Every day, as AEGEE members, we use the technology, services and applications that are available to us, ranging from browsing a website to get information about a certain Working Group, through sending emails from our aegee.org account, to asking for support when we cannot login to the Intranet. We rely on AEGEE’s IT services to provide the necessary infrastructure for our work but we barely get a chance to take a glimpse behind the scenes, and get to know those people whose invaluable work makes all of this possible. Presenting you Wim van Ravesteijn, Dilyan Palauzov and Christian Bussar, the following paragraphs will show you how working in the IT field of AEGEE can be more than a passing task, and become a source for personal development, enriching one’s life.

The AEGEEan: What are your responsibilities in AEGEE when it comes to IT matters?

Wim van Ravesteijn has been active in the ITC (formerly ITWG) for over 10 years.

Wim: “I’m responsible for the webserver Zeus, hosting almost all websites in AEGEE, as well as the Head Office servers. For Zeus, it means maintaining the server, creating new accounts, assisting users with problems, and writing some tooling to make the life of the users easier. For the Head Office, it mainly means maintaining the servers. Next to that, for 10 years already by now, I take care of the Agora and EBM applications.“

Dilyan: “In AEGEE, we use @aegee.org email addresses and mailing lists with @lists.aegee.org and I ensure that these email services are constantly up, running, and improving. This means maintaining the mail server, dealing with spam, and doing the best to deliver the emails sent to the @aegee.org addresses to the real destination mailboxes. Apart from the everyday task of creating email aliases, there are some long term ideas, like integrating the creation of the mail aliases with the intranet databases, updating software, migrating from one software to another, or installing new software for new services.”

Christian: “My task is the user support of the AEGEE Intranet, which keeps the account data of every registered AEGEE member and their position within the organisation. You need to access your account for all event applications and this is why the most demanding time is during the application period for statutory events and of course the Summer Universities. The general task is explaining people how to recover their passwords or generating interim passwords for them. The challenge of user support is being available almost every day, because naturally you don’t want to keep people waiting for longer than 24 hours.”

The AEGEEan: Most of you have been involved in this type of work for a very long time, even up to 10 years. What has kept you motivated all this time?

Wim: “Maintaining your own webserver is the dream of every IT student. You can always build your home server, but without lots of users, this is not much fun. AEGEE provides the environment to provide a reliable service to lots of people. It gives you experiences that you cannot learn from books. Finding the right balance between security and user experience is the most complicated part, but by doing it for many years, you know where is the right balance.”

One of the aims of Dilyan Palauzov is to constantly develop the email systems of AEGEE.

Dilyan: “On the one hand, there is the technical challenge, and the experience I get in this field.  If you want to work in the area of IT, you need to learn a huge amount of theory, and when you apply for a job, you can list what you have learnt. AEGEE gives you the possibility both to learn theoretically and to put this in practice, for the benefit of both yourself and the organisation. On the other hand, my motivation also comes from a sense of responsibility, as I have always had the feeling, that if I do not do my work right, the rest of AEGEE will not be able to exchange emails and they will not be able to work productively.”

The AEGEEan: What are the next steps for you in these positions? Are you looking for people to get involved in your work?

Dilyan: “I’ve been in this position for too long, and I am looking for somebody to take over this challenge. Three months ago there was an open call for new members, and currently the mail team consists of Christophe, Clemens, Mateusz, Olimpia, Richard and me. The teammates do great work in answering the daily mails, but I wish there were some people to develop new software, or just make changes in the service, besides keeping the current service level. To join the mail team, experience is not at all necessary, as it can be gained along the way. What is important is the motivation and willingness to do things the right way, polished, with an attention to details. So if someone would like to learn to set up servers and email software, and is ready to ensure that the mail server is going to work non-stop, I would be glad if he or she supported me.”

Christian: “My personal situation has changed recently because I am now working full time which gives me a lot less free time than before, when I was a student. This means I don’t know exactly if it is possible for me to carry on this position for much longer. User support for the Intranet it is a quite easy task to fulfil, and you don’t need much insight into IT, just have to be able to handle an easy web form with drop down menus and check boxes. Furthermore, it is not fully about giving away positions, in fact we’re calling ourselves the myAEGEE Team, but are missing actually some faces beside me, so the first step might be to get some more people involved to share the workload, especially during the Summer University application period.”

Wim: “The next step for me in AEGEE is retirement. Well, I said that some years ago already. My involvement in AEGEE is little right now. I’ve joined Les Anciens already some years ago, that was when I left my position in the board of AEGEE-Academy. That was basically the last involvement from my side in AEGEE, except for the IT work.”

The AEGEEan: In AEGEE you work in the IT field, but what do you do in your everyday life?

Wim: “Over three years ago, I started working in an IT company in Deventer, The Netherlands. I started as Java developer, which is still what I do most of the time. In addition to that, I also take care of maintaining our internal servers, planning new development and second line user support. We develop web applications that are used for primary healthcare in The Netherlands. So, basically I do the same as I’ve done in AEGEE (servers and web development), only now I get paid for it.”

Christian Bussar is currently pursuing a PhD degree at the University of Aachen.

Christian: “You can separate my life into four phases, which are working on my job, doing sports, doing AEGEE related things and sleep. Since I’ve just started my job a few weeks ago, I am still trying to adjust my schedule a bit here and there, but I have regular office hours doing my PhD at the University of Aachen. In my free time I enjoy doing a lot of sports like kung-fu, swimming and fitness gymnastics, which I do usually every second day, if possible.”

Dilyan: “I recently moved to Nürnberg, where I develop software. I like travelling, cycling, walking around, reading books about IT and articles related to emails, or listening to the radio.”

The AEGEEan: Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experiences in AEGEE?

Wim: “I joined AEGEE in 2000. During all those years, I’ve travelled a lot, seen lots of places and made lots of friends all over Europe. I’ve learnt to cooperate with people from different backgrounds. Many people you meet several times, but you always want more. Unfortunately, many friends live too far away to meet often, but whenever there is a possibility, I try to meet people when I travel somewhere. AEGEE has thought me so many lessons. And though it took a lot time away from studying, it also gave me lot of practical experiences next to all the theory from my studies. It definitely helps me now in my daily work. Without AEGEE, my life would be totally different now.”

Dilyan: “When I look back after some years of work, I realize how much the work in AEGEE has developed me both on the social and the technical aspect. It is hard to foresee how a person doing voluntary work will develop him or herself by this work, but being unpaid allows you to determine for yourself what is important and lets you work on making it real, just because of your inspiration and independent of commercial interests.”

Christian: “Even though I only found out about AEGEE late in my studies, it made my whole life somehow connected and looking to shape the future of Europe, and this is quite amazing, I think. Thank you for everything, AEGEE!”

As these stories show, there are a lot of opportunities for AEGEE members to find the field of IT that they would like to get to know better and develop their skills. As Dilyan puts it, “The scope of the work is very broad, and you shouldn’t be afraid to break something in the beginning, as breaking stuff is part of the learning process.” If you would like to find out more about their work, or better yet, get involved in it, do not hesitate to contact Wim (wim@aegee.org), Dilyan (mail@aegee.org) or Christian (myaegee@aegee.org).

Written by Zsófia Komáromi, AEGEE-Budapest

Mirosław Krzanik, former Audit Commissioner, former member of Comité Directeur and former Liaison Officer toward the European Youth Forum, has been elected as board member of the European Youth Forum by its General Assembly in Maribor in December 2012, representing AEGEE in the European Board. The European Youth Forum (YFJ, from Youth Forum Jeunesse) is the biggest representative youth platform in our continent. It strives for youth rights in international institutions. In its daily work the European Youth Forum represents the views and opinions of youth organisations in all relevant policy areas and promotes the cross-sectoral nature of youth policy towards a variety of institutional actors. In this interview, Mirosław talks about the current projects of the European Youth Forum, his main goals for the upcoming term, as well as the role that his involvment in AEGEE played in reaching the goal of becoming a board member.

Please enjoy!

Watch this video interview with Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliamant and Chair of the EU Committee on Culture and Education, made by Luis Alvarado Martínez, Kathrin Renner and Lucille Rieux from the Comité Directeur about the future of the Euroepan Union (EU) education and youth programmes.

Today, because of the global financial crisis, the future of united Europe does not seem so bright like it was some years ago. There are less talks about integration and there are more discussions about independence and rejection of the single European currency – Euro. In these tough times for united Europe, we, representatives from different countries, have to be strong and to support each other. Each of us has a way to be heard by joining a group of people who share your ideas. AEGEE, European Students’ Forum, is one of the most recognized youth communities which bring together young people from all over Europe.

What is the situation are we facing now? Dreams of united Europe are melting in the current problems. Huge debts of some countries are making them vulnerable and dependent on the others that cannot provide equal opportunities for all inhabitants of EU. The current economic system where most of the production factories moved to Asia is creating problems on the regional job markets. High rate of youth unemployment does not allow young people to get a job and to apply their knowledge in practice. Existing vacancies require people with relevant work experience. The unfair cycle of “I cannot get job because I don’t have experience” vs. “I don’t have experience because I don’t have a job” is spreading around Europe.

Europe’s well-known capital is seeking for cheap labor force and other resources. Business does not have a heart; their only love is for profit and effectiveness. Sure, it is important to have an open and highly competitive market but everything should be reasonable. There is a huge social impact behind it. Advantages of cheap goods today will create many problems tomorrow. Low salaries, lack of job opportunities, huge debts and social instability are consequences of wrong political and economic decisions. Today many people do not have the confidence in their future since there are not many stable jobs. They cannot have many children because they do not have enough money to raise them. The present system of granting credits creates much more problems than it helps. Once loan debtors lose their jobs they cannot pay for the credits. And this is only a small part of all existing problems.

Today the importance of international youth organizations as AEGEE increases more than ever. This is a way to support European integration by supporting youth rights and needs, promoting common projects and organising cultural exchanges.  I hope AEGEE will keep its position as one of the most recognized youth organisations in Europe and continue to work on projects that help resolve the critical problems of European Union and neighborhood countries.

Today each of us can support AEGEE by taking an active role in the life of our antennae and working on projects at European level. The more active members we have, the more we can change for the better inspired by our common ideas. Europe is calling us. And today our support is very important. Like never before.

Written by Ekaterina Malysheva, AEGEE-Valencia

As many board members already know, each local has to submit an annual report about the events that they organised, as required in the antenna criteria. But what about the plans for the future? The General Subvention from the European Commission represents around 40% of AEGEE-Europe’s annual budget, and the application for this grant has to include the activity plans of locals as well. This was the issue raised by Pavel Zborník, European Institutions and Communications Director of AEGEE-Europe, who proposed (on behalf of the Comité Directeur) to include the submission of a yearly Activity Plan in the antenna criteria.

The AEGEEan: Could you, please, sum up the main points of the proposal?

Pavel: I think the point of the proposal is quite clear: I would like to make sure that my successor – meaning not just the successor dealing with the operational grant – will have enough information about what members of our Network plan to do during the following year. Such information is also very interesting for the Network Commission, at least from what I’ve seen during my experience in the NetCom.
This proposal has two aims: the first one is to get information from locals about their planned activities, and the second is more or less the introduction of a planning system in AEGEE. Obviously, if you want to achieve something, it is very important to know how, this is why we need plans. I believe that our locals are able to achieve very good results, and this rule would help them in this by incenting them to set a concrete plan for their activities. I’m sure that for most locals, this is already a common practise and it will not create any problems for them. As for the rest, together with the NetCom we will help to start this process by providing all the necessary information and knowledge about the planning process.

Why did you see the need for the proposed changes?

Right now, submitting a report of activities from the previous period is included  in the antenna criteria, but we don’t require locals to also submit a plan for the future, and this is a bit strange for me. As the person responsible for submitting the application for the General Subvention, I can only kindly ask locals for such kind of information – the information that I need to write this application, and therefore secure necessary funding for AEGEE-Europe.

So how will AEGEE and AEGEE members benefit from it?

You might know that the operational grant from the Youth in Action is 50 000 €, which in my eyes is a quite visible result. As I mentioned earlier, by introducing  requirement for planning, locals will have more precise ideas about what they will organise during the upcoming year. And this would also help us in order to manage our big Network.

Writte by Zsófia Komáromi, AEGEE-Budapest

At Agora Budapest, a proposal will be presented about changing the antenna criteria to take into account the recommendation of the Audit Commission about the financial report and the budget of locals. We asked Anna Gots, the Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, about the proposal to find out how the Network would benefit from these changes.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us about the motion about the antenna criteria that took place at Agora Enschede?

Anna: In Enschede, we asked the Agora for an exception concerning the fulfillment of the antenna criteria. One of the antenna criteria mentioned in the CIA is the submission of the yearly financial report and the budget until the 1st February, but it is not stated that these have to be approved. This means that even if an incorrect report is submitted, the local still fulfills the criteria. Before Agora Enschede, the Audit Commission checked all the financial reports, made suggestions to the locals for improvement, and then prepared two lists: one with the accepted reports, and another one with those that did not meet certain criteria. We asked the Agora to take this into account, and give the permission to the Internal Relations Director to use this information to decide whether the antenna criteria have been fulfilled. Now we would like to add the requirement of the approval of the financial report and the budget by the Audit Commission to the CIA.

What are the most important points of the proposal?

We are proposing changes to two sections of the CIA. One is the Antenna Criteria – here we would like to add that the Audit Commission has to check and approve all financial reports, and that the criteria is only fulfilled by locals in case the financial report is approved by the Audit Commission. The other section we would like to modify is about the General Financial Rules, by adding an article about the criteria that shall be used to judge whether the financial report is approved.

Why did you see the need for the proposed changes?

In case this proposal is accepted, locals will have to pay more attention to the preparation of their financial documents, and will hopefully increase their knowledge about financial issues. This would result in an increased quality of the financial documents in the association. Furthermore, we would have a solid base of financial documents, that would accurately reflect the financial situation of the locals in case this information is required, for example, by the Mediation Commission or the Financial Director. Another important point is that this way the recommendation of the Audit Commission would be taken into account when deciding about the fulfillment of the antenna criteria.

Written by Zsófia Komáromi, AEGEE-Budapest

Have you ever dreamed about crossing Europe by train? Are you an AEGEE enthusiast? Are you an idealist, convinced that each of us has something to share, and has the potential to bring a change to improve our future? Are you convinced that video, photography or writing are powerful tools to capture people’s voice?

Then this project might be what you are looking for.

The “Europe on Track” project will make your eyes smile! AEGEE-Europe, in collaboration with its partner, InterRail, is offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity. Along with our wish to build a stronger identity of our association, we are launching this project, which will enable us to capture young people’s vision of the Europe of the future, and provide a snapshot of AEGEE and its members.

In a nutshell, ”Europe on Track”  consists of six people, divided into two groups of three, who will experience Europe, during one month, by travelling and meeting its young people and capturing significant moments of their lives.

Putting Europe ”back on track”?

The aim of the “Europe on Track” project is to capture the opinion of young people about the future of Europe.

In a time when the idea of Europe is being questioned, we think it is important to ask its youth what their position is and what their expectations from the Europe of tomorrow are. As a youth platform, we think it is fundamental to give voice to the young generation in order to take their opinions, their realities and their wishes into account. The main topic will therefore be “The Europe I want for the future”, giving young people the space to share what the Europe they dream of looks like.
We believe that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the six ambassadors, who will be given the chance to explore Europe in a very human way, by inducing intercultural meetings and discussions with local people. Their mission will be to talk, film, shoot, and exchange opinions with the young people and AEGEE members they will meet along their journey, and to gather enough content in order to develop several materials for AEGEE. One will be a very rich and up-to-date promotional video for AEGEE, another one will gather the voice of European youth.

How will it work?

Participants of the project will travel through AEGEE locals

Six people will be travelling across Europe, through cities where AEGEE is present, and capture the expectations of youth for the future of Europe. In order to cover as many countries, regions and cities as possible, they will be divided into two teams of three people. The two teams will cover different geographical areas.

The selected people will be offered one InterRail Pass each, and together with their two other travel mates they will start a journey which will last one month.

AEGEE-Europe will be following the travelers on a daily basis, in order to receive their feedback, as well as to help them with logistic details.

Each team will be, of course, requested to update the Network on a daily basis, through a blog and a Facebook page which will be created for this purpose.

I want to participate!

Of course you want to! To do so, you only need…

– TIME ( one free month, 30 days in a row) before the end of 2012.

– CREATIVE SKILLS (photography, filming, or  writing). AEGEE-Europe is not in measure to provide you with material (camera etc), therefore you will be working with your own technical equipment (camera etc.)

– SOCIAL SKILLS and WILL-POWER: you will meet a lot of people during your journey, and in order to gather quality material, we need you to be an entrepreneur, and have an ability to easily establish contact with people. Likewise, as  every journey, you will go through difficult moments. The team members have to be convinced that this is the project of their life!

Convinced? You just need to send us your application by 20th of October at http://goo.gl/eZMd1.

Written by Lucille Rieux, AEGEE-Toulouse & Comité Directeur