague ESN VSE in Prague ISC MU Brno ESN UP Olomouc ESN Pilsen ISC MENDELU ISC VUT Brno Buddy System HK ISC OU Ostrava ESC ICT Prague INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Cultural Medley - ISC CTU Prague and ESN VSE Prague, September 2003 Section Meeting PragueDresden-Krakow - ISC CTU Prague and ESN VSE Prague, 2005 Central European Platform Cikháj - ISC CTU Prague, 2005 AGM Prague - ISC CTU Prague and ESN VSE Prague, 2007 Erasmus Days in Brno organized by ISC MU Brno and ISC VUT

Brno, 2007 Section Meeting Brno-BratislavaBudapest-Vienna organized by ISC MU Brno, 2008 ESN Alumni Meeting organized by ESN VSE Prague, 2008 First National Boards Meeting organized by ESN VSE Prague, 2008 Section Meeting Brno-Utrecht, 2009 Central European Platfrom Brno - ISC MU Brno, ISC MENDELU and ISC VUT Brno, 2009 Section Meeting PilsenWinterthur, 2009 PRIME Conference - ESN VSE Prague, 2009 CNR Prague - ISC CTU Prague, June 2010 CoMeet Prague - ESN VSE Prague, 8 - 12 September 2010 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Markéta Toková, Vice-president, 2008 - 2009

ESN History Book 2011

Markéta Toková, President, 2009 - 2010 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Michal Mildorf, ISC CTU in Prague, 2002 - 2003 Jakub Jirka, ISC CTU in Prague, 2003 - 2004 Vojtech Opleštil, ESN VSE Prague, 2004 - 2005 Martin Kubík, ISC CTU in Prague, 2005 - 2006 Eva Ošlejšková, ISC MU Brno, 2006 - 2007 Markéta Toková, ESN VSE Prague, 2007 - 2008 Robert Jirík, ISC CTU Prague, 2008 - 2009 Lenka Stodulková, ISC MU Brno, 2009 - 2010 Marek Böser, 2010-2011 Barbora Pecivova, ESN UP Olomouc, 2011-2012

ESN Denmark Denmark has a special place in ESN’s history as our capital, Copenhagen, was the host for the organisation’s founding AGM all the way back in February 1990. Right from the beginning, there were two ESN sections in Denmark, in Copenhagen and Århus. ESN Århus was founded before ESN was. Section members participated in the first AGM in Copenhagen in 1990. They used the name ISC (International Student Club), until 2005 when they changed it to ESN Århus. It was probably someone in the international office that started the section. A third section, Odense, joined late the following year. In the mid-nineties there was for a short time a fourth section in Esbjerg. Sadly in 1998, the Copenhagen section closed down. Shortly thereafter, with only two sections left, the decision was made to shut down the national organisation in Denmark. In 1999 the AGM returned to Denmark, this time with the Århus section as hosts. This AGM, ESN’s tenth, was at that time the biggest to date. Late that same year, a new section was started up in Ålborg University, bringing the number of sections to the present three.

Written by Sofie Jakobsson

ESN Copenhagen was restarted in 2004 by Erwin Christensen,that stayed in the board til 2009. He is now having his own little buisness that we use to arrange trips for our students, that is in ESN Copenhagen. During some years in the 2000’s, there was a section in Roskilde. At present there is no national organisation, and cooperation between sections is limited to weekend visits, with exchange students, to each others sections. In the NP in Copenhagen 2010, ESN Denmark started a National Working group, to try to solve problems as internal communication in the country, find common goals and maybe in the future national events and a national board. There are at the moment four sections in Denmark: ESN Århus, ESN Copenhagen, ESN Odense and ESN Aalborg. Our biggest issues at the moment are to find members for our sections, and right now we are also trying to find solutions for that. We are currently not more then maybe 5-10 members of each section, some even less.

SECTIONS Copenhagen, 1990 - 1998 Århus, 1990 Odense, 1991 Esbjerg, mid-nineties Ålborg, 1999 Roskilde, 2000’s INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED NEP, ESN Århus, 1997 NEP, ESN Odense, 2003 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Jørn Bo Thomasen, President, 1995 - 1996

Niels Dam, Executive Board, 1998 - 1999 Troels Frost Christensen, ESN Århus, Treasurer, 2009 - 2010 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Mads Setnbeck, 1991 Anja Wang, Århus, 1993 Hans Baad Holdt, Odense, 1995 Jørn Bo Thomsen, Odense, 1996 Inanna Weiss, Odense, 1997 Frederick Degrande, Odsene, 1998 Niels Dam, Århus, 1999 Lotte Rickers Bennedsgaard Olesen, Århus, 2001 Kristian Lau Nielsen, Odense,

ESN History Book 2011

2001 - 2003 Anne Kjøller, Ålborg, 2003 Troels Frost Christensen, ESN Århus, 2008 - 2009 Jacob Kjær Larson, ESN Århus, 2009 - 2010 Sofie Jakobsson, ESN Copenhagen, 2010 - 2011 Julie Lindskov Jensen, ESN Odense, 2011-2012

ESN Estonia

Written by Martin Tulit and Silva Viilup (with special thanks to Eero Loonurm)

Erasmus Student Network in Estonia saw its first daylight in the year 2000 when the very first ESN section was founded in Tartu on the 21st of August. It was founded by the first Estonian Erasmus students, who had returned from their exchange, in cooperation with University of Tartu. The latter was searching for possible opportunities to integrate incoming exchange students and saw ESN Tartu as the best alternative. Since then, ESN Tartu and University of Tartu have been closely working together in making the life of arriving international students unforgettable. Throughout the years, ESN Tartu has been a very active ESN section in Estonia. Taking into account the increasing number of exchange students every year, the range and variety of organized events, partners and active members, ESN Tartu is a very experienced section indeed. Soon enough after the successful establishment of the very first ESN section, a new section in the capital of Estonia – Tallinn - started to form. The first activities of the section started in 2002 and in 2003 ESN Tallinn was officially founded. ESN Tallinn had it’s very first experience with Erasmus students at Tallinn Pedagogical University (currently Tallinn University). As the popularity of exchange programs and numbers of incoming international students increased, ESN Tallinn decided to take care of exchange students also in other higher education institutions. Today, ESN Tallinn is a partner to nine higher education institutions in Tallinn (Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonian Business School, Estonian Information Technology College, Estonian Maritime Academy, Tallinn Health Care College, Tallinn University, Tallinn University of Technology,

University of Applied Sciences) organizing events for all the exchange students studying in these nine universities. Due to the increasing amount of arriving exchange students throughout the years, ESN Tallinn has gathered more manpower on voluntary basis in order to successfully cope with incoming students. This has also had it’s results in the range of organized activities – in a very positive way! The offered activities range from quizzes to movie nights, from trips to sports events. ESN Tallinn’s and it’s active members contributions have definitely had a hugely positive effect on the development of ESN in Estonia! One of the most active ESN sections in Estonia besides ESN Tartu and ESN Tallinn has since it’s birth been ESN TUT International Club. The International Club of Tallinn University of Technology was founded the very same year as ESN Tallinn – in 2003. The beginning of TUT International Club was typical – it took time to get successfully started, but as the amount of volunteering students began to rise and new ideas pop up, then it was hard to stop. As a result a very wide range of events, projects, trips etc has been organized by ESN TUT International Club. TUT International Club was also working closely together with ESN Tallinn which led to TUT International Club becoming an official ESN section in 2009. This contributed even further to the variety and quality of events organized, also to the cooperation between the ESN sections in Tallinn. In the summer of 2006, fourth section taking care of incoming international students began to form which successfully erupted in September of 2006 with the establishment of TLU IC (International

Club of Tallinn University). The International Club has since been organizing different events for the incoming students of Tallinn University. Additionally, like in other International Clubs, also in TLU the members of the section are buddies for exchange students helping them to get acquainted with the life in Estonia. In spring 2009, the Tallinn University International Club became an official ESN section named ESN TLU Tallinn. SECTIONS ESN Tallinn, created in 2002, joined ESN in 2003 ESN TUT International Club, created in 2003, joined ESN in 2009 ESN EBS, created in 2008, joined ESN in 2009 ESN TLU Tallinn, created in 2006, joined ESN in 2009 ESN Tartu, created in 2000, joined ESN in 2001 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED PRIME conference by ESN Tallinn, 2009 Northern European Platform (NEP) by ESN Tartu, 2008 Erasmus Van hosted by ESN Tallinn, 2007 Nordic Network Meeting aka Northern European Platform (NEP) by ESN Tartu and ESN Tallinn, 2002

The youngest ESN section in Estonia is ESN EBS. The International Club of Estonian Business School was created in spring 2008 for organizing events and building a buddy network for the exchange students in EBS. The International Club became an ESN section in the spring of 2009 and has been cooperating closely with the other sections in Tallinn since then.

INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Veeli Oeselg from ESN Tartu, Vice-President, 2009 - 2010 Jörgen Talkop from ESN Tallinn was EVS, 2008 - 2009 Kairika Kärsna, International Board, 2002 - 2003 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Kairika Kärsna Merilyn Kesküla Tuuli Semevsky Imre Mäger, 2004 - 2005 Maia Lõssenko, 2005 - 2006 Nino Feštšin, 2006 - 2007 Eero Loonurm, 2007 - 2008 Marge Taivere, 2008 - 2009 Mariane Koplimaa, 2009 - 2010 Martin Tulit / Silva Viilup, 2010 - 2011 Tiina Nõulik, 2011-2012

Tallinn-Stockholm Sea Battle is a cruise between the cities of Stockholm and Tallinn. Twice a year Seabattle is organised by ESN Sweden. It takes 2000 Erasmus students from Sweden, Finland and Estonia on a two day cruise between Stockholm and Tallinn. SPECIAL ESN Tallinn was one of the 17 sections in ESN that started working with the ExchangeAbility project, 2010. ESN Tallinn Diary is the first winner of ESN Knowledge Management Award, 2009.

NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED ESN Sea Battle, Stockholm-

ESN History Book 2011

ESN Finland

Written by Aino Henriksson, Heidi Hietala and Laura Isomaki

Finland joined the Erasmus Student Network in 1993. Already before that some attempts were made to establish the first ESN section in Finland. For example, in the beginning of the 1990s the National Union of Finnish Students organised a seminar where also a Swedish advocate of ESN was invited. She did her best to encourage the student unions to join ESN at once. But at that time the general feeling towards the international organisations that were popping up in Europe was a bit sceptical. The actual story started when the international secretary of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki, Teppo Heiskanen, got a phone call asking him to come to Maastricht for the Annual General Meeting in 1993. He was really impressed: people he met in Maastricht were doing exactly the same that they were trying to do in Helsinki. In the end, the Board of the Student Union in Helsinki was convinced that ESN truly was a serious attempt to tackle the problems of growing student exchange and ESN HYY became the first Finnish section in 1993. Teppo Heiskanen was the first National Representative of Finland and already by the next year, in 1994, Helsinki organised the AGM. As a curiosity it could be mentioned that the ESN logo used back then saw the first daylight in the capital of Finland. Helsinki immediately spread the good word, and soon other student organisations followed. Turku, Tampere and Vaasa were the next ones to join the network and the first unofficial National Platform was held in 1994. It was crucial for ESN’s success in Finland that it was the student unions that joined: the infrastructure and funds were there to

be taken. In 1994 Finnish ESN members organised the so called ESN TEMPUS Tour to Baltic countries and Poland to establish good relations with student organisations in the Institutions of Higher Education. The same year ESN sections in Turku created a starting package service to provide international students with basic household equipment when they arrive. The same service continues still today and is one of the most appreciated services that the Student Union offers for incoming exchange students. The number of the ESN sections has been going up steadily, reaching 15 sections in 2005. Finnish sections are geographically widespread: five in the Helsinki area, three in Turku, two in Tampere and the rest of the sections are in Vaasa, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Jyväskylä and Joensuu. Most of the Finnish ESN sections are part of their student unions working as international committees. Sections participate in national and international events at their own cost or with the financial support of their higher education institution or student union. Most of the sections operate closely not only with their student unions, but also with their institutions’ international student tutors. Recent changes in the Finnish university and student union structures have also affected some ESN sections. For example, a couple of sections have changed their name and some have merged into one. Currently (2010), three Finnish sections have registered as legal associations. Finnish sections vary in size and how they work ,but in general the ESNers all over the country organise sauna evenings, pub nights, sports, different kinds of language activities, city races, parties and trips to Stockholm, Lapland, Tallinn and St Petersburg to

name but a few things. On a national level, Finnish sections cooperate mainly regionally but plans have been made to have more national cooperation. Over the years, Finnish ESNers have actively participated in international events. For example, in 2002 when the Nordic Network Meeting was organised in Estonia 25 participants out of 59 were from Finland. Annually, ESN Finland joins the Annual General Meeting and Northern European Platform with around 15-20 participants. Finnish sections have also taken part in ESN Sea Battle since autumn 2008. Even though the idea of creating a national level body in Finland was discussed already at the National Platform held in Helsinki 1999, it took almost ten years before it actually happened. As the network grew it became clear that National Board was needed to take over the domestic ESN responsibilities, to support the Finnish sections and to represent ESN in Finnish contexts. During the years 2008-2009 a National Board working group was preparing the material and writing statutes and standing orders for ESN Finland. The first official National Board was elected in the National Platform of spring 2009 organised at the Arctic Circle, in Rovaniemi. Since the beginning of 2010 ESN Finland has been a registered legal association whose members are the Finnish ESN sections. ESN Finlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest decision-making body is the National Platform which usually consists of one or two representatives from each section. Since the mid-90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Platforms have been organised at least twice a year. For several years ESN Finland has been financially supported by the Centre of International Mobility, CIMO (National Agency). After the establishment of the National Board it has been possible to strengthen the Finnish network and carry out bigger projects. For example, ESN Overalls have made it easier for exchange students to participate in the Finnish student culture. The board seeks new co-operation partners, promotes the benefits and international projects of ESN for the sections and develops the use of the different communication channels within the network.

ESN History Book 2011

SECTIONS ESN HYY Helsinki, 1993 ESN Åbo Akademi, 1994 ESN Uni Turku (former name ESN TYY Turku), 1994 ESN FINT Tampere, former name ESN TAMY Tampere, 1994 ESN VYY Vaasa, 1995 ESN JYY Jyväskylä, 1997 ESN HELGA, former name ESN KANTO, 2001 ESN OYY Oulu, 2001 ESN ISYY Joensuu, former name ESN JOYY Joensuu, 2002 ESN TKY Helsinki, 2003 ESN ASK, 2007 ESN Lapland, 2008 ESN METKA, 2008 ESN IAC Turku, 2008 ESN INTO Tampere, 2009 ESN Lapperanta, 2011 PREVIOUS SECTIONS ESN TTKY Tampere, 1994 - 2001 ESN TuKY Turku, 1994 - 2009, merged with ESN TYY Turku ESN HAMOK, 2000 - 2008 ESN HAAGA Institute, 2003 2005 ESN Arcada, 2004 - 2006 ESN Laureamko, 2005 - 2007 ESN Kolmirauta, 2006 - 2008 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED AGM, Helsinki, 1994 Nordic Network Meeting,

Helsinki, 1998 Nordic Network Meeting, Jyväskylä, 2001 International Board Meeting, Helsinki, 2002 AGM, Helsinki, 2004 CNR, Helsinki, 2005 Nordic Network Meeting, Helsinki, 2006 ESN Alumni Meeting, Helsinki, 2010 Northern European Platform, Turku, 2010 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Catharina Lindström, ESN Åbo Akademi, Secretary, 1999 - 2000 Mikko Arvas, ESN HYY Helsinki, President, 2000 - 2001 Janna Koivisto, ESN JYY Jyväskylä, Vice-President, 2001 - 2002 Hanna-Maija Saarinen, ESN Åbo Akademi, President, 2002 - 2003 Giuseppe Lugano, ESN HYY Helsinki, Vice-President, 2004 2005 Marco La Rosa, ESN HYY Helsinki, External, 2010 - 2011 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Teppo Heiskanen, ESN HYY Helsinki, 1993 Tuomas Rinne, ESN HYY Helsinki, 1994 Anikó Lehtinen, ESN HYY Helsinki, 1995

Anikó Lehtinen, ESN HYY Helsinki, 1996 Susanna Kärki, ESN TYY Turku, 1997 Sami Kontola, ESN JYY Jyväskylä, 1998 Catharina Lindström, ESN Åbo Akademi, 1999 Mikko Arvas, ESN HYY Helsinki, 2000 Janna Koivisto, ESN JYY Jyväskylä, 2001 Hanna-Maija Saarinen, ESN Åbo Akademi, 2002 Ilona Salonen, ESN Åbo Akademi, 2003 Maria El Said, ESN JYY Jyväskylä, 2004 Kati Haahti, ESN KANTO, 2005 Tiina Naskali, ESN TYY Turku, 2006 Tiina Naskali, ESN TYY Turku, 2007 Heidi Hietala, ESN Åbo Akademi, 2008 Anna Alasuutari, ESN TYY Turku, 2009 Aino Henriksson, ESN Uni Turku, 2010 Jerzy Jasielec, ESN Åbo Akademi, 2011

ESN France

Written by Lucie Delsalle, Julia Wyssling and Patrick Fiquet Even though there was a French section from the very begining of ESN, it’s not easy to follow the history as many sections joined ESN but then quickly left. The first French section to join ESN was ESN Troyes in 1998. It has been part of the network for a while but then the section turned silent. Lotte Rickers from Denmark was given the responsibility to promote ESN in France. She did well and in January 2001, ESN in France boosted with three more sections from Toulouse (ASER-ESN Toulouse 1, SAM-ESN Toulouse 2, APIEE-ESN Toulouse 3) and one from Lille (AERI). Then at the AGM 2001 in Leiden, the French sections elected the first French National Representative, Benoît Boldron, after 12 years of ESN existing in France. From that moment on, the turnover started to be lower. In January 2002, two French sections joined ESN: one more from Toulouse (Xenos-ESN Toulouse4) and one from Strasbourg (Bureau des visitantsESN Strasbourg). In March 2002, Sébastien Mackay followed Benoît Boldron and became the new NR for France. In December 2002, an 8th section joined ESN, ESN Alès. After the AGM in Siena, in 2003, the idea of having a National Board became true on the initiative of ESN Alès. From that date, ESN France grew fast and organized the first SEP in Morocco in 2004. At the AGM 2005 in Gdansk, there was no candidate to organize the following AGM and ESN France applied to organize it in Paris. During the fall 2005, due to internal problems, the Board of ESN France which was also OC of the AGM decided to resign, having as result a new host for the AGM: ESN UE Krakow

ESN History Book 2011

and a long period of lethargy for ESN in France. In 2006, some French sections organized a National Platform in Brussels and elected a new National Board mostly based in Toulouse. However this didn’t really have any effect on the development of the network and the number of sections dropped to 7 in 2008. In 2008, ESN Besançon, which was one of the most active French sections, organized the AGM. After that event, two sections (ESN Besançon and ESN Nancy) decided to rebuild the network and organized a National Platform in June 2008 in Brussels. This was the beginning of the revival of ESN France. The National Board focused more on having strong services and tools for sections instead of trying to expand as quick as possible. Still, a lot of new sections applied. In autumn 2009, ESN France regained a section in its capital with the new section ESN Paris-Dauphine. In January 2010, 3 new sections were accepted: ESN Valenciennes, ESN Nantes and ESN Troyes. A new position was created in the National Board: vice-president in charge of external communication and public relations. Later in the year, three new sections join the network. Paris-Assas is the second section in Paris. In September 2010, the French network is composed by 19 sections.

SECTIONS ESN Aix-En-Provence ESN Alès (AIMA) ESN Besançon Franche-Comté (AEIB) ESN Caen - Global Village ESN Clermont-Ferrand, September 2010 ESN Compiègne UTC (Espéranto) ESN Dijon (InsiDijon) ESN ESC Troyes (Inter3), January 2010 ESN Globe and Co (Nancy) ESN Lyon (Cosmolyon) ESN Nancy ESN Nantes (Autour du Monde), January 2010 ESN Orléans ESN Paris-Assas, September 2010 ESN Paris Dauphine (DEE), 2009 ESN Télécom Bretagne ESN Toulouse 1 (ASER) ESN UBO Brest, 2010 ESN Valenciennes, January 2010 ESN Troyes, joined again in 2010 Toulouse (EIMA, APIEE, XENOS) Marseille (Pêle-mêle) Lille (AERI) Nantes (Autour du Monde),

joined again in 2010 Paris (ESN Paris) Strasbourg (Bureau des Visitants - ESN Strasbourg) INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED NBM, ESN Besançon FrancheComté, January 2010 AGM, ESN Besançon FrancheComté, March 2008 Board Meetin, ESN Paris, July 2005 SEP, ESN France organized the SEP in Marrakesh, Morocco, 2004 International Board Meeting, ESN Toulouse 1, 17 - 21 January 2002 Board Meeting, Annecy, 11 - 12 November 1991 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Joachim Wyssling, ESN Besançon, Vice President, 2010 - 2011 Damien Lamy-Preto, ESN Nancy, Treasurer, 2010 - 2012 Tania Berman, ESN Paris

Dauphine, President 2011-2012 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Sophie Bacconnier, Pêle-Mêle ESN Marseille, 1995 - 1996 Benoit Boldron, ASER Toulouse, 2001 - 2002 Sébastien Mackay, ASER Toulouse, 2002 - 2003 Marie-Charlotte Ibert-Jorgi, SAM Toulouse, 2003 - 2004 Perrine Authier, ASER Toulouse, expelled / Patrick Fiquet, ESN Nancy, 2004 - 2005 Patrick Fiquet, ESN Nancy, 2005 - 2006 Julien Pea, ESN Besançon Franche-Comté, 2006 - 2007 Julien Pea, ESN Besançon Franche-Comté, 2007 - 2008 Joachim Wyssling, ESN Besançon Franche-Comté, 2008 - 2009 Joachim Wyssling, ESN Besançon Franche-Comté, 2009 - 2010 Tania Berman, ESN Paris Dauphine, 2010 - 2011 Célanie Mazzetto, ESN Nancy, 2011-2012

ESN Germany

Written by Markus Lutter and Jennifer Ivonne Menge In 1990, ESN Bochum joined the ESN Network as the first German section. Today ESN Germany has 23 active sections and attends to 6000 students per year. The German network has about 400 active members within the sections. First there was Bochum - from one section to a national network (by Markus Lutter and Jennifer Ivonne Menge, ESN Alumni Deutschland) ESN Germany started to exist on December 28th, 1989, when ESN Bochum was founded by repatriates from an Erasmus exchange. These students realised that the best support during the Erasmus exchange are local students, so they formed an ESN section at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. In 1990, Bochum joined the international ESN network as the fourth section. After this, ESN Bochum was the only German section for several years. Due to the fact that the DAAD (German national agency) established the so-called “Lokale Erasmus Initiative” (local Erasmus Union) status, we have about one hundred student unions in Germany taking care of Erasmus and other exchange students, but it took till 1997 until other Unions joined the network. Though consisting of only one division, the Germans were active on an international level. Thus, many members visited international meetings and were part of the international board or of a chairing team. But they also established their own international projects. One major achievement was the first Partner Section Program by Oliver Klinke (NR, Germany) and Eva Suba (NR, Hungarian) in 1999. Today, this partnership no longer exists due to the graduation of the coordinators but there are other

ESN History Book 2011

partner sections in our country. Probably realizing the opportunities of an international section network, other German unions discovered ESN around the year 1997. From this date on, the number of sections increased and first steps for a national network were taken. The first National Platform was in November 2000 (24th to 26th) in Bochum with the attending sections Bochum, Dortmund and Weingarten. In 2002, the German sections tried to establish an association according to German law but unfortunately not enough people attended the meeting. It took until May 2005 when the German National Board Christine Kausch (Bochum), Jana Freudenberg (TU Dresden) and Stephan Heyne (Jena) officially founded ESN Germany as a registered association. With this step, the national network got a legal base and was able to interact with other institutions as well as sponsoring partners. From this day on other sections applied and joined the Erasmus Student Network. Today we are aware of the fact that the national network is the major reason for new sections to join us. After the official founding the Erasmus Student Network Germany started to grow. But we also kept our international presence: During the founding of the ESN Alumni network at the AGM 2005 in Danzig, the German members were present. For the following year our most important Eurodinner drink was introduced to ESN: Vodka Ahoj. After some doubtful attempts, we actually needed about 1,000 drinks for the AGM Eurodinner nowadays - probably 200 of them are only needed to show the “prickel, shake it and swallow” performance. Over the years, we tried to establish continuity

in Germany and got in touch with more sections. Therefore, it was only a matter of time until the first big event in our history took place: The Dresden Jamboree in the winter term 2006. All national sections and their Erasmus students were invited to explore the city in the east and they made their way. The sections of the TU Dresden and HTW Dresden did not only organize a place to sleep for everyone, but also a multifaceted cultural program. All guests were really pleased by the good organisation and a wonderful weekend. By this time, the numbers of sections forced the national board to think about a new structure and clear responsibilities in their team. For a long time, the Vice-President has not been a mandatory position in the Board. The president has been the Vice-NR and vice versa, and the treasurer was the one in the board with no connection to the international level. In 2007, the first mandatory Vice-President of ESN Germany e. V. was elected. His main responsibility was network care: the aims, questions and needs of the sections. Thanks to this establishment the president is able to be more active in representing ESN at the national level. For example we extablished a regular contact with the DAAD which helped us to spread our name and influence on the national level. Even though it did not help us to get financial or other support we are at least the one institution asked for conferences with Erasmus topics. Also in 2007, ESN Beach (today: Summer event) was established in the national network. It was thought of as an informal National Platform at a beach somewhere in Germany. The first one was organized by ESN Greifswald. Since then the German ESN team went camping at various places in Germany. Inspired by the Dresden jamboree and other international events, MESA in Munich organized the Cultural Medley in December 2007. A lot of ESN members from all over Europe saw the historical city and learned a lot about Bavarian culture. Furthermore, 2007 was one of the years with the most new sections applying for membership, all in all a very good year for ESN Germany. The international feeling continued in 2008 when the members of ESN Düsseldorf organized the WEP - the first official international conference meeting in a German city. One AGM, summer event and several national and

local platforms later it was time for another national event: In December 2009 about 700 Erasmus students from the German sections “entered” our capital Berlin. Following the invitation of the National Board and ESN Potsdam, they did not only enjoy the wonderful city but had two great party nights. The sections themselves were in charge of the cultural program and the transportation, everything else was organised by the OC. It was a fantastic event for all Erasmus Students and section members. Therefore, the next “ESNters the City” events are already planed: in 2010 we will enter Hamburg and Munich. With this yearly event, the whole network can benefit from each other – and establish as well as maintain a more direct contact. After the last years’ growing, we learned that this is the only way a network can become a real network. Today, the ESN Germany network realizes that not only new section members need to be motivated all over the country, but also that the knowledge of the old ones is getting lost. To keep a link to ESN, the National Board of 2009 founded ESN Alumni Germany during the AGM 2010 in Istanbul. Major aims of the Alumni network are to support the German ESN network with knowledge, money and personal help. In a longer perspective the Alumni want to be a financial support for the National Board on the one hand. On the other hand, their aim is to keep the knowledge together and to be a support network for section members in their life “after” university and ESN – so that the network can last longer than your student-life. Strengthening the network Since the legal foundation of Erasmus Student Network Germany the number of sections increased to 24. The main reason was probably due to more representation of the opportunities and goals from ESN towards other German Local Erasmus groups. More sections meant that more delegates were supposed to come to National Platforms and so the organisation was more and more professionalized. This needs more preparation and led to more work for the National Board – therefore the number of Board members had to increase so that the workload was still manageable for each of them. Thus, in the last years the National Board gained

a PR-responsible, a “project-coordinator” who is responsible for ESNters the City and other events and yearly changing positions like a “legal-advisor”. The increasing number of board members had one good effect: the number of sections that were active on the national and international level increased as well. Another good development was the continuity within the National Board. People joined the National Board most of the time for two periods, often in different positions. Therefore, knowledge and missions of the different teams did not get lost, but could be passed on. Newly established was the transition time from the election in January till the AGM and the Knowledge-transfer-meeting between the old and the new National Board. Also the German network is getting stronger. Started by a decision during the National Platform 2007 in Bochum, every German section needs to have one person that is the major contact person for the national network: the Local Representative. Most sections nominated one person that is supposed to go to events like NPs or AGMs over the year and stay in contact with the NB and the network. Thus, every year there is one “face” standing for a section – and there is more personal contact between the different “faces” of the sections. Due to this personal contact, working together became easier for the divisions. Getting some feeling for the network, sections that are close together are more in contact with each other: Bigger events and weekend trips are organized together, each other’s Erasmus parties are visited. In preparation for those trips, local sections in cities like

ESN History Book 2010

Hamburg, Potsdam and Munich are often asked for help and advice. Strengthening the network is one thing Germany really improved on in the last years. Another example for this is our realization that the integration of a section into this network is not as easy anymore as the bigger the network grows. So we changed the system for joining ESN Germany. A section is not only asked to apply but is then visited by a board member and afterwards elected during a National Platform where they have to be present. All in all, the German board and the network detected problems in the last years and managed to improve, even though this meant to break with old behaviours. We hope to be able to do so in the future. Problems and Solutions Since the legal foundation the next National Boards established continuity in their work with weekly skype-conferences, some more sections joined the network due to more representation of the opportunities and goals from ESN towards the other German Local Erasmus groups. More sections meant that more delegates were supposed to come to National Platforms and so the organisation is getting more and more professional. Because of this we have to plan these events more in advance with the opportunity that more ESNers are actually coming, because of the fixed dates. We still have to struggle with the costs. Travelling through Germany does not only afford time, but the members do not get any travel costs back from their section.

Due to more active work in the National Board, the number of board members increased and the number of sections that were active on the national and international level increased. Another consideration was the fact of continuity within the National Board. People did their job in the National Board mostly for two periods, but often in different positions. So knowledge and missions of the different teams didn’t get missed, but have been passed on. Newly established were the transition time and the Knowledge transfer meeting between the old and the new National Board. Also the German network is getting stronger due to several conditions. Started by a decision during the National Platform 2007 in Bochum, when the decision was taken, every German section needs to have one person that is in charge of all ESN questions, the “Local Representative”. This helped that a lot sections nominated one person that is supposed to go to events like NPs AGMs. So every year there is one “face” known to the other LRs for the each section. Due to this personal contact working together seems to be easier for the sections. Getting some feeling for the network, Sections that are close together are working more and more together, bigger events and weekend trips are organized together. In preparation for those trips local sections in cities like Hamburg, Potsdam and Berlin are often asked for help and advice. National and International events like National and Local Platforms, the WEP and the AGM strengthen the bonds. Others Is their a National hero? Speaking about a National hero in Germany is difficult,

after 20 years there is a lot of history no longer present are all of the members, a lot of important things got lost over the time. After collecting all the information about the German history there would be certain candidates - asking those who were active in the last years you are getting other names. So we decided to start with a chronology: The most important National hero seems to be the section of ESN Bochum. Being the only section in our country all the active members managed to be involved on the international level in different ways, even though it is hard to name one of them. Another National hero seems to be the board of 2005 with Christine Kausch (Bochum), Jana Freudenberg (TU Dresden) and Stephan Heyne (Jena). Founding ESN Deutschland officially took ages, but in the end this was the stepping stone to the improvement of the German network as it is today. In their ways all the following national boards were national heroes in their special way. They managed a lot of legal stuff (2006) and strengthened the networks through different activities and events. Also the Dresden sections have to be called “heroes” for showing that the network can actually do something big in their own country - and other cities are following this idol today. And speaking of Dresden we maybe should name one of the long-lasting National Board members we had in Germany for a long time. Speaking of Mathias Kissig from ESN TU Dresden we managed to find someone who somehow continued the work of the International Board members of the first ten years, but also helped and worked for the a national level. But not only him, but also all the other board members of the last years should be seen as “our” national heroes - without them, we would not be who we are and where we are now!

SECTIONS ESN Bochum, 1990 ESN Hermes Frankfurt, 1997 ESN Dortmund, 2000 ESN Erasmus Alumi Jena, 2000 ESN TU Dresden, 2001 ESN HTW Faranto Dresden, 2002 ESN MESA München, 2003 ESN Hannover, 2005 ESN Hamburg-Harburg, 2006 ESN Rostock, 2006 ESN Mannheim, 2006 ESN Düsseldorf, 2006 ESN Greifswald, 2007 ESN Bonn, 2008 ESN Braunschweig, 2008 ESN AKI Deggendorf, 2007 ESN TUMI München, 2008 ESN Kaiserslautern, 2008 ESN Frankfurt Oder, 2009 ESN Potsdam, 2007 ESN Karlsruhe, 2008 ESN Bayreuth, 2008 ESN Erfurt, 2009 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Cultural Medley ESN Munich, 2007 WEP, ESN Düsseldorf, 2008 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Martin Heider, Bochum, NR and International Board Member, 1992 - 1993 Dietmas Elsler, Bochum, International Board Member, 1996 - 1997 Ulrich Schröder, Bochum, International Board Member, 1997 - 1998

ESN History Book 2010

Oliver Klinke, Bochum, International Board Member, 1999 - 2000 Carmen Striegl, Weingarten, International Board Member, 2000 - 2001 Markus Dicks, Bochum, Executive Board Member, 2001 - 2002 Wolfgang Schlegel, Dortmund, Executive Board Member, 2002 - 2003 Michael Strothmann, Dortmund, International Board Member, 2003 Katja Krohn, Greifswald, Vice-President NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Anke Schmidt, Bochum, 1990 - 1991 Michael Meuten, Bochum, 1991 - 1992 Martin Heider, Bochum, 1992 - 1993 Martin Heider, Bochum, 1993 - 1994 Dietmar Elsler, Bochum, 1996 - 1997 Ulrich Schröder, Bochum, 1997 - 1998 Michael Böhm, Bochum, 1998 - AGM 1999 Oliver Klinke, Bochum, AGM 1999 - 2000 Carmen Striegl, Weingarten, AGM 2000 - 2001 Markus Dicks, Bochum, AGM 2001 - 2002 Wolfgang Schlegel, Dortmund, AGM 2002 - 2003 Michael Strothmann, Dortmund, AGM 2003 - 2004 Carola Weimer, Jena, AGM 2004 - 2005 Jana Freudenberg, TU Dresden, AGM 2005 - NP Juni 2006 Mathias Kissing, TU Dresden, NP Juni 2006 - NP Jan 2009 Christoph Bachmann, Visum Manheim, 2009 - 2010 Katja Krohn, Greifswald, 2010 - 2011 Caroline Jacob, Dresden, 2011- 2012 LIST OF STAR AWARD Best Cultural Event, ESN Mesa München, Kastenlauf, 2008

ESN Greece Although Greece has participated in ESN for the past decade, its first section joined ESN international in 1998. ESN Greece as a national network is quite young. It was only the summer of 2009 when the five existing (at that time) sections decided to unite and establish ESN Greece. So the first Greek NP took place in Kalamata in July 2009. The most important outcome of this meeting was the creation of the statutes of ESN Greece. What is more, during our first NP we had the pleasure to welcome the sixth Greek section in our family. Without doubt the ESN biggest event in Greece for 2009 was CND Athens. The event was hosted by ESN Athens and ESN TEI of Athens and it was supported by ESN UOM Thessaloniki and ESN Ioannina. After hosting a successful CND, the time had come for the second Greek NP to take place. The second NP was held in Athens in January 2010 and the main topic of this meeting was the discussion of the possibility of SECTIONS ESN Athens AUEB ESN Ioannina ESN KAPA Athens ESN TEI Athens ESN UOM Thessaloniki ESN NTUA Athens ESN AUTH ESN TEI Crete INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED CND, Athens, 2009 IT Committee Meeting,

Written by Nikolas Spanoudakis creating a National Î&#x2019;oard. The Network decided to include all relevant clauses in the National Statutes at the third NP (July 2010) and scheduled the election of the first NB for January 2011. In addition, we decided to support our 2 candidates for the International Board, Eva Ntovolou for the position of President and Rania Chantzopoulou for the position of WPA. Finally we accepted 3 candidate sections, two of which were approved as full members by March 2010. The progress of ESN Greece was recognized by the network, as we won the StarLand award during AGM Istanbul 2010 and we celebrated the election of our 2 candidates to the International Board.

Kalamata, August 2010 Greek sections have organized 3 IB meetings so far. INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Eva Ntovolou Rania Chantzopoulou Dimitris Parthenis Pavlos Exarchos NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Alexandros Vigkos Antonis Mystegniotis

Maria Kalaentzi Eva Ntovolou Yannis Bouros Elena Chrusikopoulou Stathis Mallouchos Kostas Kompotis Alexandros Vardoulakis Katerina Kouyanou Dimitris Parthenis LIST OF STAR AWARD StarLand, AGM Istanbul, 2010

ESN Hungary

Written by Zsanett Kelemen

Hungary has joined to the network in 1999 when the first section was established in Pécs. The number of the sections is continuously increasing, at the moment we have ten sections in six different cities. During the past ten years, ESN sections were working hard not only to make the incoming students life easier but also to increase the number of the agreements with the foreign institutions In cooperation with the international offices of the universities to support the student mobility and provide better options for the Hungarian students who want to study in abroad. Hungarians have been represented in the International Board as well. First, Gábor Békéssy Jr. has been in a position of General Secretary between 2001-2002, than more years later, in 2008 Melinda Horváth was the Secretary of the IB. In 2009 the first national event, called WonderCamp, was organized at the lake Balaton in cooperation with the Hungarian sections. Due to the big success, SECTIONS ESN Pécs, 1999 ESN Budapest BME, 2000 ESN Budapest ELTE, 2000 ESN Veszprém, 2000 ESN Gyor, 2001 ESN Szeged, 2002 ESN Debrecen, 2003 ESN Eger, 2003 ESN Corvinus, 2007 ESN Miskolc, 2009 ESN SOTE, 2009 ESN Gödöllo, 2009 ESN BKF, 2010

the second addition will take place in September of 2010. Our goal is to increase the number of the participants and also the level of the service offered to the international students to make it unforgettable for everyone. Besides our national event, Hungarian sections have organized different international events several times as well. Our first section, Pécs, hosted the Southern European Platform in 2002. In May of 2004 CNR took place in Debrecen. Our capital, Budapest, was the venue of more events, like Cultural Medley in 2004, Central European Platform in 2008, Section Meeting in 2009. Last but not least, Budapest has been elected to organize the Annual General Meeting in 2011.

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Southern European Platform, Szeged, 2002 CNR Meeting, Debrecen, 2004 Cultural Medley, Budapest, 2004 Central European Platform, Budapest, 2008 Section Meeting, Budapest, 2009 AGM, Budapest, 2011 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Gábor Békéssy Jr., Secretary,

ESN History Book 2010

2001 - 2002 Melinda Horváth, Secretary, 2008 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Gábor Békéssy Jr., 2001 - 2002 Zsófia Honfi, 2002 - 2005 Kata Imre, 2007 - 2008 Renáta Kepics, 2008 Melinda Horváth, 2009 Zsanett Kelemen, 2010 Dorottya Glatz, 2011-2012

ESN Iceland

Written by Veeli Oeselg

Iceland joined the network in 2007 with ESN-HI Reykjavik. Since then, there has been only one section in the country. The network can also not crow too extensively in the country, as the main university is in Reykjavik and it is a small country. The economical situation of the section got critical with the financial crisis in Iceland in 2008/2009. Even the further existence of the section was questioned when the relations with the university declined. The university couldn’t give any financial support to the sections and moreover, there was a staff change in the IRO and the new contact person didn’t see the need for the sections activities for the international students. After Auður started her work in 2008 as the NR, she helped to develop the section further and was also working on the relations with the university. However, the main work was done by her and in 2009 she wanted to leave ESN and find a successor. This emerged as a difficult task. At the end of year

2009 Brynja Huld took over the NR position. Her first event was NEP in Stockholm where she participated together with Auður. She was also present at the CND Athens, but resigned for unknown reasons at the beginning of 2010. Short before AGM Istanbul, Martin Leifsson got the new position as a NR. Iceland has in the last time been a little bit a problematic country in the network due to the regular changes in the NR position and also their complicated financial situation. Even though they are not too active on the international level and there is not too much known about their activities, they are with their small team doing a great job at the local and national level by taking good care of the international students.

SECTIONS ESN-HI Reykjavik

Auður Ösp, 2008 - 2009 Brynja Huld, 2009 - 2010 Martin Leifsson, 2010 - 2011 Anna Bjork Arnadottir, 2011 - 2012

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Eva Rós Baldursdóttir, 2007 - 2008

Written by Veeli Oeselg The biggest section of Ireland in 2002 was ESNLimerick. It was the only section in Ireland for a few years and the National Representatives of the past years have as well been from that section. The three other sections of Ireland were founded during the ESN-year 2001-2002. These sections were ESN-Mary Immaculate from Limerick, International Students Society from Carlow and International Students Society at the Trinity College in Dublin. ESN at the Trinity College of Dublin isn’t a brand new section, but it joined ESN again after some years of silence. Ireland was for a long time a problematic country in ESN. After four sections were expelled in May 2009 at the CNR Porto due to not fulfilling their obligations towards ESN International (not paying

ESN Ireland the membership fee and filling in the SQ), only ESN UCD Dublin was left in the network. The new NR Clare Gillett participated at the CNR Rimini (September 2008) and afterwards started to search for a successor. For a long period, the contact with the only section was nonexistent, but could be re-established in December 2009. The new National Representative John Hustaix participated at the CNR Warsaw in February 2010 and from then on was actively developing ESN Ireland until July 2010, when the new National Representative Mark Loftus took over. At CNR Prague in June 2010, the new potential section ESN DIT was presented. The organisation was approved as a candidate member.

SECTIONS ESN UCD Dublin, 2006 ESN DIT, 2011 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Alan Powell, 2000 - 2001 Seamus O’Callaghan, 2001 - 2002 Thomas MacManus, 2002 - 2003 Vincent O’Loughlin, 2002 - 2003 Manuel Yoachem, 2007 - 2008 Clare Gillett, 2008 - 2009 John Hustaix, 2009 - 2010 Mark Loftus, 2010 - 2011 Kenneth Ho, 2011 - 2012

ESN History Book 2010

ESN Italy ESN Italy was officially founded on October 22, 1994 by the members of the 7 oldest Italian sections (Siena, Parma, Pavia, Milan, Trento, Bologna, Genoa) interested in creating a uniformity of intents and a coordination of activities as to reproduce, on a national level, the same organisation that operates via the International Network. In these years ESN Italy expanded the Network and at the moment is composed by 40 sections covering all the national territory (including the two main islands!) The work of the local sections is rather homogeneous. In a general overview, most of the sections provide all the incoming international students with practical help in their first days as exchange movers. In Italy we have no mentor system, but still we know very well how to welcome exchange students! This mainly consists in orientation/welcome days, help in finding an accommodation, getting information on classes, courses, academic rules and activities, as well as help in solving bureaucratic problems. Later on, once students are feeling more comfortable with the new environment, social activities begin. Parties, sports, language exchanges, theatre, cinema, music nights and cultural visits are the general activities organised by sections, although each section has its own traditional activities and parties. Moreover, trips are organized all over Italy in order to give students the chance to visit the country in a cheap, organized and fun way. Most of the sections organise trips to other cities where there are ESN sections, this being both a chance for exchange students to discover the whole country and for the members of the network to meet each other. However, not just trips to the most renowned cities, also beach and ski weeks are organized, according to the geographical location of

Written by Daphne Scherer the section. The sections of ESN Italy work on a voluntary basis with more than 14000 exchange students staying in Italy every year. Each of the 40 sections is an independent association and most of them are officially recognised by their Higher Education Institutions, working in collaboration with the International Relations Offices, although not all the sections receive the same support. This depends mostly on the lack of any official student union lobbying for associations like ESN and also on the ancient diffidence that has always distinguished the professors-students relationships in the past. Despite of this, most of the ESN local sections are actively cooperating with their Universities for the common goal of providing exchange students with an adequate program of cultural, social and academic activities. Merchandising material such as t-shirts, calendars, etc. are made by the local sections; each one has its own design and (perhaps) sponsor, but all of them have the ESN logo in common. Promotional material is actually used by the sections to promote themselves. In addition, ESN Italy every year produces material for the section members (such as sweatshirts or t-shirts), but also promotional material such as leaflets explaining how and why ESN is set up and established in Italy. National Platform The Italian National Platform meets 5/6 times a year and is hosted, time after time, by a different local section. The main themes discussed during the National Platforms are: the election of the National Board, the admission of new sections, the policy of ESN Italy, projects and partnerships of national and international dimensions, and common problems

in the sections (such as fundraising, recruitment of new members, support by the University, etc.) All the sections actively participate in National Platforms, sometimes reaching over 100 participants. National Board Structure and developments On February 23, 2000, ESN Italy has become an official organization, called Erasmus Student Network Italia (ESN Italia), whose statute has been deposited by a public notary making the body of the national platform legally based and recognized. The National Board is composed by President, Vice President, Secretary and National Representative. In addition, the position of the Vice-NR was introduced first at the NP in May 2006 and finally recognised in the NP in September 2006. In 2007/2008, at the National Platform of October in Parma, which was one of the most intense ever seen in Italy, new Statute and Standing Orders were approved. The biggest changes involved the election of the new board, that would take place every December, with the NB being in charge officially at the first National Platform of the year. This solved the matching problem of provisional and closing balance sheet. A new body was also introduced, called “Collegio dei Garanti” (Advisory Board), composed by three people (usually Alumni and former NB members) who control the NB and solve conflicts between sections or between sections and the NB. In July 2010, at the National Platform of Reggio Calabria, another great reform took place thanks to the introduction of Committees, composed by regular ESN members who work together on some specific issues related to the national network. At the moment we have two Committees: the “Statute” Committee

ESN History Book 2011

and the “Network Care” Committee. Great achievements and National and International events & projects organized by ESN Italy: In the past 10 years, ESN Italy has realised many interesting meetings, events and projects at national and international level: In Spring 2001, ESN Italy launched and took care of organising the first South European Platform (SEP) in Siena, a meeting of all the Southern European sections of ESN, whose main aim was to discuss and solve common problems of those sections. That same year, the first Sunweek was organized by ESN Palermo, a tradition that is still alive today. This event is the only summer activity of the Erasmus Student Network International and has received official recognition during the Annual General Meeting held in Lugo in Spain in 2001, with a great and positive feedback from the local and European institutions. A week of socio-cultural interchange, in which visits to the most representative places of Sicily, parties, workshops and official meetings with the authorities and institutions take place every day. The aim is to enhance and promote the resources of the island, especially from an artistic, cultural and natural point of view. In April 2002, in Assisi, ESN Italy had its first National Event, a three-day meeting that involved more than 250 people, the representatives of Italian sections and a lot of Erasmus students from all over Europe studying in Italy. The event was a wonderful experience and since then it has taken place on an annual basis. The following year, the event was even opened by reading a written statement by the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, on the importance of the Erasmus Programme. Since then, every year in May,

one of the Italian ESN sections organizes what has become the biggest Erasmus event of the year! Today, almost 2000 Erasmus students, coming from all over Europe, still meet in a touristic village for 4 days of sun, sea, music, fun and cultural exchange. The Cultural Medley 2002 was organised by the five sections of Milan and Castellanza that took place in Milan on November 14th-18th and involved more than 100 people from the sections of ESN International and ESN Italy. In 2003, a new project was proposed and organised by ESN Cosenza: the Magellano Project (magellanoproject.com), a trip around Europe in order to realise a reportage on the ESN life, the travelling started in February and the first step was the AGM 2003 in Siena (27th February - 2nd March), which hosted more than 350 student-delegates of all Europe of ESN. The Magellano Project was developed in partnership with the European Commission, the European Union and several Regional and National Institutions. A team of 10 people and 2 drivers travelled across 15 different countries of the European Union, introducing the eclectic Erasmus world and the work of Erasmus Student Network. The Magellano Project celebrated the publication of Appunti di Viaggio (“journey’s notes”), a book written by the Magellano Project journalism team. In addition, they made paintings, a photo exhibition, and published another book dealing with stories, cultures, and traditions of each place visited during the Magellano Project. The final conference for the participants of the project was held in Calabria on July 21st -27th. The meeting was structured into four separate steps: the meeting of the delegates of the sections, the meeting of the rectors,

the meeting of the journalist and the meeting for the promotion of the region. In 2004, ESN Trento organized the first winter event of ESN Italy: the famous ESNow. Fai della Paganella was the location chosen that year to host 150 exchange students, who also received a 4-day ski pass, accommodation in a hotel close to the ski slope, and an insurance. Today, ESNow has become the winter Italian Erasmus event. 4 Erasmic days in the mountains, where participants can ski, sunbathe, create snow men and enjoy being together. On April 7-11, 2004, during Easter, the First Olympic Erasmus Games were organized by ESN Palermo in collaboration with C.O.N.I., the University of Palermo, Sicily Region, the Province of Palermo, Municipality of Palermo, Department of Tourism, Communications and Transports. 300 European students participated from Estonia, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy. In 2005, ESN Palermo organized SEP 2005 (6-9 October 2005), despite a very short notice and in great hurry as no other OC was able to accept the task, hosting ESN sections members from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France, Morocco and Cyprus. Several international events took place in Italy in 2006/2007, including the Bocconi Summer Factory, logistically organised by ESN Milano Statale with the help of AEGEE Milano and the other ESN sections in Milano (especially ESN Milano Cattolica and ESN Milano Politecnico) from 16th till 22nd July in Milano and the CNR in Teramo (14th-17th September). The year 2007 was characterised by the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Erasmus project. Venti di Erasmus, Evento Nazionale Erasmus 2007 of

Capovaticano and 20erasmus@Roma in the capital are the events celebrating this anniversary in Italy, but also an opportunity not only to analyse the importance of cultural exchange between European young students. Venti di Erasmus was an event which took place at the beginning of May in Bologna and Rimini, with a total of four days of round tables, fun, sport, beach, art, concerts, disco, meetings with Ministers, actors and comedians. It was organized in joint-venture with the Ministry of Youth, the Civil Protection, and the local governmental institutions. ESN Bologna and ESN Rimini were in charge of the coordination and logistics, on behalf of ESN Italy, and it gathered around 2000 participants in total. 20erasmus@Roma was organized at the end of May in Rome by ESN Roma ASE and ESN Roma Tre. The campus was full of stands, buskers, and concerts all the day long. Participants also enjoyed the city tours and the ESN Van in Trento, Rome, Teramo, Padova, Urbino, Pavia, and Milan. http://www.esn.org/content/20-years-erasmus In 2008, the first official ESN Alumni Meeting (E.A.M.) took place in Siena (30-31 May 2008). More than 20 participants from 7 countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, etc.) took part in the meeting. The official site (eamsiena2008.esn.it) by now has expired, but you read to the comment of the Italian former ViceNR on supernova.esn.org/alumni-meeting-siena-was-great. The first ESN Football Cup was organized by ESN Parma on June 1-2, 2008. 7 teams participated from 5 sections and the winner section, GEG - ESN Genova, decided to host and organize the second edition in June 2009. ICE 2008 (Incontro Culturale Erasmus / Erasmus Cultural Meeting) took place in Rome, on November 7th-9th, 2008. Almost all the Italian sections (25 out of 27!) gathered in Rome with a great number of exchange students (around 1000 participants) to celebrate the 15th birthday of ESN Italy. The OC organized an opening conference, with institutional representatives, and a treasure hunt well designed in order to pass by all the most famous monuments in Rome. In addition, SWEP (South Western European Platform) 2008 took place in Milan (23-26 October) and it was organized by the local section of Milano Statale. 55 participants attended the event, including Erasmus students in Milan. The event started with a bilingual (English and Italian) city guided tour concluded by a visit to The Last Supper, the renowned and enigmatic painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The social programme (which included a typical Italian Dinner, Aperitivo Milanese, Eurodinner and Tram Party) was highly enjoyed. Participants’ feedback was encouraging and satisfying, new friendships have raised and once again people from different countries and realities have shared time both working and having fun, all together under the spirit of ESN. ESN Reggio Calabria organised the Cultural Medley 2008 from the 21st to the 25th of August 2008. The program of the event included trips to the most beautiful historical sites and to the most amazing beaches of the. ESN Turkey was co-organizator of this meeting. In 2008/2009, ESN Italy organized a national video-competition called Un Erasmus per Viaggiare (“an Erasmus for travelling”). 5 Italian sections (ESN Genova, ESN Pisa, ESN Siena, ESN Roma ASE, ESN Roma Tre) were also actively involved in the ESN Train project, which was then cancelled.

ESN History Book 2011

Two great achievements were reached in 2008/2009: ESN Italy officially entered the Forum Nazionale Giovani, Italian member of the European Youth Forum; in addition, on February 14, 2009 ESN Italia inaugurated its first National office, based in Rome. In 2009, the ESN Village took place: international students coming from all over Europe met in a town in Italy to discover the culture and traditions of the place, while writing a diary and taking pictures, which were then gathered in a unique report. Participants were selected among all the exchange students in Italy and worked in teams of 2 people per country (2 from France, 2 from Spain, 2 from Finland and so on…), one being the photographer and the other one the journalist. Sees the success of the project, the project was carried out again in 2010 in a different Italian location (www.feellandgroup.com). In 2009, the project Erasmus on the Road (ontheroad. esn.it) was carried out by the National Board, in order to involve Italian sections in the celebration of ESN Italy’s 15th birthday. A van with ESN Logo will travelled across Italy visiting 20 Italian cities, in order to promote ESN. At every stop of the Van, a little ESN event was organized by the host section with the goal of promoting mobility among young people and strengthening the relationships with universities and potential sponsors. A photo competition preceded the event, and selected pictures were exhibited in each city, showing how Italy is seen and perceived by Erasmus students. The ESN Italia Guidebook contains practical information for prospective exchange and international students, and includes information on ESN sections in Italy, experiences of former exchange students with Italian culture and traditions, a description of the city, but also information about the

university and its facilities. After the earthquake in the city of L’Aquila on April 6, 2009, fundraising for ESN L’Aquila immediately started: ESN Italy opened a bank account to collect donations and show its support to ESN L’Aquila, whose office was destroyed by the earthquake. Many donations were done from ESN sections all over Europe. ESN Italy also helped ESN L’Aquila produce merchandising as a way of fundraising. In October 2009, ESN Italia organized the “Incontro Nazionale Giovanile” (Youth National Meeting), a meeting in which recognition of non-formal education was discussed, as well as the value of non-formal learning as a tool for new career opportunities within European Institutions. This seminar was organized within the framework of the Action 5.1 of the Youth in Action (YiA) Programme. ICE 2009 (Incontro Cultural Erasmus / Erasmus Cultural Meeting) took place in Rome on November 14-16, 2009. Almost 2000 Erasmus from 25 sections all over Italy gathered in Rome, attending a PRIME conference organized by ESN in collaboration with the local universities and enjoying a guided tour of the Italian capital. Sleeping arrangements were organized individually by the sections participating, for which this event was an opportunity to bring their Erasmus students on a trip to Rome, while parties gathered all the participants for some unforgettable nights. In addition, another official PRIME Local Conference were organized in Parma in December 2009 and, sees the success of this topic, other PRIME Conferences were also organized in 2010 in Padova and Reggio Calabria. Milano and the other ESN sections in Milano (especially ESN Milano Cattolica and ESN

SECTIONS ESN ASSI Parma ESN Bologna ESN Siena GES ESN Trento GEG - ESN Genova ESN Milano Politecnico ESN Milano Statale AEP - ESN Padova ESN Palermo ESN Roma ASE ESN Castellanza ASE ESN Verona ESN Pisa ESN Maleventum, formerly called ESN Benevento ESN Cosenza ESN Teramo ESN Milano Bicocca ESN Viterbo ESN A.U.R.E. Camerino ESN Messina ESN Pavia ESN Rimini ESN IULM Milano ESN Napoli ESN Modena ENEA ESN Reggio Calabria ESN Roma Tre ESN Sassari ESN Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aquila ESN Macerata ESN Catanzaro ESN PEP Perugia ESN Cagliari ESN ASE Catania ESN Foggia ESN Bocconi Milano ESN Brescia ESN Bari ESN Roma LUISS ESN UNITO Torino ESN Florentia INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Annual General Meeting (AGM)

AGM VII, Naples, 1996 AGM XIV, Siena, 2003 Southern European Platform (SEP) SEP, Siena, 2001 SEP, Palermo, 2005 Southern Western European Platform (SWEP) SWEP, Milano, 2008 SWEP, Padova, 2010 Cultural Medley (CM) CM, Milano, 14 - 18 November 2002 CM, Reggio Calabria, 2008 Council of National Representatives (CNR) Teramo, 14 - 17 September 2006 Rimini, 24 - 28 September 2008 Council of National Delegates (CND) Milano, 9 - 13 December 2010 Sunweek, ESN Palermo, 2001 E.A.M. (ESN Alumni Meeting) E.A.M., Siena, 30 - 31 May 2008 International Board Meetings Board Meeting, Milano, September 1994 Executive Board Meeting, Parma, 6 - 10 October 1999 Executive Board Meeting, Parma, April 2000 International Board Meeting, Milano, November 2002 Board Meeting, Genova, 3 - 4 July 2004 Board Meeting, Parma, 13 - 15 December 2004 Board Meeting, Francavilla Fontana, 6 - 8 January 2005 Board Meeting, Padova, 3 - 7 November 2006 Board Meeting, Padova 30 November - 1 December 2009 Board Meeting, Padova 26 - 27 June 2010 PRIME Conferences Local PRIME Conference, Rome,

ESN History Book 2011

13 November 2009 Local PRIME Conference, Parma, 18 December 2009 PRIME Conference, Padova, 16 March 2010 PRIME Conference, Reggio Calabria, 30 July 2010 PRIME Conference, Brescia, 15 October 2010 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Alessandra Stilo, ESN Roma ASE, Treasurer, 1997 Valentina de Mari, ESN Napoli, 2000 - 2001 Davide Capecchi, ESN Milano Statale, President, 2005 - 2006 Davide Capecchi, ESN Milano Statale, President, 2006 - 2007 Tomaso Bisol, AEP - ESN Padova, Network Administrator, 2006 2007 Giorgio Marinoni, ESN Milano Statale, President, 2007 - 2008 Francesca Marcuzzo, AEP - ESN Padova, Regular Board Member, 2007 - 2008 Tajana Nikolic, AEP - ESN Padova, External Relations, 2009 - 2010 Marco La Rosa, AEP - ESN Padova, External Relations, 2010 - 2011 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Matteo Baceda, ESN Trento, 1991 - 1992 Alberto Bacchiega, ESN Trento, 1992 - 1993 Gabriele Giorgi, ESN Bologna, 1993 - 1994 Marco Polloni, ESN Milano Politecnico, 1994 - 1995 Antonella Candido, AEP - ESN Padova, 1995 - 1996 Paola Panzera, GEG - ESN Genova, 1996 - 1997 Alessandra Stilo, ESN Roma ASE,

1997 - 1998 Barbara Squarci, GEG - ESN Genova, 1998 - 1999 Matteo Baggio, ESN Milano Politecnico, (inventor of PALLOMERI spirit), 1999 - 2000 Valentina De Mari, ESN Napoli, 2000 - 2001 Sara Cellemme, ESN Castellanza, 2001 - 2002 Leda Magno, ESN Palermo, 2002 - 2003 Carlo Lanzinger, ESN Milano Cattolica, 2003 - 2004 Davide Capecchi, ESN Milano Statale, 2004 - 2005 Nicola Casati, ESN Milano Statale, 2005 - 2006 Giorgio Marinoni, ESN Milano Statale, 2006 - 2007 Domenico Melpignano, ESN Rimini, 2007 - 2008 Emanuela Ascoli, GEG - ESN Genova, 2008 - 2009

Fabrizio Costantino, ESN Bologna, 2009 - 2010 Daphne Scherer, GEG - ESN Genova, 2010 - 2011 Adriano Corso, ESN Catania, 20112012 NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Evento Nazionale, The ESN Italy National Event, since 2002 Assisi, 2002 Cesenatico, 2003 Sibari, 2004 Palermo, 2005 Camerino, 2006 Tropea, 2007 Kutro, 2008 Sciacca, 2009 Kastalia, 2010 Kastalia, 2011 Incontro Culturale Erasmus (ICE), Erasmus Cultural Meeting, was created in 2008 and every year it hosts hundreds of Erasmus

students, coming with their respective local sections for a weekend of culture and fun in Rome. The event now takes places on an annual basis and is organized by ESN Italy. ESNow, ESN Trento, since 2004 Sunweek, ESN Palermo, once a year Carnevale, ESN Padova, since 2006 LIST OF STAR AWARD Best ESN Section of the Year 2005, Parma, 2005 WebSTAR, AEP-ESN Padova, 2008 STARWorse, ESN Milano Statale, 2008 WebSTAR, Roma Ase, Roma Tre or Trento, 2009 STARter, ESN Catania ASE, 2010 STARworse, ESN Pavia, 2010 logoSTAR, ESN Catania ASE, 2010 STARlight, AEP-ESN Padova, 2011

Written by Madara Apsalone ESN Riga was established in 2003 by two independent organizations. ESN Latvia was therefore accepted as the 25th country of ESN. Gints Turlajs, former LU business student and activist in such student organizations as AEGEE and AIESEC, returning from his studies in Denmark, attended an ESN international meeting in Lithuania. That meeting – CNR Vilnius – in summer of 2003 also become the official beginning of ESN Riga (Latvia was the 25th country to join ESN). In September ESN Riga had was already officially registered as a legal organization (with first name “ESN Latvia”) with Gints as the president and 5 more board members. The same summer of 2003, 3 LU students: Arturs Ernstreits, Girts Milgravis and Janis Bajars, who returned home from their exchange and wanted to share their experience and help incoming exchange students established EsiLU (be in LU, from Latvian). 2004 - Getting a stable ground By the beginning of the spring 2004 both organizations – ESN Riga/Latvia and EsiLu were already working together. After one year of operation, ESN Riga had grown to a 10 person team with good coordination and well functioning buddy system. Gints Turlajs and Natalja Tocelovska participated in the Council of National Representatives (CNR) meeting in Tallinn in September. In the end of 2004 Natalja become the president of ESN Riga and overtook the position of the national representative. 2005 - ESN Riga goes international 2005 was time for ESN Riga to go international. ESN

ESN History Book 2011

ESN Latvia Riga started the year by organizing the international board meeting in the middle of February. In March, a 5 person delegation went to AGM Gdansk and at this meeting Natalja Tocelovska was elected as the treasurer of ESN International Board. 2006 - in the same old way... In the year of 2006, ESN Riga continued activities in more or less casual manner – in spring semester there were two trips – to Vidzeme (with skiing in Valmiera) in February and to Tallinn in March. After AGM Krakow Natalja returned to Latvia. 2007 - the year of changes 2007 started with orientation game in Riga and “Get-together” party in February. In March ESN Riga for the first time tried a new route to Daugavpils that was definitely quite a unique experience for all the exchange and even Latvian students. ESN had another event - sauna party – in March too and Natalja and Inese went to Prague to participate in the AGM. In the end of May it was clear that the previous ESN team would no longer coordinate the organization, as for each of them there were higher peaks to achieve and bigger challenges to take. A new ESN team was chosen and during the summer of 2007 the 5 ESN girls – Anastasija Belastocka, Madara Apsalone, Santa Jastrebova, Linda Ribakova and Emilija Alijeva – tried to create the plan for the fall semester and overtake all the other functions. By September the new board was ready to welcome exchange students in Riga. For the very first time ESN Riga organized the orientation week in collaboration with the Students Council of the

University of Latvia (LUSP) and it was successful. In September ESN organized a trip to Liepaja (the 6th Escape), in October for the first time ESN had a trip to Stockholm and finally in late November ESN went to Lithuania (Vilnius and Trakai). From other events ESN started regular movie evenings in Reznas dormitory, Emi initiated Arabian night and finally ESN together with the National Academic Programme Agency organized a large national level two day seminar “Europe in One House”, with 80 participants from 9 universities. Madara as the new national representative attended two ESN International meetings - CND in Winterthur (Switzerland) and CNR in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), as well as representing ESN International at the European Youth Forum meeting in Brussels. By the end of year ESN had well functioning team with 5 board and 5 non board members. To celebrate the success of the first semester together, ESN team went for a two day trip to Tallinn.

and much communication done through e-mails. In the beginning of January ESN was finally reregistered as a legal NGO in Latvia and got domain www.esn.lv as well ESN team @esn e-mails. Madara, Santa and Anastasija participated in the Annual General Meeting 2008 in Besancon, France. Spring was also the time, when ESN Riga decided to join the PRIME – Problems of Recognition in Making Erasmus – project. By the end of year 7 universities had participated in research. In summer ESN Riga created its very first yearbook about activities in the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008. 2008 was also an important year for ESN, because ESN Riga became a full member in the National Youth Council of Latvia (LJP), and even took part in two LJP’s activities: National Youth week and “Young People within the building of a European knowledge based society” French presidency event. Year was full also with different ESN International and external, especially European Youth Forum’s events.

2008 - in a full speed ESN Riga started the spring of 2008 with a complete, well working team and lots of ideas for new activities. The semester was started with a short training for new buddies and introduction week and a special information brochure was prepared for international exchange students also in other universities. Spring of 2008 was also quite unique, because 2 of ESN board members participated in exchange themselves – Santa did Erasmus in Valencia, Spain and Madara ISEP in San Jose, California, thus many meetings were held online

2009 - we can! 2009 - we can! After more than a year “in office” by 2009 ESN Riga team had enough experience and people not to worry about section’s casual activities. Semesters started, as always with trainings for new buddies and introduction weeks for students. Later students had a great opportunity to see West Latvia – Kurzeme and for the second year in a row Saint Petersburg was sold out in hours. International day was as big as never before – foreign universities sent over that much PR material, that one could find various stickers, pens and brochures around

the Faculty of Economics and Management several months later. Culture nights took students to Italy – for a big surprise, the event was attended by the Italian ambassador in Latvia. February was a time for co-organizing national Youth Intelligence Forum „Ideas and Opportunities 2009”. In April ESN Riga got a Board position in the National Youth Council of Latvia. Soon later also they did a study visit to a prospective ESN section in Lithuania. For the first time international and exchange students from Latvia could enjoy ESN Sea Battle cruising with nearly 2000 other students from Scandinavia. ESN Riga members actively attended ESN events - CNR Skopje, AGM Utrecht, CNR Porto, CNR Novi Sad, ESN Celebrates, NEP, CND Athens … but also other mobility and education related ones. 4 ESN Riga members participated in Bulgaria Education Summer Training (BEST) summer school in Bulgaria over summer. In 2009 ESN Riga also carried out two big projects – Give 20 fundraising project for children education and wellbeing in Bhutan and Problems of Recognition of Erasmus (PRIME). 7 Latvian universities participated in PRIME and a national result dissemination conference was organized

ESN History Book 2011

collaborating with the Academic Programme Agency of Latvia in Riga with 35 international coordinators and education experts taking part in it. In the second semester ESN Riga became a pilot section of ESN Exchangeability project for making mobility an opportunity also for people with disabilities. SECTION ESN Riga, 2003 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED International board meeting, ESN Riga, February 2005 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Natalja Tocelovska, 2004 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Gints Turlajs, ESN Riga, 2003 - 2004 Natalja Tocelovska, 2004 - 2005 Inese Grate, 2005 - 2007 Madara Apsalone, 2007 - 2012 LIST OF STAR AWARD ESN WEBstar, 2010

ESN Lithuania

Written by Monika Lapenaite, Ieva Vezbergaite and Orinta Movsesjan

In December 2002 (during IB meeting in Milano) it was announced that ESN Lithuania, together with some other countries, wants to enter ESN organization. Quite soon after joining ESN, Lithuania had an opportunity to organize its first international event. From the 3rd to the 5th of July 2003, the very first CNR (Council of National Representatives) was organized in Vilnius. It should be marked that it was the first CNR in the whole ESN history. However, after it there is not much information about the active participation of ESN Lithuania on the international level. For quite a long time no national board was formed in ESN Lithuania. According to documents, in 2005 there were already three sections in ESN Lithuania: ESN Vilnius, ESN Kaunas and ESN Šiauliai. ESN Vilnius was the biggest section formed by 4 universities. As the University of Vilnius received approximately 100 Erasmus students each semester, ESN activities were mostly developed in this university. However, ESN Kaunas was the section coming up with new ideas, including how to integrate Erasmus students into local environment in more interesting ways, for example, international weekends in the nature. ESN Šiauliai was the smallest section of ESN Lithuania.

They mainly focused on the mentors’ programme. As there were not many Erasmus students in Šiauliai University, ESN Šiauliai actively joined and supported any common activities and initiatives coming from the national level. However, from the end of 2006 the structure of ESN Lithuania’s sections was changed a bit and Vilnius university section was known as the only active section. ESN Lithuania reached its strongest point only recently when 6 new sections from different higher education institutions joined the network. Before the end of May in 2008 there were three sections (ESN Vilnius, ESN Kaunas, ESN Šiauliai) yet in the end of the year the only one left was ESN Vilnius University. A new NR was elected in November of 2008. Less then 1 year after (May, 2009) a new section (ESN ŠU) entered the network and joined ESN Lietuva. The vice NR (from this section) was elected and together with NR represented Lithuania until the next election. On 4th July, 2009 three new sections joined ESN network and not long after (December, 2009) the National Platform was organized. The new NR, HR, PR and project coordinators were elected and two more sections (ESN MRU Vilnius,

ESN KK) expressed a desire to join ESN network. It was decided to grant to these organizations the section candidate status. In the next two months, study trips to both organizations were organized and after seeing the good results, at the next National Platform these organizations were approved as full members of ESN network. At this platform the president, the vice president and treasurer were elected. Since ESN Lithuania established good relations with Education Exchanges Support Foundation (EESF) it was decided to make an SECTIONS ESN Vilnius University, 2003 ESN ŠU, May 2009 ESN KTU, July 2009 ESN VGTU, July 2009 ESN VMU, July 2009 ESN MRU Vilnius, February 2010 ESN KK, February 2010 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Gintare Petkeviciute, 2003 Alvyda Usinskaite, 2005 - 2006 Giedre Virbalaite, 2008 - 2009 Ieva Vezbergait, 2009 - 2010

event for mentors of all different higher education institutions. This event occurred on 14-15th May, 2010. Alongside the useful seminars and trainings, the NP was also organized. Two other NP’s were held in September and October 2010. The new board, together with other national positions, was elected during these NPs. At the moment, the NB consists of members coming from four different sections out of seven sections, which allows the sections to be well represented.

Orinta Movsesjan, 2010 - 2011 Ieva Vezbergait, 2011 - 2012 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED CNR Vilnius, 3 - 5 July 2003 First CNR in the whole ESN history. CNR Vilnius, ESN Vilnius University and ESN MRU Vilnius, 23 - 27 September 2010 NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Paintball match, ESN ŠU, 1 May

ESN History Book 2011

2010 Erasmus Football match, ESN VGTU, 12 May 2010 Olympic Erasmus Got Talent, ESN MRU, 23 April 2010 Olympic Erasmus Got Talent, ESN MRU Vilnius, ESN Vilnius University and ESN VGTU, November 2010 Summer Camp, ESN KTU, Kapitoniškes, 13 - 15 of August 2010

ESN Macedonia

Written by Ana Frangova, Ivona Tasevska and Elena Nikolova

ESN Macedonia joined the ESN family at the Post AGM CNR meeting, after the AGM in Prague in March 2007, where was approved as ESN country. At the beginning ESN Macedonia had only one section - ESN Skopje. In December 2009 at the CND in Athens, ESN IBU was approved as second section. Later, at the First National Platform of ESN Macedonia, that took place in Skopje in February 2010, three new sections were approved: ESN FON University, ESN EURM and ESN USHT. So, ESN Macedonia became bigger with 5 sections, more members and more enthusiastic. But, by the time ESN EURM left ESN Macedonia, so at the moment ESN Macedonia is consisted by four sections which are bringing ESN spirit, hard work and initiatives for working as best as we can. At the beginning ESN Skopje as we already mentioned was the only section that was working, organizing activities and taking care of its members. The main difficulty at that time was that in Universities in Macedonia didn’t have an Erasmus University Charter. Later, this difficulty was past till May 2010 when we faced the same problem. Currently, the LLP programme is put on hold in Macedonia, but that did not discourage the sections and the members- who are now working mainly with students coming via other exchange programmes and the international students in the country. In a meantime two National Boards have changed (current: Ana Frangova (NR), Abela Rizvanska (President), Emilija Georgievska (Administrative

assistant), Ivona Tasevska (RR), Enes Demiri (WPA)), we have organized many local activities, many section meetings, many NB meetings, many National Platforms and many parties. We have made some changes, we have more members which are working on the international projects (the International coordinator of Exchange ability is from ESN Macedonia: Ana Frangova), we’re participating the international events and preparing some National ones for near future. So far, the only National activity are the National Workshops organized for all of the sections, where members of ESN professionalized in a certain field are holding workshops for the members, in order to enhance their personal development and motivate them to contribute more to their local and national, but also international level. As everyone, we have faced some difficulties, some misunderstandings but we’ll never gave up the ESN spirit. Smarter and wiser we’re always waiting for good news, dealing with the bad ones. We have many things to learn, but we’re always willing to learn new things, to implement them and to make appropriate knowledge transfer to the new members. Perfect fairytale does not exist, but we’re enjoying ours. There is not a family without problems, but we love ours. We don’t have big history, but we have memorable moments which have changed our life and contributed to make ESN Macedonia a nice part of the ESN puzzle.

Sections: ESN Skopje, 2007 ESN IBU, 2009 ESN FON University, 2010 ESN USHT, 2010 International events CNR Skopje; February 2009 BBB – Be creative, be innovative, be active; September 2009

ESN History Book 2011

NR Elena Nikolova: 2007- February 2010 Ana Frangova: February 2010 – 2012 Special thanks to: Elena Nikolova (for founding ESN Macedonia, for all the advices, help, for being here for us…And for all the parties!)

ESN Norway The first ESN section in Norway was founded in 1993 in Trondheim, and has been one of the strongest ESN sections in Norway since the beginning. ESN Molde was the second section founded some time between 1993 and 1999, and in 2001 ESN Bergen was founded. ESN Norway was legally founded as an organization in ”Brønnøysundregistrene” in 2001. In 2002 there were four sections in ESN Norway: ESN Bergen, ESN Molde, ESN Oslo and ESN Trondheim. ESN Oslo joined ESN again in June 2002 after some years of silence, and was again shut down somewhere before 2005. Norway used to have a section as well in Tromsø. In 2002 ESN Norway had a National Board consisting of 4 members, one from Bergen, one from Trondheim and one from Molde as well as the National Representative. This lasted for about one year. In 2001-2002 Vegard Eid Mediås was a member of the IB and liaison officer for Alumni. In 2002-2003 he was elected the Vice-President of ESN International as well as the Webmaster. The NNM (now NEP) was held for the first time in Norway, in Bergen, 2003. In 2004

Written by Miriam Eid a new section was approved, ESN Agder, the most southern section in Norway. Agder was established in cooperation with the international office, and have continued to work closely together. The year after the most northern section in the entire ESN Network was approved, ESN Finnmark. In 2007 ESN Trondheim organized NEP for the second time in Norway. In March 2009 ESN Oslo (HiO) was again approved as an ESN section, and later the same year ESN University Of Oslo was accepted. In 2009 the Norway network faced some serious problems. ESN Norway risked to be expelled from the ESN Network due to lack of NR in a period of 6 months. The network was saved at NEP 2009 Stockholm where Frederik Sardinoux (Trondheim) was elected as the new NR, and Lene M. Realfsen (Agder) as the new Vice-NR. ESN Trondheim held the NP in February 2010 where 5 sections were present and a national mailing list was created. Since then all the sections have gotten a new website, www.esn.no. 5 sections and 9 participants were represented at the AGM Istanbul, and two

participants from different sections participated at BEST 2 in August 2010. In September 2010 ESN Uni. Oslo arranged the NP with 28 participants from 6 (7) sections, and a new section ESN Ås was approved. Miriam Eid was elected as the new NR and Manuela Seu-Stokkmo as the Vice-NR. At NEP Turku Norway had 16 participants represented from all sections except ESN Bergen who has had low activity the last year. The next NP will take place in Agder and we expect more than 30 participants. The ESN Norway network has the last year grown, and we are getting more and more active on the national and international level. SECTIONS ESN Trondheim ESN Molde ESN Bergen ESN Finnmark ESN Agder ESN NHHS ESN Oslo ESN Uni. Oslo ESN Ås INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Tuva Kristine Andersen, ESN Trondheim, Board Member, 2000 - 2001 Vegard Eid Mediås, ESN Trondheim Board Member and Liaison Officer for Alumni, 2001 - 2002 Vegard Eid Mediås, ESN Trondheim, Vice President and Webmaster, 2002 - 2003

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED NNM (NEP), Bergen, 2003 NEP, Trondheim, 2007 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Kristin Foldal Siri Strømme Johansen Tuva Kristine Andersen Vegard Eid Mediås Vegard Eid Mediås Ragnar Melz Kristel Røstberg Jørn Larsen Broks Jørn Larsen Broks Lars Stenberg Berg Ingrid Bast Frederik S. Sardinoux Miriam Eid Paulien den Braven LIST OF STAR AWARD ESN Star Award, Best Movie: ESN

ESN History Book 2011

Trondheim, AGM 2010 http://vimeo.com/14376546 ESN SONG Recorded in Trondheim with 3 members of ESN Trondheim as backing singers. ESN moveMENT Created in August 2010 during BEST2 by ESN Norway and ESN Bulgaria http://vimeo.com/14511890 Movie from ESN Agder http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7lDw7XOwnJQ Thanks to: Frederik Sardinoux Vadim Makarov www.vad1.com (photos)

ESN Poland The history of ESN in Poland began in 1998 since the founding of the first section of the Medical Academy in Warsaw. At the same time, students from other cities, independently, saw the need to create organizations that would sustain student exchanges among the Poles, and has provided Erasmus with integration and support. The following universities gathered in informal groups, whose aim was to create a framework for cooperation between the visiting students at Polish universities. In parallel with the activities in sections, Artur Orlowski (ESN SGH section president) and Michael Rule (section president of ESN GdaĹ&#x201E;sk) independently began to develop assumptions about the start of cooperation between the national level sections. The idea of the first nationwide meeting of ESN sections led to the organization of a National Platform, which was held in Gdansk, Poland (09.05.2003 - 11.05.2003).

Written by Ania Burtan, Julia Trawinska, Here we began discussing the proposal for the establishment of ESN SGH association in ESN Poland, but after an exchange of views between representatives of the section about the decision on initiation of work on the establishment of the association has been postponed. At present, the ESN Poland has 33 sections in all major academic centers in Poland.

SECTIONS ESN UE Wrocław ESN PWr Wrocław ESN UP Wrocław ESN UMK Toruń ESN UMCS Lublin ESN EYE Łódź ESN UŁ Łódź ESN AGH Kraków ESN PK Kraków ESN UJ Kraków ESN UE Kraków ESN AON Warszawa ESN CC Warszawa ESN Koźmiński Warszawa ESN Łazarski Warszawa ESN PW Warszawa ESN SGGW Warszawa ESN SGH Warszawa ESN SWPS ESN UKSW Warszawa

ESN UW Warszawa ESN WUM Warszawa ESN PB Białystok ESN Gdańsk (Politechnika) ESN UG Gdańsk ESN UE Katowice ESN SUT Gliwice ESN Olsztyn ESN Poznań (Politechnika) ESN UAM Poznań ESN UE Poznań ESN WSB Poznań ESN US Szczecin INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED AGM, Gdansk, 2005 AGM, Cracow, 2006 CEP, Warsaw, 2007 CNR, Warsaw, May 2008 CND, Gdansk, December 2008

ESN History Book 2011

NBM, Poznan, 2009 CNR, Warsaw, February 2010 CEP Cracow, November 2011 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Michael Rule, 2002 - 2003 Ewa Krzaklewska, 2003 - 2004 Katarzyna Michalak, 2004 Milka Adamczyk, 2005 - 2006 Dariusz Kociecki, 2006 – 2007 Leszel Zagorski, 2007 - 2008 Anna Burtan, 2008 - 2009 Piotr Cylke, 2009 - 2010 Gosia Truszczyńska, 2010 November 2010 Piotr Cylke, November 2010 – June 2011 Julia Trawińska 2011-2012

ESN Romania The cities which are hosting ESN local sections at this moment are four of the biggest and most important cities in Romania: Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Brașov and the capital, Bucharest. What these sections have in common is the fact that it was not easy for them to start their work. Most of them didn’t have the full support of the universities in the beginning of their work, but having a strong will motivated them to work more and prove they are worthy of support. As ESN is there to help you break some barriers at the beginning of a students’ exchange period, the sections have become an important part of the way that the ERASMUS programme is implemented in the universities. Romania joined ESN in December 2004 with the approval of the first local section, ESN ClujNapoca, during the Board Meeting in Parma, Italy. Afterwards, the approval of ESN Bucharest in December 2005 followed, during the CNR meeting in Edinburgh. Many activities took place under the initiative of ESN Bucharest and, even though at first they didn’t have so many ERASMUS students to take care of, they were very dedicated to their activities. The communication between the 2 sections missed for a year, but was re-established in 2006 along with their beginning of collaboration with each other. ESN Bucharest got legally registered, while ESN Cluj-Napoca functioned under an umbrella association. They had good relations with their International Relations Offices and contact was even established with the National Agency, at that time called Socrates Agency. There were some attempts for new sections to emerge in important university centres. Former exchange students were interested to start a

Written by Nicoleta Popa

section and even tried to do so, but they’re efforts didn’t prove to be enough and, for most of them, it didn’t work out well. A group of students from Iasi was among the ones which succeeded after starting their activities in the fall of 2008 and were approved as ESN section. They were very active and set up a good start for their section by getting it legally registered. Close to the end of the year 2009, 2 new sections, ESN UniBuc and MedESN Cluj-Napoca, were officially approved during the NP in Cluj-Napoca in December organised by the candidate section MedESN. Both of them had a fresh start in the months before and proved that they are worthy of becoming a section. They gained the support of their International Relations Offices and activities were welcomed by the exchange students. Having 2 sections at that time in Bucharest, ESN Bucharest had to change its name and became ESN ASE. At the same NP in Cluj-Napoca, the initiative of setting up a National Board was discussed and a first structure of the Board was drafted. Unfortunately, the Board members team didn’t function at all and communication inside the national network broke down for quite some months. The 5 Romanian local sections started to bond once again starting with the NP in November 2010 in Bucharest organised by ESN UniBuc. The problems of communication were discussed and solutions were found together. At this NP, the discussion about the National Board was reopened and a more organised plan was decided upon. Also important is that the national network grew with one more section after that NP, along with the approval of ESN Brasov. In the following months, a NB working team was

created with representatives from all the sections to discuss the structure of the future NB. The call for candidates was open in January 2011 and at the NP in Iasi organised by ESN Iasi in March, the sections met to vote upon the ESN members willing to be part of the first NB of ESN Romania. After that NP, there was a NB created with a President, Vice-president, PR Responsible and, of course, NR; the position for Treasurer remained available. By this time, MedESN and ESN ASE had become inactive. In the case of ESN ASE, a new group stepped in at the beginning of 2011 and worked on making the section active once again under the guidance of the NR. For the next NP in May held in Bucharest and organised by ESN ASE and ESN UniBuc, the freshly formed NB presented their plan of action concerning the future of ESN Romania, including becoming a legally registered association, bringing more collaboration between the Romanian sections and also expanding the national network. There was a vote of approval on the candidate for Treasurer. The position of PR Responsible became available at that time and after an online vote in June 2011, the first complete NB was finally formed and they could follow their action plan in a complete team. Unfortunately, ESN ASE didn’t manage to pay their Membership Fee for 2010 and since the 1st of July they were expelled from ESN, according to the vote of the CNR in Tartu at the beginning of June 2011. This made our national platform decrease to 5 local sections, but hopefully it will start growing again very soon. Sections ESN Cluj-Napoca, 2004 ESN ASE (former ESN Bucharest), 2005-2011 ESN Iași, 2009 ESN UniBuc, 2009 MedESN Cluj-Napoca, 2009 ESN Brașov, 2010 NRs and Vice-NRs: 2004-2005: Ioana Sultani, NR (ESN Cluj-Napoca) 2006-2007: Diana Ivan, NR (ESN

Bucharest) 2007-2008 : Alexandru Istudor, NR (ESN Cluj-Napoca); Claudia Călin, Vice-NR (ESN Bucharest) 2008-2009: Adela Defta, NR (ESN Bucharest); Ruxandra Barbu, Vice-NR (ESN Cluj-Napoca) 2009-2010: Bogdan Murărașu, NR (ESN Iași); Andreea Leurzeanu, Vice-NR (ESN Iași) 2010-2012: Nicoleta Popa, NR (ESN UniBuc); Larisa Fomin, ViceNR (ESN Iași)

ESN History Book 2011

1st National Board (2010-2011) President: George Iancu (ESN Iași) Vice-president: Larisa Fomin (ESN Iași) NR: Nicoleta Popa (ESN UniBuc) Treasurer: Bogdan Chiriac (ESN Iași) PR Responsible: Oana Irofte (ESN Brașov) National Events organised Trip to Vama Veche, May 2011

ESN Serbia ESN Belgrade was the first Serbian section created in 2006. It was created by several people in autumn 2006 after getting in touch with some of the ESN members in Greifswald International Student Festival. Until the end of the 2008, generally the ESN situation in Serbia hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been present on the University scene due to the non existence of any exchange programmes. After joining of the Universities of Serbia among the Erasmus Basileus, Joint-EU and Erasmus Mundus programme, the development of the ESN network in Serbia is continuously improving and broadening its section growth. The target groups are not however only the Erasmus students, but also the students that are involved within different numerous bilateral agreements and CEEPUS programme. The main difficulties that ESN Serbia is facing nowadays are still the financial problems since there are no funds from any governmental organisations. Since all the 3 sections were created as NGO-s, they SECTIONS ESN Belgrade, 2006 ESN Novi Sad, March 2007 ESN CLS Nis, November 2009 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED CNR Novi Sad, ESN Novi Sad, September 2009

Written by Marko Adamovic are still trying to contribute utmost in order to work in the interest of the international students and represent their rights in the greatest manner and foster and emphasise the significance of student mobility among Serbian students. Until now, two National representatives were elected: Mrs Ivana Bartulovic until September 2009 and currently Mr Marko Adamovic from ESN section Belgrade. During his mandate one more section (ESN CLS Nis) was created in November 2009, and there are strong intentions to create more until the end of his creative mandate. As a country that is still on its way to the EU and without many international students, basically because of the lack of the Erasmus exchange program that is spread only within EU and Turkey, the ESN network in Serbia with a lot of persistent and motivated members, works to the best of its ability to improve the international studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s integration.

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Ivana Bartulovic, 2006 September 2009 Marko Adamovic, 2009 - present

ESN Slovenia

Written by Klemen Vovsek

When the Erasmus program was introduced in Slovenia (1999) the first bilateral agreements were signed with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany … and what did the students bring from the countries mentioned? ... Erasmus student network … the idea spread rapidly and the students just loved it … thus the first sections were established and the team did it so good that they decided to organize an AGM in the following years. In 2001 the first ESN president from Slovenia was elected and this really boosted the AGM preparations and the big meeting was organized. In the following years Slovenians were always played an important role in decisions on the international level and gave another member to the board: the vice-president. At the national level we were promoting mobility programs and every year there was more and more students who decided to spend some part of their studies abroad. SECTIONS ESN Ljubljana, 1999 ESN SOUM Maribor, 1999 ESN Kranj, 1999 ESN Maribor, 2001 ESN Primorska, 2003 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED AGM Portorož, 2001 SEEP Ljubljana, 2009

With the years going by and new Universities established new sections were following therefore by the end of the year 2003 we had 5 sections in 4 cities across the country. Slovenia also played as a link with new Balkan countries who were slowly getting the mobility programs on a greater scale, especially the most famous one – Erasmus mobility programme. Due to the recent history we always had good relations with the Balkan countries, trying to help them get involved and learn from each other. Of course we intend to keep these relations in the future …

INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Matej Acceto, President, 2001 Leila Al Shammary, Vice President, 2003 NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Erasmus Christmas parties Erasmus BOAT parties Meet me in Erasmus city (games) Career fair

ESN History Book 2010

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Matej Acceto, 2002 - 2003 Anita Novak, 2003 - 2004 Vanja Jus, 2003 - 2004 Ana Tominc, 2004 - 2006 Katja Boh, 2006 - 2007 Gorazd Šter, 2007 - 2008 Klemen Vovšek, 2008 - 2009 Matjaž Dolenc, 2010 Tina Podgornik, 2010 Nicole Kapel, 2011

ESN Slovakia The Erasmus program is so successful today, because it stands on activities of its former participants. It was Miroslav Radic and Martin Soták, at that time studying at the University of Economics in Bratislava, who founded the first Buddysystem in Slovakia. It was in November 2003. There were only 30 foreign students and 5 slovak students who took care of them. The university was supportive of the idea of building up the Buddysystem, so it provided the financial support to build it up. In 2004, the Buddysystem joined ESN and it was renamed to ESN EUBA, which was the first section that arose in Slovakia. Miroslav Radic and Martin Soták ran ESN EUBA between 2004 and 2006. When Martin Soták finished his studies, Zuzka Baranová took his place. ESN EUBA worked very well, organized a pick-up service, welcome weekends, trips and parties. In 2005, the members of ESN EUBA participated at AGM in Gdansk. Since 2003, the number of foreign students studying at the University of Economics in Bratislava has doubled and finally reached 100 in 2006. There was the first Section Meeting organised in Bratislava in 2006. By 2007, the ESN EUBA have participated at several meetings, like CEP Vienna, AGM Prague and at a conference dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of Erasmus, which was organized in Lisbon. In 2008, Katarína Jašicová became the member of the management team, as well as the NR of ESN Slovakia. She succeeded in establishing several new sections. There was established ESN UCM in Trnava (founder Anicka Kleschtová), ESN UNIAG in Nitra (founders Martin Hudec, Marianna Geffertová and Jana Reváková), ESN UNIZA in Žilina (founder

Written by Mirko Hajnos

Kvetka Mišiaková) and ESN Comenius University in Bratislava (founders Alexandra Kristufková and Henika Dubecká). There first Slovak National Platform was organised in Bratislava in the same year. In 2009, all the ESN sections worked successfully, except for the section ESN UCM in Trnava, which unfortunately stopped working. On the other hand, a new section was founded: ESN UPJS in Košice (founders Norbert Ostro and Mária Juraševská). In 2009, all members of ESN Slovakia participated at AGM Utrecht. In January 2010, the second Slovak National Platform was organised in Košice, where the members agreed on founding a new section ESN UMB in Banská Bystrica (founder Mirko Hajnoš). The first Slovak National Board was founded too. In the same year, ESN Slovakia organized two National events, on which all the foreign students participated. ESN EUBA organized CEP in Bratislava too. The next Slovak National Platform will take place in Banská Bystrica in January 2011 and we are looking forward to the growth of our small ESN family in Slovakia. At this time we have six sections. The number is small, but it is important that we do great things for our foreign students!

SECTIONS ESN EUBA Bratislava, 2004 ESN Comenius University, 2008 ESN UNIAG Nitra, 2008 ESN UNIZA, 2008 ESN Upjš Košice, 2009 ESN UMB BB, 2010

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Section Meeting, ESN EUBA, Bratislava, 2006 Central European Platform, ESN EUBA, Bratislava, 2010

ESN History Book 2011

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Martin Sotak, 2004 - 2005 Miroslav Radic, 2006 - 2007 Katka Jasicova, 2008 - 2009 Norbert Ostro, 2010 - 2010 Mirko Hajnos, 2010 - 2011 Prokop Teper, 2011-2012

ESN Spain Roots ESN Spain is a historical country in ESN, active from the very beginning of ESN as a European network and continuously growing not only in number of sections but also in activities inside the national network. The very first section in ESN Spain, ESN UCM, was created in 1992. From that moment, step by step, others ESN sections were born. The first National Platform was in 1998, meaning the creation of the ESN Spain Federation and the National Board. National Level By 2002, there were 15 official sections working hard to integrate the international students into the Spanish way of life. To achieve their goals, they had been meeting twice a year in National Platforms, until 2010, when it was decided to add a third National Platform plus the small one in AGM to discuss the huge amount of topics coming up monthly. By 2003, ESN Spain had a national website, a national logo, the design for the ESN Spain Card, and four National Events in cities such as Seville, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, where the same formula is repeating: free maps for students, city tours, accommodation, huge parties, local culture and gastronomy and loads of ESN spirit! In 2005, celebrating the 400 years of the Spanish most known book Don Quijote, ESN Alacalรก organized a National Event, reading the book in as many languages as possible of the world. A recording of the readings was made by the National Radio station Cadena SER, which was published afterwards.

Written by Alicia Macanas & Adriana Perez To accomplish the successful integration of the students, the National Events were born. Every year, there are around 3 or 4 National Events, changing the location every year and being hosted by different sections. But there is always a main one which remains unchangeable... Historically, there were 2: the first and extinct nowadays, in Seville, hosting 1800 international students coming from all over Spain for a weekend full of cultural activities, flamenco shows and a big party in 2 ships in the waters of Guadalquivir River! Unfortunately, the city council changed the rules of noise level and the Event had to move to a different place. Then, a new destiny was chosen: Ibiza. The date: May 2006. It had been started as a local activity from ESN Alcalรก, with only 400 students, but soon developed to be the worldwide known ESN Spain National Event: ESN Ibiza Trip! The second week of May, an average of 2500 students and 200 hard-working ESN Coordinators invade the white island to enjoy all together 5 days of sunshine, paradise beaches, cultural activities and most of the best clubs in Europe. Besides, ESN Spain provides 100 spots for international ESN members willing to participate in the meeting. After that week, the post-Ibiza depression comes along! They all agree that the Ibiza event is one of the best times of their lives. Since 2008, the ESN Ibiza Trip is an official international event. International level Since the beginning of the XXI century, ESN Spain has been feeling the international level: Elke Resch,

President of the ESN International in 2000, was international student who participate in some national activities and made the sections feel nearer to the Board and to ESN International! Right after that, in 2002, ESN Lugo hosted the first AGM in Spain. The rumours say it was unforgettable, and so we expect from the next one, which will take place 10 years later in the beautiful Andalusia: AGM Granada 2012! There have been 2 attempts of holding CNRs in Spain, as far as we could know: ESN Carlos III presented during the CNR-Jena, and another one of ESN Spain to link a CNR with the Ibiza National Event, taking place afterwards. Finally, neither of them was accepted. On the other hand, Spain has hosted a Cultural Madley, named after the city and the general feeling of the event. It was organized and coordinated by the National Board, during the 9th-13th of November 2006 and 50 participants. Recently, the second edition of CoMeet was also hosted in Madrid, in March 2011, organized by ESN UAM. The only section that has ever won the Starlight Award has been Carlos III, in 2007, after being on the second position the previous two years. Also, other sections like ESN UAM and ESN UAX have been Section in the Spotlight for a month. The International Board has never had a Spaniard, but there have been 2 attempts: the first one, in AGM Gdansk, one of the members ran for President, but

ESN History Book 2011

finally he decided to retire; the second one in AGM Istanbul, the Spanish WPA, Alejandro Rodriguez, ran for International WPA, but finally he didn’t get elected. In 2011, the participation in the international committees got very popular, increasing the number from 2 to 10 active members. The most relevant that year were Alicia Macanás as main Chair of the International Committee for Education (ICE); Mariví Jiménez as Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee (FiCo); Miriam González as Galaxy project coordinator and ERS in the IT committee. Projects The ESN Card project has always been crucial in the National Level. Nacho López was the one who introduced the ESN Card Project in Spain during 20052006, and was also part of the team who wrote the guidelines for it. He has also been one of the ESN Survey 2007 team members. Nevertheless, if there’s a project that ESN Spain is really proud of, it’s undoubtedly “Give XX”. Apart from many activities organized by the sections, the Ibiza trip fee was raised 5€ exclusively for the contribution to Give XX project; therefore, Ibiza ‘09 contributed to the project with 8500 €, the highest amount of any ESN country. PRIME has also been very important. Apart from the high results, on November 2009, ESN UAM organized a PRIME conference as a pre-National Platform activity in

Madrid, so the participants’ number was increased by ESN members from all over the country. Then, 2010 came along, bringing the most important social projects. During the summer, ESN Valencia made a social project of fire prevention in the forest of the area. For a month, volunteers from all over Europe came along with a common battle-cry: Fire Prevention! Also, in spring 2010, ESN Valladolid made a blood donation video to promote the donation towards the Ibiza National Event, which inspired the national project that would come a year later, on March 2011, when up to 10 sections brought their international students to donate their blood. By the end of the academic year, more projects came out, like “Erasmus at schools”, by ESN Pom (Barcelona). SECTIONS ESN UCM Madrid, 1992 ESN UAM Madrid, 1996 ESN Toledo, expelled, 1996 ESN Jaén, 1998 ESN Madrid Carlos III, 1998 ESN Alcala, 1999 ESN Cádiz, 2000 ESN Murcia, 2001 ESN Sevilla, 2001 ESN Zaragoza, expelled, 2002 ESN UAB Barcelona, 2004 ESN Rey Juan Carlos, 2005 ESN Barcelona UPC, 2006 ESN Tarragona, expelled, 2007 2007 ESN Granada 2008 ESN Valladolid ESN UPM Madrid, expelled, 2008 ESN Barcelona UB, 2008 ESN Ramon Llull, 2008 ESN Cordoba, 2008 ESN VALENCIA UPV, 2009

ESN UAX, Alfonso X el Sabio de Madrid, 2009 ESN Málaga, 2009 ESN Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 2009 ESN UCV Valencia, 2009 ESN UV Valencia, 2009 ESN Vigo, 2010 ESN Castilla La Mancha: Albacete / Cuenca, 2010 ESN Zaragoza, 2010 ESN La Rioja Logroño, 2010 ESN Salamanca, 2010 ESN UCJC - Universidad José Cela, Madrid, 2010 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Héctor Fouce, 1999 Alberto Alvaro, ESN - Alcalá, 2002 - 2004 Ana Galindo, ESN Complutense University of Madrid, 2004 - 2005 Jesús Monge, 2005 - 2006 Fernando García, ESN UAM, 2006 - 2007 Jordi Piulats, 2007 - 2009 Adriana Pérez, ESN UAM, Madrid, 2009 - 2011 Juan Colino, ESN Valladolid, 2011-2012

ESN Sweden

Written by Karin Persdotter, Karin Siöö and Rasmus Åberg At the beginning of the 21st century ESN Sweden had some hard years with internal problems in the board as well as locally. Several sections changed their organizational structure and went from being part of the student union to become a part of the university or an independent association. This led to no or few possibilities for the sections to get funding. ESN Sweden did also at the time have a high membership fee (2500 per section /year) and it became harder and harder to motivate. The consequences were that several sections left the network. Those were ESN Södertörn, ESN Halmstad, ESN Karlstad, ESN Stockholm University, ESN BTH (Blekinge Institute of Technology) and ESN Gävle. Also ESN Lund, ESN Chalmers and ESN Luleå left the network but have luckily found their way back to ESN Sweden. The newest sections are ESN Uppsala (about 1 year in ESN) and ESN Luleå that came back to the network in February 2010 (they left 2002). Since Sweden is a long-stretched country it has been difficult to recruit new sections in the north of Sweden (because of the high travel expenses for the sections) but with ESN Luleå back in the network maybe we are facing a new era? With their help we can hopefully gain a few new sections in the upper parts of Sweden which will strengthen the network as a whole, and we are already in contact with northern universities such as Umeå University. Another great challenge for ESN Sweden has been to re-organize the national board positions in order to make them more attractive. At the annual meeting in 2006 the positions changed so that instead of being vice president/vice NR or treasurer/secretary the Vice president was no longer vice NR. Instead the treasurer also became

ESN History Book 2011

Vice NR. The responsibility of the secretary was then given to the board (with the possibility to either appoint any board member to be secretary or appoint a section member). In 2008 a board position of PR was created since the sections asked ESN Sweden to focus more on PR and create PR material about ESN Sweden and its sections. The idea was to make a booklet about the sections, Sweden and Swedish customs. Unfortunately the person in charge left the board prematurely and no material was made. Later on PR was added to the vice president position as well as being a secretary. ESN Sweden is today led by a National Board consisting of 6 positions: President, Vice President/ PR/Secretary, National Representative, Treasurer/ Vice National Representative, Webmaster and Sea Battle Coordinator. One thing that greatly contributed to the evolution of the network in Sweden was, of course, the Sea Battle that was first organized in 2005 but then under the name ESN Viking Sea Battle for 500 exchange students. This event made all the sections come together and meet at least once per semester in a less formal way than during NPs. The Sea Battle was the first big event of many active ESNers. Prior to 2008, the trips had not always been to Tallinn, but also sometimes to Gdansk/Gdynia in Poland. Fall semester 2007 was the last time that we went to Poland and in spring semester 2008 when we went to Tallinn we started discussing if this could not be expanded to include ESN Estonia as well. Talks between the Swedish and Estonian NRs led to the idea to make it a three-country event, involving ESN Finland as well. The first three-country trip took place in the fall of 2008.

Up until this point, the Sea Battle had been organized mostly by the President of ESN Sweden, which required a lot of effort and took a lot of time away from his/her other duties. When the project was made bigger, a new board position was created to handle this. During 2008 & 2009 this person was not part of the board but still involved on national level and also elected at the Annual Meeting together with the rest of the Board. At the annual meeting in 2010 the Sea Battle Coordinator became a board position. The same thing changed with the webmaster position. During the whole time that ESN Sweden has had a webmaster the position has been outside the board but at the annual meeting 2010 also this position became a part of the board. This is a great improvement for the board and for the sections since more people can achieve greater things. The evolution of the Sea Battle has been great for the network but it has also led to that the ideas for some other projects haven’t been realized. For example, there has been and still are discussions on NPs about organizing a common ski trip but with the efforts required by the Sea Battle, has not happened, so far. There have also been discussions about a closer cooperation between the sections and although it can still improve, small scale cooperation is becoming more and more important. For example, when ESN Lund organized a Kiruna trip in 2010 they had problems selling all the tickets and at that point ESN Växjö helped them by informing their students about the event and selling tickets to their members.

A lot of changes are about to happen in ESN Sweden. Positive ones. The sections are more aware of the missions and visions of ESN and the level of motivation is high! The national board of ESN Sweden has as a goal to have a more “section-in-focus-approach” in order to strengthen the network and cooperation, by for example implementing section reports and encourage section meetings, establish an active mailing list and better communication through Skype calls. ESN Sweden has had a shaky relationship with the National Agency International Program office for Education and Training, but has now established a better cooperation. ESN Sweden was in May 2010 invited to a conference on Educational Exchange Programs to talk about Problem in Recognition In Making Erasmus. One tradition of ESN Sweden is to sing the Indian Song at NPs and other national and international events. Sing with us! En och två och tre indianer, fyra, fem och sex indianer, sju och åtta och nio indianer tio små indianer. Alla hade dom fjädrar på huvet, alla hade dom pil och båge, alla var dom stora och starka OCH ALLA VILLE DOM KRAMAS OCH ALLA VILLE DOM KRAMAS

SECTIONS ESN Circ ESN Jönköping, 2007 ESN Kalmar ESN KTH Stockholm ESN Linköping, 1994 ESN Luleå left 2002 joined again 2010 ESN Lund left 2003 joined again 2004 ESN Skövde, 1999 ESN Väoxjö, 1999 ESN Örebro, 1999 ESN Halmstad, - 2003 ESN Blekinge, 1998 - 2005, ESN Södertörn, 2003 - 2005, ESN Gävle, 2004 - 2006, ESN Karlstad ESN Stockholm University, Uppsala, 2009 - 2010

Nordic Network Meeting, ESN KTH Stockholm, 2000 CNR Meeting, ESN Linköping, 2006 NEP ESN KTH Stockholm, 2009 Network and Events Committee Meeting, ESN KTH Stockholm, 2010

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Nordic Network Meeting, ESN Kalmar, 1999 NNordic Network Meeting, ESN Linköping, ovember 2000

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Oscar Boije, 2011 - 2012 Karin Persdotter, 2010 - 2011 Anna Stina Nilsson, 2009 - 2010 Rasmus Åberg, 2008 - 2009 Sofia Sohl, 2007 - 2008

INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Mikaela Thelander, Executive Member, 1999 - 2000 Calle Johnzén, President, 2003 - 2004 Lisa Andersson, External Relations, 2005 - 2006 Josefin Svensson, Communication Manager, 20112012

ESN History Book 2011

Rasmus Bodin Löfgren, 2006 2007 Tania Tello, 2005 - 2006 Lisa Eriksson, 2004 - 2005 Svante Edqvist, 2000 - 2001 Helena Magnusson, 1999 - 2000 Mikaela Thelander, 1998 - 1999 NATIONAL EVENTS ESN Sea Battle: A boat trip between Stockholm and Tallinn with different activities offered on board and on land for over 2000 students from 5 different ESN countries. ESN Sweden Road Trips to Russia, since 1999, Swedish and international students have been traveling with Niinimäki Travels, a partner of ESN Sweden, to Russia. There are 4 different trips to choose from with different destinations in Finland and Russia and optional social program.

ESN Switzerland

Written by Fabian Bircher and Pascal Wilhelm

The written traces of ESN Switzerland go back to June 1995. In that summer, the historical meeting took place from which we still have a trace. It was a Meeting of ESN Z端rich where both sections were present. Old foxes in ESN Switzerland still remember that it was ESN Z端rich ETH who was the first section in the small alpine country. Not long thereafter the second section ESN Z端rich UNI was born. For a long time the twin sections were the only ones in Switzerland. It took five years to spread the ESN seed to other Universities. From the country report of February 2000 by Andreas Lindemuth the NR of Switzerland and Executive Board Member of ESN International 1999-2000 we know that an ESN section was supposed to be set up in St.Gallen and Fribourg. However it was with ESN Winterthur and AECE Lausanne that the sections from Z端rich had the first National Platform in 2002 in Winterthur. The oldest version of the Swiss statutes dates back to August 24 anno domini 2001. It was thus then that ESN Switzerland in its current form was founded. At the NP in 2002 the first national board was elected. The knowledge transfer was assured in all the eight following national board as there was

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at least one person still present from the previous board. Mario Alleca, Lars Henning, Remo Weber, and Fabian Bircher even stayed three years in the national board. The boards fought with different problems along the years, but there was always an interest in the international level of ESN. In the years from 1999 to 2010 there were only 2005, 2009 and 2010 without someone from Switzerland in the Executive Board or the International Board of ESN International. According to the oldest version of the Statutes, ESN Switzerland was founded as an independent association on August 24, 2001. The first NP was held in spring 2002 in Winterthur. The situation today is a national network with thirteen sections which have regular contact and organize several events together. The aim of the national board is to increase this even more and make all interested ESN members feel even more connected. Several sections have come and gone, the date when which section joined the network has become difficult to find out. With a big thank you for Pascal Wilhelm who found most of this historic information.

SECTIONS ESN Basel, 2006 ESN Bern, 2006 ESN Chur, 2010 ESN Fribourg, 2004 ESN St. Gallen Xchange ESN UNI Lausanne, 2001 Xchange ESN EPF Lausanne, 2002 ESN Wädenswil, 2003 ESN Winterthur, 2000 ESN Zurich UNI, 1995 ESN Zürich ETH, 1995 ESN Neuchâtel ESN Geneva, 2003 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED Executive Board Meeting, Zürich, October 1999 Executive Board Meeting, Zürich,

October 2002 Executive Board Meeting, Zürich or Winterthur, 2004 Cultural Medley Winterthur, 2005 WEP Lausanne, 2007 CND Winterthur, 2007 WEP Zürich, 2009

- 2005 Corinne Bryner, Treasurer, 2006 - 2007 Matthias Fenner, Vice-President, 2007 - 2008 Matthias Fenner, President, 2008 - 2009 Fabian Bircher, WPA, 2011 - 2012

INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Andreas Lindemuth, Executive Board Member, 1999 - 2000 Marco Weibel, Executive Board Member, 2000 - 2001 Claudia Bertogg, Treasurer, 2001 - 2002 Barbara Jost, Treasurer, 2002 2003 Irene Aklin, External Relation, 2003 - 2004 Pascal Gemperli, President, 2004

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Andreas Lindemuth, 1999 - 2000 Marco Weibel, 2000 - 2001 Claudia Bertogg, 2001 - 2002 Barbara Jost ,2002 - 2003 Johannes Kerner, 2003 - 2005 Lars Henning, 2005 - 2006 Lydia Lostan, 2006 - 2008 Pascal Wilhelm, 2008 - 2009 Remo Ughini, 2009 - 2010 Fabian Bircher, 2010 - 2011 Ludovic Coudray, 2011 - 2012

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ESN The Netherlands

Written by Stijn Bracke

ESN the Netherlands was established on the 8th of February 1991 in Enschede. Before that year already several sections were founded (ESN Utrecht, Groningen, Leiden and Maastricht), but after a few years there was a need for a coordinating body by means of a National Board. ESN the Netherlands is a legal organisation; an association, which means that the ESN sections are a member of ESN the Netherlands. Each section pays a membership fee to ESN the Netherlands. The association is legally based in Enschede, the Netherlands. Its goals are (quoting from the statutes): Promoting the interests of students studying at Dutch institutions for higher education who are a guest at the institution for higher education within the scope of an exchange. Promoting the interest of students who are sent abroad by a Dutch institution of higher education. All that is directly or indirectly connected to or that could be to the benefit of that which is mentioned in section a, all in the broadest sense of the word. The association forms the coordinating organisation of both the ESN sections as well as the associate members in The Netherlands who all pursue the above mentioned aims. Even though the goals of ESN the Netherlands have stayed the same, ESN the Netherlands has evolved: In 1999 the President’s meeting was held for the first time. Next to the National Platforms, ESN the Netherlands also meets three times a year with the chairpersons of the Dutch sections during these President’s meetings. In 2001, the method for choosing the new board changed. Instead of changing before the AGM, the Netherlands chose to change on the last National

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Platform of the academic year. This meant that the Dutch board of the year 2000 had to stay an extra half-year. ESN the Netherlands has also grown in the few years it has existed. Currently there are 14 sections that belong to ESN the Netherlands. National Board 2010-2011 ESN the Netherlands also has a National Activity. It is called ESNow and exists for several years. This skiing trip is a great success and every year many sections participate. The last few years even section members from other countries joined the ESNow event. The participants travel by bus to the French Alps for 8 days of ski and snowboard fun! Every section has an ESNow coordinator who takes care of the international students from their own section. The ESNow committee exists of four people and has contact with the travel agency and coordinates the whole event. Every night there is a fabulous party in the Yeti-bar with many themes. Most editions included a trailer trash party, and of course, the Toga party on the final evening! International students definitely had the time of their lives!!! Here are the histories of these ESN sections. Of course, we begin with ESN Utrecht, because that’s where it all started!!! ESN Utrecht On 16 October 1989 ESN Utrecht was founded by Desiree Majoor. Soon, other cities in Europe followed her example, so it was time for the next step. Therefore, she founded ESN International, of which she was President in the initial period. Desiree’s work for ESN Utrecht and ESN International

was very much appreciated by the European Union; therefore she received the Erasmus Award. ESN Utrecht has always been active at an international level. The International Administration has been in Utrecht from the beginning until 2000. Additionally, in 1992 Utrecht organised the AGM. ESN Utrecht has grown into a big and professional foundation, which takes care of approximately 1400 students a year. ESN Twente (Enschede) The Foundation Erasmus Student Network Twente emerged as Student Mobility in Twente (SMIT) in June of 1991 from an advisory board of several internationally-oriented student organizations belonging to the University of Twente. It took 8 months of preparations and negotiations before Foundation SMIT was founded on 11 June 1991. The initiative of founding SMIT was taken by a number of internationally oriented student organisations, of which especially AEGEE-Enschede played an important role. After having been one of ESN’s Associate Members from the year of SMIT’s foundation, SMIT was given full ESN membership in the academic year 2000/2001. ESN Groningen ESN Groningen has only operated under this name since a couple of years. At first, Wings-ESN, was founded in 1988. In the beginning it was a commission of AEGEE, and later on it became independent. It is not known when Wings became a member of ESN. Wings changed its name from Wings to Wings-ESN in 2001. Later on, they changed their name to ESN Groningen. Nowadays ESN Groningen takes care of

ESN History Book 2011

approximately 3000 international students! ISN Leiden Stichting Erasmus Student-Network Leiden was founded on 8 June 1990. It is not clear when ESN Leiden became a member of ESN the Netherlands and ESN International, but it has been a member at least since 1992. In 2000, ESN Leiden organised the AGM! A couple of years ago (it is not exactly clear when), ESN Leiden changed their name into ISN Leiden (International Student Network Leiden), because the organisation did not only cover Erasmus students but also organized events for students from other parts of the world. Nowadays ISN Leiden takes care of approximately 600 foreign students. ESN-VUniverse (Amsterdam) Somewhere in the ‘90s, an enthusiastic group of students founded an organisation at the Free University. They called their little club, “VUniverse”. Its goal was to organise activities for the foreign exchange students that attended the Free University. Nowadays ESN –VUniverse takes care of approximately 500 foreign students. VUniverse has been a member of ESN since 2000 and changed its name to ESN VUniverse in February 2002. ESN Leeuwarden This small section was founded on the 30th of August 1991. Every year we make sure that approximately 120 students have the time of their lives in Leeuwarden. Besides two introduction weeks, we organise different activities and parties. Every Thursday we organise an ESN Pub. A lot of students meet their

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fellow Dutch students here. On top of all this we offer the exchange students a mentor programme. ESN Leeuwarden might be small but it has the real Pallomeri spirit and enthusiasm. ESN INHolland Haarlem ESN Haarlem was founded in 1992. The number of international students grew, and in 1997 a church was bought to house 100 students for a semester. This church is also used to organise parties and activities. ESN Maastricht ESN Maastricht has existed since 1989, and is today one of the biggest ESN sections in the Netherlands, as it takes care of more than 1200 students per year. Their goal is to make the stay of the foreign exchange students in Maastricht so pleasant, that they will carry happy memories of it for the rest of their lives! ISN Amsterdam Before ESN was founded here, international students at the University of Amsterdam were welcomed and entertained by different authorities inside and outside the University. But there was no continuity in the welcoming of students. Therefore in February/ March 1997, all parties decided that a separate organisation should be formed to specifically focus on sheltering and integrating foreign students at the University of Amsterdam. This would be done through a mentor system, through organising activities and through publishing a monthly letter. In the first year many things were started. During these 5 years, many students participated in ISN to help it develop into the well- known organisation it is nowadays.

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ESN Tilburg The section in Tilburg was founded quite soon after the foundation of ESN the Netherlands in 1991. In reaction to the foundation of ESN the Netherlands, a couple of guys decided to take care of the exchange students in Tilburg, under the name ESN-T. A lot has changed since then - nowadays there is a weekly drink and a weekly dinner for the mentors. But one thing is for sure: exchange students still know how to party!!! ESN Rotterdam ESN Rotterdam is the youngest section in the Netherlands and was founded in 2008 at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. During the two years that they exist, this section showed a tremendous growth rate and can now be considered as an average or even above average section in terms of students that attend their activities. The section of ESN is famous for itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weekly social drink, city trips to several parts in the Netherlands and one of the biggest student parties in the country, the Vie Thursday on every last Thursday of the month. Furthermore, ESN Rotterdam is socially involved as well; this section raised the most money by far for the Give20 project of Unicef in 2009. ESN INHolland Diemen ESN Diemen started in June 2006 and is one of the youngest sections. They also believe that it is very important that students are helped by other students. Furthermore, two other sections exist; ESN INHolland Rotterdam and ESN Wageningen. Unfortunately, there is no historical information about these two sections.

SECTIONS ESN Utrecht, 1989 ESN Twente, Enschede, 1991 ESN Groningen, 1998 ISN Leiden, 1992 ESN-VUniverse Amsterdam 2000 ESN Leeuwarden, 1991 ESN INHolland Haarlem, 1992 ESN Maastricht, 1989 ISN Amsterdam, 1997 ESN Tilburg, 1991 ESN Rotterdam, 2008 ESN INHolland Diemen, 2006 ESN INHolland Rotterdam ESN Wageningen

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED AGM Utrecht, 1992 AGM Leiden, 2000 AGM Utrecht, 2009 WEP Groningen, 2010 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Desiree Majoor, 1990 - 1991 Jelle Calsbeek, 1994 - 1995 Marc Janson, 2009 - 2010

ESN History Book 2011

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Marlous Schutte, 2003 - 2004 Marjolein Morres, 2004 - 2005 Jochem Lambers, 2007 - 2008 Charissa Riemeijer, 2008 - 2009 Nikkie van Willigen, 2009 - 2010 Stijn Bracke, 2010 - 2011 Ties den Dekker, 2011 - 2012

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ESN Turkey Turkish Universities applied to join in the Erasmus Student Exchange Program and the first students who were sent abroad returned to the country in 2004. When they were abroad they attended events and met with volunteers of ESN member Erasmus Clubs. With the knowledge and inspiration they got from them they started to build similar organizations. ITU Erasmus Club which is one of the first Erasmus clubs in Turkey was founded in 2005 by Andım Doldurucu and started to work immediately. Right after, Andım applied to make Turkey become a member of ESN and attended the Council of National Representitives meeting in Bratislava in 2005. With her candidate presentation she got the all the votes of the National Representatives and became the first ESN member of Turkey and Andım Doldurucu started to work as the first National Representative of ESN Turkey. In 2005-2006 with rapid spread of the Erasmus Programme in Turkish Universities, students who completed their terms abroad started to establish first Erasmus Clubs and applied to become a members of ESN. After ESN ITU, ESN Izmir (now known as ESN EGE) became the second member club of ESN Turkey. With the other universities applications, ESN Turkey kept growing fast and now it is uniting 22 (and rapidly increasing) universities official Erasmus/Exchange Clubs. And became the biggest students association among Turkish Universities. Since the day ESN Turkey became a member of Erasmus Student Network, it unified hundreds of exchange students in Turkey and for three years in a row ESN Turkey has become the fastest-growing country in ESN. ESN Turkey sent 2

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Written by Eylul Cavac members Andim Doldurucu and Erdeniz Unvan to become IB members in 2007 and 2008. ESN Turkey also accomplished things which were the first European-wide. In 2009, to create corporate solutions for the accommodation problems of Erasmus Students who come to Istanbul, to find an appropriate and well-secured accommodation and keep the information flow best with the ESN Turkey office which will going to move to the same house, ESN Turkey created the ESN House Istanbul project with its own resources. But unfortunately in August 2010 due to the selling of building, ESN House Istanbul is on Hold and ESN Turkey is looking for a new building. ESN Turkey announced its candidacy in Utrecht/ The Netherlands in March 2009 for the biggest and the most important meeting of ESN, Annual General Meeting 2010. With the trust it gained in sections in Europe by ESN Turkey’s work since it was established, ESN Turkey got the majority of the votes of ESN delegates and was chosen to organize AGM 2010 in Istanbul. AGM 2010 and the parade took the attention of thenational media. Here is the news about Parade from one of the 4 biggest Media groups in Turkey. http://webtv.hurriyet.com.tr/default.aspx?vid=5519 AGM 2010 plenaries were broadcast online for ESN members and other interested parties. The company who were providing online broadcasting gave the reports to ESN Turkey after AGM2010 and stated that from all international congress events they had broadcast AGM2010 had the highest number of viewers who were watching at the same time. ESN Isik announced its candidacy for organizing the

Cultural Medley 2009 in Utrecht/The Netherlands in March 2009. And it managed to organize a fruitful Medley for 40 ESNers with hiking, beach and touristic activities in Isik University with a wonderful view of the Black Sea. ESN Turkey organized it’s biggest Welcome Party in October 2009 in the main Train Station for trains to Europe with 2000 participants. ESN Turkey organized a Flash Freeze Mob 2010 in Cevahir Shopping Center (one of the biggest shopping malls in Istanbul) in order to take attention to AGM 2010, ESN Turkey, ESN in general and student mobility. Video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4338195/esn_turkey_erasmus_student_network_turkey_flash_freeze_mob/ After organizing SEEP, Cultural Medley, Several CNRs, AGM and launching ESN House, ESN Turkey is now after new creative ideas about how to help all Erasmus students in Turkey. Beware! New and eager sections are still coming to be candidates for international events. ESN House… done! Cultural Medley… done! AGM Istanbul… Done! What is next? SECTIONS ESN Ege ESN Galatasaray ESN Yildiz ESN Anadolu ESN Bilgi ESN Kultur ESN ITU ESN Bahcesehir ESN Cag ESN Isik ESN ADU ESN SDU ESN Marmara ESN Metu ESN Hacettepe ESN Kadir Has ESN Mugla ESN Koc

ESN Yeditepe ESN Selcuk ESN Bilkent ESN Samsun INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED SEEP, 2007 Cultural Medley, 2009 AGM, 2010 CNR, February 2011 NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED NP Spring, 2007 NP Spring, 2008 NP Fall, 2008 NP Spring, 2009 NP Fall, 2009 NP Spring, 2010

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National Summer Event, 2009 National Winter Event, 2009 National Summer Event, 2010 Train Station / Welcome Party (2000 participants), fall 2009 INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Andim Doldurucu Erdeniz Unvan NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Andim Doldurucu Sergül Özatarlar Server Agirman Cihan Keskin Kadir Kelesh

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ESN United Kingdom

Written by Leo Smith

The history of ESN in the UK is a story of ups and downs. Until 1993 there was only one section, ESN Hull. In the middle of the 90ies the development became more interesting. Sections in Bristol and other cities in England popped up. Unfortunately all these sections disappeared within a short period, something that became a common theme in the history of the island. Nonetheless, there was hope for ESN UK when in 1996 Anne Fairweather returned from studying in Gent on Erasmus and she could not leave behind her European connections and so was involved in setting up a section at Leeds University. She also had the privilege of being named the first National Representative of ESN UK, which saw her participate along with other UK ESNers at the AGM 1997. By 2000, the only section remaining was the one in Leeds, and sadly when Markus Staiber, an Erasmus Student from Germany departed from the city so did ESN UK from the entire ESN map. So for a number of years the relationship of the UK with ESN somewhat represented the nature of the relationship between the UK with Europeindifferent and peripheral. But, when Ewan Munro took over from Karri Teikari at the AGM in Krakow in 2006 the foundations were already being put in place for mini-golden era. It was when Ewan attended the CNR meeting in Jena (May 2005) and there they voted that the December CNR meeting of that year would be in Edinburgh. The idea was to try to encourage other Erasmus societies from universities in the region to come along and find out what ESN is all about. People from GUISS, people from Aberdeen, HerriotWatt, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, Newcastle, and

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Durham were all invited, but unfortunately the only person who came in the end was the then-president of Durham’s Erasmus Society, Helen Mobey. As the saying goes ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’ During the meeting in Edinburgh, ESN Durham was accepted as a new section. At that time, Ewan had also been in contact with various other people from across the UK, but people disappeared, graduated or were abducted by aliens and either way contact with interested people and sections was fleeting and sporadic. To develop a more sustainable strategy for growth Ewan tried to build a small network around Scotland and the north of England, where it would be geographically easier to hold events together. Had this been successful, there would have had a lot more to boast about when trying to build the network elsewhere in the UK. In reality, however, it didn’t happen. Nonetheless, the ideas, determination and will of a number of people in the UK saw it persist in trying to develop something greater than what had come before. And in 2006 under the stewardship of Anders Aufderhorst-Roberts ESN UK started to make progress. The first ever National Platform was organized in the Yorkshire city of Leeds in 2007 and was attended by sections from Cardiff, Kent, Sheffield, UEA, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds. Furthermore, ESN UK had developed relations with the UKESC and also two sponsors which looked to set more financial security for the country and create a sustainable national level. To ensure further progress the first National Board was elected and at the same time Anders began to hand over the task to James Beckett to become the next

NR. James continued the great work of Anders and the two more National Platforms were organized by the sections in Sheffield and Cardiff with participant numbers always growing. In 2008 James had moved to pastures new and left the country in the hands of Leo Smith and in this period of 24 months that both men were in charge the UK network grew to 19 sections. The recruitment of new sections was not an active policy of the UK as we always saw the need for strong local sections cooperating, however this demonstrated the growing interest in the ideas of ESN and exchange in the oft skeptical isle. The National Platform held in Loughborough in 2009 saw a record number of participants, 25 ESNers and with the financial capacity to support our members travel to events ESN could truly become a group

of sections working collectively towards the same goals. A new National Board was elected at the meeting in Loughborough and with the work of Martin Underwood as President a number of measures and strategies were put in place to improve communication within ESN UK and professionalize the internal work of the organization. This resulted in the organization of the first National Event- a Spring Break surfing event in Newquay which was the first successful attempt to bring sections together at a national event. We hope for such events to become an annual tradition and strengthen the network feeling in the UK which we hope will have the knock on effect in getting more Brits to cross the pond and join those much talked about but rarely visited International events.

SECTIONS ESN Cardiff, 2006 ESN Derby, 2007 ESN Exeter, 2009 ESN Glasgow Caledonian, 2009 ESN ICL, 2009 ESN Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, 2009 ESN Nottingham, 2007 ESN Plymouth, 2009 ESN Sheffield, 2007 ESN Southampton, 2008 ESN UEA, 2007 ESN Leicester, 2002 ESN Leicester, 2008

NATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED ESN UK Spring Break, April 2010

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ORGANISED CNR Edinburgh, December 2006

ESN History Book 2011

INTERNATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS Leo Smith, Secretary, 2010 - 2011 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Anne Fairweather, 1997 - 1998 Pit Peporte, 2003 - 2004 Karri Taikiri, 2004 - 2005 Ewan Munro, 2005 - 2006 Anders Aufderhorst-Roberts, 2006 - 2007 James Beckett, 2007 - 2008 Leo Smith, 2008 - 2009 Matthew Burnell / Martin Underwood, 2009 - 2010 Vadims (aka Frank) Sondors, 2010 - 2011 Amelia Day, 2011 - 2012

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ESN Ukraine The first Ukrainian section was established on 14.2.2010. just before the printing of the first ESNBook. The section consisted of students from Lviv National University, Lviv Veterinary Academy and Lviv State Medical University. The President of the section as well as the National Representative for Ukraine is Dima Vyhovskyy. Right after being officially approved in ESN the section organised an opening conference, where they presented the idea of ESN, its main objectives and goals to students, aspirants and deans of faculties. The section was working on the big project of the Polish - Ukrainian Exchange Programme, which foresees the organisation of students’ conferences and meetings. As a result of these conferences and meetings a brochure was published, in which all the speeches, annotations of the lectures and reports were included. This project was planned to continue for several years. “It all started in September of 2009 when I first contacted the ESN board. We were greatly interested in finding a students organization that would allow us to become an equal participant of various international exchange programs. Since LNU was one of the first three Ukrainian higher educational institutions which introduced the principles of Bologna process, we realized we had to increase students’ mobility and exchange opportunities. As it turned out there was no other ESN section in Ukraine which laid a good ground for initiating ESN Ukraine with its own National Board, sections and statutes. The procedure of becoming a member of ESN was not difficult at all: filling out the application form and participating in one of CNR meetings where we would present ourselves as candidates. The most important prerequisite was, no doubt, a high motivation to become a member of a pan-European organization-ESN. The distinguishing features of most students organizations in Ukraine are: they are all isolated from their international partners and they are mainly focused on defending students rights. ESN is a unique organization as it highly promotes students’ mobility which is extremely important for our school. The problem with all Ukrainian universities is that they have only one-way of students mobility: they only host international students, there is no real exchange. ESN with its self-governance and mentor system gives

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Written by Veeli Oeselg a pattern of how to create an efficient student body that would facilitate exchange between different Universities all over Europe.” Tetiana Stepykina, Ph.D Director of the Center for International Cooperation of Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University In November 2008, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University submitted their application to apply for membership in ESN while being the first potential section in Ukraine. The university was closely cooperating with the Hacettepe University in Turkey, where also an ESN section is active. Thanks to this, the International Office of the Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University got inspired and they started to search for active students, who would be interested to create and manage a student organisation, which would take care of the incoming international students. Ilona Kornieieva together with Tetiana Stekykina, the Director of the Center for International Cooperation, presented the organisation at the CNR meeting in February 2010 in Warsaw. The CNR approved the candidate status of ESN - Luhansk Shevchenko University. Since then, the section has developed a lot and created a new local Board, who composed the first Statutes. The members of the section have the full support of the university and are moreover also interested to expand the network in Ukraine. SECTION ESN - Luhansk Shevchenko University, 2010 NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Victoria Fisenko, SN - Luhansk Shevchenko University, 2010

History of the ESN logo ESN History Book 2011

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Corporate Identity

Written by Marco La Rosa

About the old logo We don’t know much about the previous ESN logo, it was not registered and it was designed by a member of ESN Portugal. The old logo of ESN was not well spread in the network and since the estabilishment of the headquarters in Brussels, it was clear the need of having a strong network Corporate Identity. A new Corporate Identity The elements of the design that ESN adopted on June 1st 2006 are based upon the research and the project developed in the period September - December 2005 by the Board and Evert Ypma. Koeweiden Postma, Dutch-leading design agency based in Amsterdam, concluded the implemented of the new Corporate Identity. The new design was presented, discussed and approved at the AGM Krakow 2006 with this result: out of 131 sections present or delegated, 81% were in favour while 12% voted against (7% abstaining). ESN has its logo registered at the EU Copyright Office (OHIM), so that no unauthorised third parties can use it, or interfere with the owner’s use of it. If rights in relation to a logotype are correctly established and enforced, it can become a valuable intellectual property asset. The ESN logo is unique by the combination of the design of the name and form, which combined constitutes the ESN logo. This means that image and text are inseparable. Does it mean anything? Yes, it does! Represents these values:

The values represented are:

• • • • • • •

unity in diversity, diversity in the unity students helping students fun in friendship and respect international dimension of the life love for Europe as an area of peace and cultural exchange openness with tolerance cooperation in the integration

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The ESN Star, which is a logo of ESN itself, represents the ESN Members standing (but also dancing) in a circle, as they were holding each other’s hands, supporting and helping each other. They are different (four colours, and length) but unite and united they stand, in cooperation, which literally means “operating in concert”. The eight branches of the star, that represent also the Sections of the Network, do not have a centre, but rotate together and are partially overlapping: in such overlapping areas, their identity, what they are (the colours) merge, similarly to what happens when integration takes places in friendship and respect. The word I*ESN evidently keeps the acronym of our name, in cyan, while connecting it to a capital “I” (in different and stronger colour) which stands both for “International” and, in a bizarre and obvious way, also for the first person singular (I = me, I= International). To connect the I (both as International and as a subject) with ESN is the star: by playing with the double meaning of the acronym I*ESN, hence, the star becomes a symbol of the exchange itself, that brings into relation the network, ESN, with the individual (“I”) and the International aspect of the life. In the explanatory text “International Exchange Erasmus Student Network”, it includes all what the network is in a synthetic way: while keeping the official name of the network in one line and in one colour (“Erasmus Student Network”), it is claimed also the support ESN brings to the International Exchange Students that throughout Europe are studying not with the Erasmus Programme. “Exchange”, finally, recalls the colours of the stars and assumes the role of explanation.

Old Logo

Since 2006

Copyright information Trade mark name: i*esn INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE ERASMUS STUDENT NETWORK Trade mark No: 005087853 Trade mark basis: CTM Date of receipt: 19/05/2006 Nice Classification: 35, 36, 41 Trade mark: Individual Type of mark: Figurative Vienna Classification: 24.17.3 Acquired distinctiveness: No A Visual Identity Manual The new logo and the colors linked to it became the symbol of the network and a strong tool for our visibility. The Board 2010/2011 presented at the AGM Budapest 2011 a Visual Identity Manual setting the rules about our visual identity (logo, star and their use). The Visual Identity Manual was approved with over 90% sections in favour becoming an important tool for our sections. More on: esn.org/content/esn-visual-identity

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ESN Data Official Name Erasmus Student Network AISBL ESN Birthday 16th October 1989 Network 36 countries and 397 sections (January 2012) Average annual growth rate of 12,3% since 1990 Headquarters Rue Hydraulique / Waterkrachtstraat, 15 B-1210 Brussels BELGIUM Affiliations and Memberships European Youth Forum (YFJ): full membership EUCIS LLL: full membership ESU: associate member EAIE: courtesy member Council of Europe: participatory status Presidents of ESN Desiree Majoor - Netherlands 1990-1991 Christoffer Loffredo - Italy 1991-1992 Anja Wang - Denmark 1992-1993 Jorge Cerveira Pinto - Portugal 1993-1994 Jelle Calsbeek - Netherlands 1994-1995 Jorn Bo Thomsen - Denmark 1995-1996 Pavlos Exarchos - Greece 1996-1997 Dimitris Parthenis - Greece 1997-1998 Elke Resch - Austria 1998-1999 Matej Acceto - Slovenia 1999-2000 Mikko Arvas / Finland 2000-2001 Stefanie Kothmiller / Austria 2001-2002 Hanna-Maija Saarinen / Finland 2002-2003 Calle Johnzen / Sweden 2003-2004 Zsofia Honfi / Hungary 2004 Pascal Gemperli / Switzerland 2004-2005 Davide Capecchi / Italy 2005-2006 Davide Capecchi / Italy 2006-2007 Giorgio Marinoni / Italy 2007-2008 Matthias Fenner / Switzerland 2008-2009 Marketa Tokova / Czech Republic 2009-2010 Eva Ntovolou / Greece 2010-2011 Tania Berman / France 2011-2012

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Annual General Meetings 1989 Ghent, Belgium (Erasmus Evaluation Meeting) 1990 Copenhagen, Denmark 1991 Brussels, Belgium 1992 Utrecht, Netherlands 1993 Maastricht, Netherlands 1994 Helsinki, Finland 1995 Porto, Portugal 1996 Naples, Italy 1997 Ghent, Belgium 1998 Graz, Austria 1999 Arhus, Denmark 2000 Portorose, Slovenia 2001 Leiden, Netherlands 2002 Lugo, Spain 2003 Siena, Italy 2004 Helsinki, Finland 2005 Gdansk, Poland 2006 Krakow, Poland 2007 Prague, Italy 2008 Besançon, France 2009 Utrecht, Netherlands 2010 Istanbul, Turkey 2011 Budapest, Hungary 2012 Granada, Spain Aims • works in the interest of international students. • works to improve the social and practical integration of international students. • represents the needs and rights of international students on the local, national and international level. • provides relevant information about mobility programmes. • motivates students to study abroad. • works with the reintegration of homecoming students. • contributes to the improvement and accessibility of student mobility. • cares about its members. • values volunteering and active citizenship.

Thanks to... They contributed to this book. A big thank you to : (in alphabetical order) Rasmus Åberg Marko Adamovic Madara Apsalone Ausra Balandyte Ruxandra Barbu Lea Benirschke Fabian Bircher Tomaso Bisol Stijn Bracke Ania Burtan Davide Cappechi Eylül Cavaç Rania Chantzopoulou Lucie Delsalle Mariya Dineva Miriam Eid Vegard Eid Mediaas Julia Fellinger Patrick Fiquet Ana Frangova Christoph Graf Hielei Heider Aino Henriksson John Hustaix

ESN History Book 2011

Laura Isomaki Sofie Jakobsson Maria Kalaentzi Zsanett Kelemen Ewa Krzaklewska Damien Lamy-Preto Monika Lapenaite Marco La Rosa Bjorn Lemmens Ismet Lisica Eero Loonurm Markus Lutter Alicia Macanas Giorgio Marinoni Stefan Melbinger Jennifer Ivonne Menge Martin Moravec Orinta Movsesjan Eva Ntovolou Veeli Oeselg Vojtech Oplestil Adriana Perez Karin Persdotter Tina Podgornik

Nicoleta Popa Nihada Prnjavorac Paul Puylaert Frederik Sardinoux Daphne Scherer Christoph Schoen-Pigisch Karin Siöö Leo Smith Andrzej Sochacki Nikolas Spanoudakis Lenka Stodůlková Marketa Tokova Martin Tulit Gosia Truszczyńska Ann-Sophie Vanderschueren Ieva Vezbergaite Silva Viilup Pascal Wilhelm Adam Włodarkiewicz Joachim Wyssling Julia Wyssling Leszek Zagorski

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