Katharina Jiménez Weese is a very active member, not only on a local level, but also on a European level. You can find her at many Agorae, Network Meetings (NWM) and other AEGEE events. She used to be a board member of AEGEE-Bamberg, and recently she decided to take part in the organising team of Agora Chișinău.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a few things about yourself?

Katharina: I am a twenty-three-year-old Spanish-German European Economics student from Heidelberg living in beautiful Bamberg. I love the sun, travelling, skiing, everything with cheese, Barcelona and, of course, AEGEE.

When did you join AEGEE? Which projects do you work for?

I joined in April 2014, and since then I was active in my local board as Secretary and President. Now I am the moderator of the Language Interest Group on the European level.

What kind of activities do you usually do in the Language Interest Group (LGI)?

In July 2014, I joined the former Language Working Group, and since then I am actively taking part in all our projects and activities. Our current projects are the Travel Dictionaries, Summer University cooperations, workshops at statutory events, online and live meetings, and we have some new ideas like a survey on language learning among AEGEEans, which we are developing at the moment. Our biggest and longest ongoing project is the yearly European Day of Languages, which is taking place on November 17^th this year, and antennae all over Europe will be celebrating language diversity on that day.

Can you explain us the initiative “More than education”? Which is its aim?

The “More than education” initiative is a European Citizens’ Initiative which, by collecting one million signatures within one year, has the aim of putting civic education on the European political agenda. It wants to call on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal to change education in a way that it shapes active, responsible and democratic citizens.

Can you tell us something about your experience at the spring break event in Tenerife?

The spring break event in March 2016, organised by AEGEE-Tenerife, was one of my greatest AEGEE experiences so far. Starting from the beauty of the island itself, to the hospitality of the lovely organisers to the amazing group of participants and the program. Highlights were a hitchhiking challenge across the island and the day trip to the 3700 meters tall volcano Teide, followed by swimming in the sea some hours later. Absolutely recommendable!

Why did you choose to become an organiser for the Autumn Agora Chișinău?

It all started with the Pre-Event of Agora Kyiv 2015, organised by AEGEE-Chișinău. It was also one of the best events I attended and, by then, there was no local that applied for hosting the Autumn Agora 2016 yet. During the event, we somehow came up with the idea that AEGEE-Chișinău should apply as a host but, AEGEE-Chișinău was quite small and inexperienced in organising such big events, all participants promised to come as helpers and voilà, one year later I was sitting at the incoming desk of the Agora! I am really grateful for this experience and I am very proud of AEGEE-Chișinău for having successfully mastered this challenge!

You look like very experienced in AEGEE. Have you ever thought to present your candidature for an European position like the CD?

Right now I am happy with my LIG moderator position, and my active member status in AEGEE-Bamberg. Before I move any step forward, I first have to finish my Bachelor studies. But afterwards… never say never!

Tell me the thing you like the most in AEGEE and why.

AEGEEans. They are just so warm-hearted and inspiring! My studies in Bamberg, my Erasmus in Barcelona, and all the events I attended would not have been the same without my AEGEE friends. And I love reunions!

Which skills did you develop in AEGEE? Do you really speak five languages?

I developed skills like event and project management, leadership, intercultural communication, but I also improved my English and I gained self-confidence.

Yes, I really do speak five languages! Having parents from different countries and growing up in Germany, which has a really good school system, helps a lot. You can talk to me in German, English, Spanish, Catalan and French.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

Just like we did for the past Agorae, for Autumn Agora Chisinau, once again we would like to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this second, and last round, we will be explaining you three proposals: “Remove Chair Team from EPM”, “Proposal to remove nationalities and countries from the CIA”, and “Give the Juridical Commission a more neutral role”. 

Remove Chair Team from EPM

Proposed by Lia Tuska, Human Resource Director and CD appointed member for the Chair Team, this proposal aims to finally regulate the role of the Chair Team at the EPM. Currently, the Chair Person, along with the Chair Team, presides over the EPM, choosing participants, all of this being done in cooperation with the Comité Directeur, ACT, Working Groups, Content Manager(s) and Local Organisers. In recent years, the relevance of the Chair Team has decreased and, according to the proposer, the EPM can be organised without the input of the Chair Team. Instead it will be organised by a team, representing the Comité Directeur, ACT, Working Groups and Content Manager(s).

The proposal, provided it will be accepted, will change some articles of the statutes. In the Working format of the Agora, all the references to EPM in the work of the Chair Team will be removed. In the General Financial Rules, the part that grants reimbursement to the Chair Team will also be removed.

The most substantial changes will be applied to the Working format of the European Planning Meeting. With these changes, the organisation, the selection of participants, the moderation of the sessions, the execution of the Agenda, and the collection of minutes fall to the Comité Directeur, with the help of one or more appointed people. The Comité Directeur is still in charge of appointing the Content Team who will prepare the Agenda and organise the content part in order to develop the EPM topic.

You can read the full proposal here.

Proposal to remove nationalities and countries from the CIA

Evelien Kroon, Steyn Ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek, on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, are presenting the proposal that aims to remove any kind of reference to nationality or country in the CIA, especially in the composition of the elected bodies. In case this proposal will pass, there will be no limitation on the nationality of the elected candidate.

The local has already presented this proposal during Spring Agora 2014, but it was rejected. At this point, the Dutch local’s representatives are proposing it again, with the assumption that, according to our vision, AEGEE strives for a borderless Europe and rules regarding nationalities and countries.

For example, the Comité Directeur should not contain more than three members that share the same nationality, and at least four nationalities must be represented. In case more than three people share the same nationality, only the three that gather more votes will be elected, while the rest of the vacancies shall remain open. If this proposal passes, there will be no limitation on the nationality of the elected candidates. This means that hypothetically the (up to seven) members of the Comité Directeur can be from the same country.

You can read the full proposal here.

Give the Juridical Commission a more neutral role

During Spring Agora Bergamo, a proposal gave the Juridical Commission the power to fix small mistakes and inconsistencies, without submitting proposals in case changes need to be made. Evelien Kroon, Steyn Ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek, on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, are proposing to offer the Juridical Commission a more neutral role by removing them from the legislative process during the Agora. They propose to compare the duties of the JC on an abstract level to those of the Chair Team; helping in its preparation and execution, but in a strictly impartial role.

In case this proposal will be accepted, the status of the JC during the Agora will change in the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, and they will no longer be members of the Agora. In the Working Format of the Agora, the JC will not have the status of Envoy anymore, they will not be in charge of the voting and the procedure of counting the votes cast,  and a new paragraph explaining the role of the JC in the Agora would be added.

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Katarzyna Sokołowska (just Kasia for friends) has been a board member of AEGEE-Krakow, responsible for fundraising. The experience that she gained from her antenna and her internship at the Council of Europe motivated her to dedicate one year to the association in the AEGEE house. Here are the questions The AEGEEan had for the current Interim Secretary General who is running for the same position. 

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to run for Secretary General and why you didn’t do during Agora Bergamo?
Katarzyna: I did not consider to candidate during Agora Bergamo because I was not present there and I also had an internship at the Council of Europe. This experience was very valuable for me and during that time, I found out what I exactly want to do in my life and what I want to focus on. It is not an easy decision to move to the AEGEE house and spend one year of your life there.

What makes you the best candidate for the position you chose?
I think that my experience, which I mainly gained in various organisations, gave me the skills to manage AEGEE with the other CD members. Thanks to that, I also know how the world of NGOs works and what we, as a network of young people, can do to spread our voice throughout Europe.

Can you tell us something more about your previous internship in Council of Europe? Which skills did you earn from that work experience?
My internship was mostly focused on No Hate Speech Movement. I was based in the European Youth Center – the place where young people are most important. I had a chance to experience how the Council of Europe organises seminars, study sessions or preparations meetings before their projects. I also saw how the European Youth Foundation works and supports NGOs.

How could you improve AEGEE with your experience from others NGOs?
Thanks to the experience gained in different NGOs, I can contribute to make our work more smooth and productive. As a professional employee, I also developed knowledge about staff management which is obviously present in the AEGEE office too.

Do you have some plans for the Working Groups, especially Youth Mobility and Youth Employment?
Youth Mobility and Youth Employment are the two Working Groups that are closest to my interests. I would like to support them with their work, share my knowledge with them and also give them a space (opportunities for training or conferences) to develop in their fields. I hope that my cooperation with coordinators and members of those WGs will be very fruitful.

Why would you like to cooperate with Interest Groups about gender equality and LGBTQ+?
I would like to cooperate with these two Interest Groups because I am simply interested in those topics. I had a chance to participate in a few events about it and since then I see the need to focus on these topics more. I think that nowadays, more and more young people want to fight for their rights and want to feel respect. In my opinion it is very important to live in an equal world where everyone feels comfortable.

You entered in office two months ago, what did you achieve in the past months of your term?
The beginning of the term is not easy. Firstly you need to get to know each other, on both fields: not only how we want to work together, but also how we will be living together in one house. After that difficult time, all of us went to León where we drafted the new Strategic Plan. I think that in the beginning, it is hard to achieve your personal goals – it is rather the question what we achieved as the team that we created since then.

What are your plans for fundraising?
I am responsible for institutional fundraising. I would like to support European Bodies as much as I can. Moreover, I would like to make an overview of all locals which applied and received institutional grants. I hope that the cooperation with our motivated network will let us apply for lots of grants this year.

What do your parents and your friends think about your dedication to AEGEE in the famous AEGEE house with the CD for one year?
People who are close to me support my decision. Sometimes they still do not understand what I am doing exactly, but if I am happy, they will see the sense in what I do.

Do you really feel ready to cover the position of Secretary General for the rest of the term?
I think that I am ready. You never can be sure that you know what is coming, so I would say that there will still be a lot of things which will surprise me during the year, but I am aware of it and prepared for it [she smiles, ed].

You can read the full candidature here.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

Even if you are not from AEGEE-Cagliari, you might have already come across the name ‘Claudio Gennaro’; albeit from either policy proposals or one of the handful of Summer Universities that he already organised. With his involvement in a lot of SUs, it comes to no surprise that he is now running for the highest organ coordinating them.

The AEGEEan: Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Claudio: I am Claudio Gennaro, you might remember me from movies like “Three years in the JC” or “Let’s change all the commas in the CIA”. I am 24, a law student for some more months and AEGEEan since 2011. I live in Agrigento, Sicily, and I am member of AEGEE-Cagliari, Sardinia.

Why did you decide to run for member of the SUCT?

Thoreau would say “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life”; this would easily represent my relationship with AEGEE and its educational possibilities. Moreover, it would be an amazing opportunity to repay AEGEE with and for the skills I gained from it.

What is your past experience with organising or coordinating Summer Universities?

I have been main organiser, co-main organiser and member of the core team of five SUs. I have also been (the best) participant in one (wonderful Break Bad in Madrid) in 2014. Since 2012, I cannot imagine calling this season of the year only “summer” without “university”.

What are your plans to improve or maintain the quality of the SUCT and of Summer Universities?

For what it would concern my tasks, I will focus on a clear communication with local organisers. My previous AEGEE experience taught me how to clearly explain a set of rules contained in the CIA to people who approach it for the first time. Constant availability will also be a priority.

Do you already have plans of cooperating with other bodies of AEGEE as the SUCT?

Cooperation with other bodies of AEGEE is surely crucial to improve the content of SUs (such as better PowerPoint presentations or material for trainers), and I will do my best to strengthen the relationship of the SUCT with them, being proactive with new ideas. Anyway, realistically, I would not only rely on that. This will have to be discussed by the entire new team to come up with a common strategy.

What would you encourage locals to incorporate into their Summer University Programme?

Life changing experiences. Undoubtedly SUs represent our main source of new members and must be appealing to catch as many of them as possible, but we also need to differentiate them from “normal” holidays to maintain their special status of “life changing” events. I would encourage local organisers to let their participants meet the diversities of their cities: a day spent listening to the story of a refugee or a young entrepreneur counts more than a day spent at the beach. Make it count!

How would you propose to make the less applied for Summer Universities become more appealing?

I believe it is impossible to determine a common path for ALL the locals. We need to consider their dimension as association, city, budget, HR and many other variables. Our locals are extremely heterogeneous and it would be a terrible mistake to consider them all in the same way. Being a member of two locals of different shape and having organised SUs with both of them, I believe myself to be in a position of understanding better the functioning of different locals. I would focus on knowing better each local organiser who needs particular help for the preparation of their SU and on how to boost the content of their programme according to their strengths and weaknesses. PR will definitely play a key role for them (but I am the wrong candidate to answer that).

You can read his full candidature here.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

He loves PR and Social Media and you can tell by reading his candidature. Lorenzo Ligas is 23 years old and he is from AEGEE-Cagliari, where he covers the role of PR responsible for the Italian local. He has been working on Social Media and Public Relations for three years now and he is a student of Communication Science at the University of Cagliari. After having covered the task of PR responsible of Cagliari Summer University, he aims to take the next step by managing the PR of the Summer University Coordination Team.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to run for a position in the Summer University Coordination Team?

Lorenzo: I want to challenge myself in a great project such as Summer University.

The current team started a sort of Interest Group about Summer University (Supporters)б in which people helped the SUCT. Would you like to keep it alive?

Yes, having supporters for the SUCT can help the team as well as let more AEGEEans be active at the European Level.

You do not have much experience in European bodies, but your working experience outside of AEGEE is impressive. What are the best assets you can bring to the SUCT, provided you are going to be elected?

Thank you! Yes it is true, I do not have so much experience in European bodies, but I could use my years of experience developed outside of AEGEE for the project. I am a Social Media enthusiast and I love creating PR strategies. This year AEGEE-Cagliari socials had an impressive growth: plus 850 on Facebook and plus 300 on Instagram since I started. I’m confident that the experience I gained as PR Responsible, as well as my non-AEGEE experience into festivals, clubs, cultural events and writing, could be helpful for SUCT.

How would you help locals respect Visual Identity?

Giving them the Visual Identity booklet, as well as to provide instructions on how to add the SU watermark to their pictures. Of course I will also respect the Visual Identity for both local and SUCT materials myself.

You were PR responsible for the last Summer University of AEGEE-Cagliari. What was your strategy? Do you think it was successful? Do you think that it can be applied (with the due changes) to all Summer Universities?

I created infographics for the promotion. Sharing them both on Facebook and Instagram with a weekly schedule, using trend hashtags for AEGEE, Summer University and AEGEE-Cagliari. During the event, I used Instagram and Facebook for images. I used Facebook streams for most of the activities. After the event I edited the photos our photographer made, using Lightroom.

I think it was definitely successful, but of course there’s always something to improve. Since I started promoting the Summer University, our social media had a big increase, and we were pretty satisfied about the number of applications. This PR strategy could definitely be applied to the SUCT.

This is a recurring question when it comes to Summer Universities: the decreasing number of applications and local organisers. What do you think about this issues? 

Cheap travelling has become a trend in the last years since the introduction of tools as Hostelworld and Airbnb in Europe. Therefore offering “low cost travelling” is no longer a selling point for a Summer University. I think that personal development has to be an area to focus on, with the same importance of the social programme and entertainment. And we have to spread the AEGEE-spirit more. We should share the idea that being part of a Summer University is a mind-blowing experience, and being an AEGEEan is a lifestyle.

I think that the reason behind the decrease of local organisers could be found behind many aspects: less active members, weak HR and PR strategies, difficulty to contact local istitutions, lack of funds. These aspects scare locals to challenge themselves into organising a Summer University. A possible solution could be creating Facebook working groups in order to share best practices and webseminars to locals. Creating guidelines on how to organise a Summer University, how to fundraise, promote etc. I think SUCT has to become a strong presence in locals’ lives.

In the application process we often see that certain locals are very popular, while others even struggle to find participants and (in extreme cases) are forced to cancel the Summer University. What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any idea to try to level this phenomenon?

Yes, promotion is a problem for some antennae. Some Summer Universities look more interesting than others, maybe because they build a good promotion or because they are settled in more famous locations. It would be useful to work side by side with the PR Responsibles of the SUs in order to give them advice and look at how to promote the Summer University. As SUCT, you can prepare general guidelines for all the locals and then customise them in case of special needs. Every Summer University has strong points and something interesting to offer, you just have to find the best way to show them.

You can read his full candidature here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Lucia Gavulová is a candidate for one of the positions of Member of the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT), the preferred tasks being Project Manager and Treasurer. She is 26 years old and has joined the organisation little over four years ago. She has been the President of AEGEE-Bratislava for two years, but nowadays she is Project Manager in the SUCT and is willing to stay in office for a second term, but with much more experience. Check out her interview!

The AEGEEan: Do you think becoming a member of the SUCT again can get you more experience in AEGEE?

Lucia: Every single day as a person and as an AEGEE member gives me the experiences and skills I need to develop myself. I try not to go to sleep before I learn something small which will enrich my life. Being a SUCT member gave me a lot. I am sure that extending this term for one more year will not only be beneficial for me, but mainly for the team and the project, since we can skip the learning period and just continue working.

Can you tell us something more about your SUCT trip?
In July, I visited six SUs in total and I co-organised the one in Berlin, since I unexpectedly moved there. I had an amazing time with organisers and participants in Warszawa, Magusa, Beograd, Novi Sad, Ljubljana and Udine, and I have to say that I felt really welcomed and involved everywhere. I helped them with the integration of participants, provided a few tips and suggestions, participated in workshops and asked different questions to improve the project and to understand which challenges each organising team faces. Thanks to all the involved people who made this happen!

What are the tasks of the SUCT Project Manager?
The main one is obvious: coordinate the project and other three members to ensure the smooth development of the project. Furthermore, the Project Manager has to create and fulfil all deadlines, lead meetings, communicate with the Comité Directeur and all European bodies, represent the project and solve all problems. The Project Manager should be informed about everything that is happening (but ideally, all members are) and be able to help all members if they cannot fulfil their tasks.

How are you going to work on improving content of SUs? How will you select the trainers for SUs?
It is very important here to involve WGs, ACT and other European Bodies so we can all work on this together. We already started promoting contentful SUs this year, gave several workshops and hangouts on this topic, focused SUPS on this and reimbursed all trainers who asked us for support. For next year, since there is no aim in Action Agenda involving SUs, my plan would be to create special bonus points for really contentful SUs that prove us their high quality content. Therefore, I would also like to organise a number of supporting activities to show how content can be fun and enjoyable. Trainers are selected based on their experiences and our budget. This year we reimbursed everyone who sent us a reimbursement form.

Can you tell us something about the 30th anniversary of the SU Project in advance? How will you celebrate it?
The SU project will celebrate its 30th birthday in 2018 and therefore, we have already started to think about organising something epic. Since it will be in 2018, we will not be able to have much influence since a different SUCT will be in charge in that year, but at least we started to put some money from the budget apart. I cannot say anything particular yet as nothing has been set yet, and we are just collecting ideas. But it will definitely include sun, summer, positive energy and it will be the #YearOfMyLife!

How do you want to increase visibility of the project?
We all observed how influencial social media are and therefore I wouldn’t mind investing some finances into campaigns. It is also important to involve universities and their Erasmus offices as this is usually the group that attracts most of our potential members. I also believe that with our new official SU video – wait to see it during the Agora – this will be easier [she smiles, ed.].

In your application you mentioned Charlemagne Youth Prize. What is it and what are your plans regarding this Prize?

The European Charlemagne Youth Prize aims to encourage the development of European consciousness among young people, as well as their participation in European integration projects. The Prize is awarded to projects undertaken by young people which foster understanding, promote the development of a shared sense of European identity, and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community.

The European Charlemagne Youth Prize is awarded jointly and annually by the European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen. Last year we applied with SUs as we believe it majorly fulfilled all criteria, and this year I want to do it again. Once, we will have to win!

Does the SU Project enjoy help of partnerships at the moment?
This year, we enjoyed three Interrail passes which we used for SUCT trips and we are working on more!

How can SUs contribute to AEGEE’s Impact Measurement?
Every year, the SU Project involves about 4000 members and they all get special questionnaire to fill in, which contributes to the overall impact measurement of AEGEE on its members.

Do you think AEGEE became famous for the Summer Universities?
For sure it contributed, but I don’t think it is the only reason for the success of an organisation as big as AEGEE.

According to you, why were there less applications for the SUs this year, than last year?
This year, we had only about 100 applications less, so it is not so tragic. We still have way more applicants than available places and that is important. As I already mentioned several times, this trend can be caused by availability of cheap travelling and services like Skyscanner, Couchsurfing, free city tours and such, which lower the need for travellers to include third parties in their summer travel plans.
Therefore, we have to raise the content again so we distinguish ourselves from travel agencies and offer some added value to travels.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

You might have seen him on stage during the Agora in Bergamo, or most probably if you organised or attended a Summer University. Philipp Blum, 25 years old and living in Aachen, is doing it again. After a term in the Summer University Coordination Team as Publication and IT responsible, he is running for a second one aiming to cover the tasks of Information Technology and Materials. “Sometimes serious, but mostly a child” as he described himself, he is in love with with coffee, travelling, photography, design, coffee, music and much more.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to run again for a position in the Summer University Coordination Team?

Philipp: Because the work was more fun than I thought, and it’s a really good feeling to help people to have the Summer of Their Lives. Also, due to the knowledge I gained this year, I could start to actually improve the functioning of the website right away instead of figuring out where the files are.

You said that there is always room for improvements. What would you change (or improve) for next term, provided you will be elected?

• Simplified (digital) guidelines to make it easier for organisers to see what should be done when.
• Easier overview pages that show if you forgot to fill something instead of yet another reminder email.
• A streamlined/shorter application process for participants.

Your team put a lot of effort in giving content to SUs. Do you think you managed to change the direction? Would you consider it fulfilled?

I wouldn’t consider it as fulfilled at all. Many people I spoke to still consider two (!) hours of content a day as too much. But if you want travelling completely without content, I wonder why you would need AEGEE for this. With simplifying the booklets and website for organisers, as well as providing more help, I hope we can show that two hours of content a day is not much at all and that it actually improves the experience of the participants.

I think that organisers felt that we made some “unfunny” changes, but I also believe they recognise our good intentions behind it.

You said that you “use the impact of the project to get more information about our members (impact measurement)”. Do you think it is SUCT’s responsibility to work on the general IM or should this be done in cooperation with/by other bodies?

I don’t think it’s SUCT’s responsibility to work on Impact Measurement per se, but the possibility to ask 3.000 people about their opinions shouldn’t be wasted. So if the CD, ACT, the Working Groups or someone else can actually use this data for improving AEGEE and/or Europe, I’d love to help with gathering the data. The answers might be more representative than our 2013 Impact Study [he winks, ed.].

Last year you and your team improved the website, making it mobile friendly. Have you already thought about how to upgrade it more?

Yes, there are things we definitely want to improve. This year most work lay in the re-design, which didn’t allow for much time to actually change the logic in the system. I would like to have visual landing pages for organisers, participants as well as the admins. That means that you have exactly one page you can always go to, and it will show you the status of your SU / application, and what is expected until when. So, for example, for organisers it would show until when it’s expected to submit the program, with a direct link to do so. No more combining mails with ten different links.

Another, more unclear aspect is the development of the OMS. If it’s actually coming, it requires a redesign of a huge part of the SU System – including all applications. It’s something that shouldn’t be done in the middle of the process, and will require quite some preparation. On the other hand, it will allow for new possibilities, such as developing native apps for the project.

We are witnessing a constant drop of applications and organising locals. Do you think it is something related with the Summer Universities’ appeal? If yes, do you have concrete actions in mind to reverse this trend?

I think it’s related to the fact that cheap travelling becomes more and more normal. People buy a 10€ flight with Ryanair, sleep at couchsurfers.. Travelling with AEGEE becomes less distinctive to normal travelling. But maybe that is just my imagination? Here lies another connection with the Impact Measurement we could do.

My ideas include a better, consistent level of content on all SUs, as well as a better fostering of expectations by Outgoing Responsibles. If SUs are advertised with “Cheap, drinking and girls on a beach”, of course participants don’t want to see the city and learn the local language. If SUs are only advertised with “All day classes”, you might want a bit more relaxing in your summer vacation. Of course, a big part of SUs is about young people relaxing and partying, but there’s way more to the AEGEE spirit than just this.

Besides, since I joined AEGEE all I heard was “shrinking” of the network and how to avoid it. First of all, those numbers are not the only thing that measures the success of our organisation, and secondly, the numbers aren’t shrinking that much (source). We still have 50% more applications than spaces for Summer University, and I would rather concentrate on strengthening the weaker SUs (which don’t have enough applications) than on the overall numbers.

How would you improve the cooperation with Working Groups and Projects?

Well, for some Working Groups there’s the need to start a cooperation before we can improve it. Seriously, it’s a shame if a WG can’t even provide a compulsory session. Luckily, not all is bad. For example, I am really impressed by the cooperation of the Civic Education WG in Warszawa, which provided the entire content of the SU, and I think it could be a great example for other cooperations. I am sad that the ES SU didn’t work out this year due to lack of applicants, but I believe there’s lots of potential here.

To improve, I would start even earlier with sending emails to Projects (etc.) and Locals with suggestions of cooperation, directly showing benefits of cooperation, so the local doesn’t decide to do it on their own before a request for cooperation arrives.

How would you reduce the waiting time during the online processes?

We could implement some kind of games on the website to speed up the waiting time. Tetris, anyone? No, to be honest, there’s not so much that can be sped up by the SUCT. All in all, I could imagine to shorten the application period a bit, but I think the overall process is already pretty quick.

A real speed-up would be if tasks by organisers would be done in a day, which is highly unrealistic. Because there are so many organisers from so many countries, and the fact that we’re all volunteers, we can’t just give one day to approve participants. Some locals meet during the week, others on weekends, some might have exam periods…

Another way to speed up the process would be to remove the role of the Outgoing Responsible, which would speed up the process by around a week. It’s an idea we talked about already, but we still believe in the important role of the Outgoing Responsible. As I said, I think a right expectation of SUs is important, so I would rather work on improving the work of the ORs than to remove it yet.

In the application process we often see that certain locals are very popular, while others struggle even to find participants and (in extreme cases) are forced to delete the Summer University. What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any idea to try to level this phenomenon?

It’s certainly true that the location is a major factor for a Summer University to be more popular. Not only because a well-known location attracts more people, also because of the costs of travelling there. Opposite examples are “extreme” destinations, like Transiberian Railway, or something new, like Ireland this year.

I think there are three aspect to easily distinguish yourself from the other SUs: 

• Do your SU in a time where there are not many other SUs. I heard enough people that wanted to attend a SU in September (because of their possible vacation), but there simply was no offer.
• Offer unique content. A city tour, beach party and small language course is nothing differentiating. Offer extreme sports, offer long travels, offer specific topics like photography or a larger language course – anything to separate yourself from the rest!
• Do something new, something more extreme. Why not have a SU solely on a boat? Why not go hiking for two weeks? What about including a flight in your Summer University or make Hitchhiking not a part, but the topic of your SU? (PS: If this has been here before, I’m sorry. I’m not as wise as Gunnar yet [he winks, ed.] )

You can read Philipp’s full application here. 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

“If my house was on fire and I could only save one thing, it would be my fridge”. How to disagree with Ralitsa “Rali” Mihaylova from AEGEE-Berlin, one of the six candidates for a position in the Summer University Coordination Team. Bulgarian by birth, the 21 years-old Ralitsa joined AEGEE-Berlin in February 2015 and now she is the treasurer (and unofficial mascot – the Bulgarian Bear) of the German local. She is studies Comuputer Science and she works as a motion designer. Within the SUCT, she aims to cover the task of Publications Responsible.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to run for a position in the Summer University Coordination team?

Ralitsa: I have the skills, the motivation and the spirit for the job and since my term in the board is coming to an end and I’m definitely not about to stop being active in AEGEE in the near future, I didn’t think twice about candidating again.

You already run in Autumn Agora Kyïv with great competition. What has changed in the past year?

I got to experience the SU project from a lot of new perspectives – I was participant, main organiser and I helped the SUCT with PR materials. I got a better understanding of the current issues and a clearer vision of what Summer Universities are about and how they can reach more of their potential. The only thing that hasn’t changed in the last year is my motivation!

The current team started a sort of Interest Group about Summer University (Supporters) where people helped SUCT. Would you like to keep it alive?

Definitely! I think the workload is overwhelming for four people, even if they are insanely productive. It’s also a great way to get more AEGEEans interested in the development of the project.

In your candidature you said you developed a clear idea of how you want to contribute to raising the event quality and getting more new members and non-members interested in participating. What is your idea?

The thing is that today cheap travel with awesome people is something you can find in a lot of places, some even easier and cheaper than Summer Universities, so promoting them in this way is equivalent to saying ”nothing special”. Everyone who has participated in a SU knows that it’s about way more than just travelling, and so should the people who haven’t done it yet. That’s why it all starts by clarifying the meaning of Summer Universities and the participants we want to target. I want to ”cut out” the cliches from the PR materials and social media and concentrate on the self-development, thematic content and of course on AEGEE. To expand the reach of promotion and information, I want to create more interactive content (videos, animations, infographics) and partner with other student organisations with similar member groups and activities. Other improvements I would make are expanding our pool of trainers beyond AEGEE bodies (mainly by cooperating with other students’ organisations), providing help with materials and activities for compulsory sessions and establishing stronger link between organising locals and our WGs and Projects.

How would you foster good communication between locals and Working Group and Projects?

By increasing the visibility of WGs and Projects on the SU communication channels and working on clear guidelines for what the cooperation should consist of, for example setting a minimum for thematic content and activities, and requiring a tangible end result – it could be a common project, publication, etc. That way it’s mutually beneficial and it can be a very effective promotion for future events or initiatives.

How do you envision the cooperation with other students organisations?

AEGEE has great partner organisations like ESN and BEST and I don’t see a reason why we can’t make our SUs more visible to their members and offer their trainers to cooperate with our organising locals. We have a lot in common with other student organisations, but in some areas our vision and approach is completey different, which is why I think a cooperation like this would be an amazing learning experience and should be encouraged more.

This is a recurring question when it comes to Summer Universities: the decreasing number of applications and local organisers. What do you think about these issues?
About the number of applications, I think it’s a natural result of the existence of Ryanair, Tinder and all the student projects you can participate in literally for free. We can’t and we really shouldn’t compete with them based on ”cheap and fun travel” anymore. If we put more effort into reaching people outside the network and do it with the right message and the numbers keep going down, I will personally go count the applications, because that’s impossible! As for the number of organising locals, I don’t think we have a deficiency of SUs. What we should work on is filling the event quality gap, mainly by paying extra attention to smaller and inexperienced organising teams.

In the application process we often see that certain locals are very popular, while others struggle even to find participants and (in extreme cases) are forced to cancel their Summer University. What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any idea how you can level this phenomenon?

As for the locals that struggled because of other factors, I think that before organising their next SU, they should think about their weaknesses and work out solutions first. If it is a lack of HR they could ask friends from nearby antennae to join as helpers, or organise a TSU. If their SU didn’t get enough exposure on social media, they can think of more creative ways to promote it than the usual facebook event. If they don’t have anyone who can deliver workshops, they can cooperate with a WG or project and ask for trainer reimbursement. Overall if the team is motivated, a big part of the issues are solvable, and turning to SUCT for help is always a good decision. Quality events are the best PR!

Does this ring a bell? One of the Summer University videos of this year was edited by Ralitsa Mihaylova. Check it out:

You can read her full application here. 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona