Although AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a really small antenna with around five or seven active members, they succeeded to represent the essence and spirit of AEGEE. In February, AEGEE-Düsseldorf organised their first RTC, in cooperation with Diede Oudenampsen from the Academy as trainer. They managed to find accommodation and food, to fundraise some tickets and water, to invite ESN-Erasmus Students’ Network and JEF-Young European Federalists for a presentation, and more. AEGEE-Düsseldorf is continuously trying to improve cooperation with other associations (Christian associations, JEF, and ESN in particular), showing that there is no need for competition. The fact that such a small antenna can achieve such an event deserves recognition.

During the RTC, where the Düssi-fever got participants and organisers affected. Düssi is the elephant mascotte of our the local, that’s the reason behind the funny arm movements.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations, you were nominated as Local of the Month of February! Introduce yourselves, please, and tell us your AEGEE-Düsseldorf story. How did it start? Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Düsseldorf: Hello lovely AEGEEans, we are AEGEE-Düsseldorf! Once upon a time, a group of Europe enthusiasts decided to bring AEGEE into Düssseldorf’s student life. That was in 19xx and afterwards there is a big gap in our history. It remains unknown until this day, what or who brought AEGEE-Düsseldorf to life. So we start our story with Benjamin Feyen, the bard. It is him, who, with help of his friends, built a solid foundation, that we are still relying upon. Our local was never really big, but that does not matter to us. What matters is the motivation and initiative of our members. Cultural speed-dates, speed-debates, free walking tours and visits from other locals is what keeps our blood pumping. But with our current board, our blood started to boil! Though few in numbers, we managed to organise the RTC “Get your local movin'” in February, with the support of our friends from AEGEE-Eindhoven. And it was amazing!

How did you come to the idea to cooperate with ESN and managed to succeed in it?

In Düsseldorf, there are many youth organisations that revolve around the European future, with young people taking action in making their ideals come true. The goals are not always 100% the same and the methods differ greatly, but we still have a common ground. That was especially true for ESN and AEGEE-Düsseldorf, since we are both nurturing intercultural understanding, so we wanted to get in contact for a long time already. It is thanks to JEF, who started an event for this sole purpose, that we could establish serious (and fun) cooperations. The first “Zukunftswerkstatt”, roughly translated to future workshop, was held at the end of 2016. JEF, ESN, EYP, YEP and AEGEE attended, all youth organisations with the European future in mind. The main purpose of the event was to get in contact and to learn about each other’s visions and goals, as well as to see where we could cooperate together.
It was a great success! Since then, we have had some debating events with JEF and participated in “March for Europe” with ESN and JEF. Now “Zukunftswerkstatt” Vol.2 will be organised by AEGEE-Düsseldorf. This time, the topic will be cooperation on social media. We really look forward to our guests’ presentations on Social Media and the shaping of concrete plans for helping each other out! We highly recommend it to all locals! Look out for who else is fighting for a bright European future and start working together.

What are you working on at in the moment?

There are a few projects we are working on. Some more history-changing, some others purely for our high spirits. We are currently establishing collaborations with other youth organisations, which will help us benefit from each other and spread Europtimism throughout Düsseldorf. It is something that we consider to be crucial and it is nice to work towards the same goal apart from the AEGEE network. Just what is happening with Pulse of Europe at the moment.
In accordance with our RTC, we decided to use sports as a mean of teambuilding. We are now doing monthly yoga sessions to keep us healthy and ready for new challenges. We look forward to Europe on Track visiting us, helping AEGEE-Köln for their pre-event and welcoming SUs and exchanges with other locals. It may not sound as much for bigger locals, but for an active circle of three to seven it feels like a rollercoaster sometimes.

How did it feel to find out that you were nominated? 

We were super happy! To find out that our efforts were noticed by our friends, it made us realise that we are all in this together. We were probably nominated because you can feel how alive we are at the moment and how indulged we are in our events.

Why do you write everywhere that you are not from Cologne? 

Hahaha that is because the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne are long time rivals (especially when it comes to brewing beer the right way). And because the cities are really close to each other, we emphasise that we are not from Cologne. [they laugh, ed.] You will hear it during the roll call at the Agora as well!

What is your motto? Can you describe your local in one sentence?

Go with the flow and see how far it takes you. Then start paddling.

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and AEGEE are two abbreviations that are usually mentioned together in a rather negative context. The competition between their local branches in countries like Spain, Italy and surely more has been increasing for a while, but in Brussels, both the Comité Directeur of AEGEE and the board of ESN are asking for a change.

The Erasmus Student Network has currently 452 associations all around Europe, and their aim is to improve the experience of international and exchange students during their stay abroad. In the European level, they advocate for improved policies regarding Europe, young people and higher education, in particular in the fields of mobility. Stefan Janke, President of ESN, told The AEGEEan more in detail what they do: “We base ourselves upon the motto: Unity in Diversity, Diversity in Unity. That means that every ESN section is organising a range of very different activities. The majority of our sections organise a buddy or mentor system, support international students during the welcome days and organise a range of social activities. These can be cultural visits, trips and parties to bring the students together. During the last year we put a lot of emphasis on social projects such as SocialErasmus, where we encourage international students to volunteer in the local community e.g. by doing charity events for local children hospitals or teaching lessons in local high schools.”

The AEGEEan interview Stefan Janke and Kathrin Renner of the Comité Directeur on the chances of building a bridge between the two associations.

Part of the two boards together

The AEGEEan: How does both the boards of AEGEE and ESN collaborate in the European level?

Kathrin: We meet regularly in different events related to students, youth and mobility, as we work with similar target groups and are viewed as two of the big three student organisations that can be consulted in questions of mobility etc.  We are also in the same “block” of organsations of the European Youth Forum, the Exchange Group, and advocate together for the needs and requests of our organisations. We are also both members and a bit of the driving force within IFISO, the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations. That is why, in general, we have good personal relations. We usually attend each other’s events and in the past, there were even a lot of social activities between the international boards, but in the last years, this was dropped a bit due to our busy schedules.

Last year, we started to work closer through the EVA project (Erasmus Voting Assessment), a research that we are implementing together to find out if Erasmus students are more likely to participate in European elections than their peers and support the European Union more in general.

In general, both organisations have similar concerns and aims in terms of advocacy, which is why we collaborate quite a lot.

Stefan: The collaboration between AEGEE and ESN in Brussels is manifold. First of all, we are sharing good practices on the Network management with each other. Secondly we are partners in many projects and actively support the promotion of each other’s activities. Thirdly, we are advocating together. As two of the biggest student organisations, we have the duty to work together to improve the situation for students and young people all around Europe. Last but not least, we are trying to attend each other’s social activities here in Brussels. The personal bond between the different boards is as important as the formal collaboration.

The AEGEEan: Why do you think that there is a competition between AEGEE and ESN?

Stefan: I believe that in the local level there is often the perception that AEGEE and ESN have to compete. Surely, a healthy amount of competition can make both organisations stronger. In the end we have a similar mission, vision and values and our aim should be to foster the collaboration between our organisations also in the local level. Together we can be much stronger than alone and the ones we should try to influence is higher education institutions, student councils and student unions.

Kathrin: Both organisations are very similar in many ways: two student organisations with a European scope that attract internationally-minded students and support mobility.

In the local level, we have a similar target group: internationally-minded students that are interested in Europe. That is why we often compete when it comes to recruitment of new members. And, of course, a point of dispute is the Erasmus programme: AEGEE has always been a supporter of the programme, being one of the reasons why it came into being, and organising activities for international students has always been part of our activities and it is a big focus for some of our locals. While this is not the core activity of AEGEE and we have many other things to offer as well, ESN has managed to establish a strong brand as being the organsation for Erasmus students.

Instead of collaborating, we often try to profile ourselves and make ourselves more visible than the other organisation, which is where the conflict comes from.

The AEGEEan: How do you think ESN and AEGEE could collaborate on a local level?

Kathrin: I think that on the local level, the boards of both organisations should sit together and develop a common strategy of how both organisations can benefit from the cooperation. There are a lot of possibilities how, instead of threatening each other, both organisations can coexist perfectly. The key lies in defining the profiles and scopes of activities of each organisation and sticking to it, organising some activities together, while for others its clearly defined who is responsible. Examples are: ESN takes care of the international students at university X, while AEGEE is more responsible at the university Y. Or: ESN organises parties for international students, while AEGEE is more responsible for the integration with local students, language courses etc. Trips could be organised commonly, common offers could be raised with bars and clubs in each of the cities etc.

Stefan: As mentioned before, I am certain that collaboration on the local level is necessary for successfully fulfilling our organisations’ aims. Organising events together, advocating for a better situation for students and learning from each other can help both organisations. We should work on making the students’ voice heard and doing it together can only benefit all of us!

The AEGEEan: Are there already examples of ESN and AEGEE collaborating on the local level?

Kathrin: Yes, I know that in Toulouse, they have been collaborating as they are located in different universities, in Heidelberg the two organisations are working together, and I am sure that there are lots of other examples.

Stefan: I have heard of some examples where ESN and AEGEE are organising parties and trips together. I think there is a lot of room for improvement though, and I hope that more and more organisations will understand the importance of working together on bigger issues than working against each other on small ones.

The AEGEEan: Do you think it is possible to make a change in this topic?

Stefan: I am more than convinced that we can change the situation. It is also up to the European level of our organisations to make AEGEE’s and ESN’s organisations on the local level aware of the great chances that exist when collaborating.

Many International Relation Offices told me that they would be very happy to see ESN and AEGEE work closely together on fulfilling their aims. Let’s make it a reality! Let’s think about a positive future together and foster our collaboration! Our headquarters here in Brussels are always open to hear your concerns and support you in collaborating. Don’t be afraid to contact us.

Kathrin: Yes, if we accept each other not as competitor, but work together to achieve a bigger impact. It’s not worth it to invest a lot of energy into “battling” each other instead of organising great high-level activities. It is definitely possible, it just depends on the willingness of each of the organisations to sit down and compromise. In the end, we want the same things, so let’s work towards them together!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza