AEGEE Kiev and AEGEE Heidelberg are cooperating to organise a German-Ukrainian Youth exchange on European awareness, participation, identity and vision for the future this autumn. They also presented it on stage during Autumn Agora Catania. 

What does the European Union mean to you?  Asking this question, one will be given fundamentally different answers, depending on age, nationality, profession and mindset of the interviewed person.

Citizens of the EU tend to stress more practical, administrative aspects of the EU, its common currency, freedom of travel or the new Europe-wide abolishment of roaming charges for mobile phones.

But how do people from non-member countries view the EU, this unique and tremendous project of unifying a bunch of diverse countries into one political and economic union?

Particularly interesting is the Ukrainian perspective, for various reasons:

People in the Ukraine started a huge pro-European revolution in 2013, when their former president Janukowytsch refused to sign an association agreement with the EU, facing huge pressure from Russia. This protest resulted in an overthrow of the existing political elite and in intensifying the ties to the EU – at least for one half of the country. The Eastern part of Ukraine has been sinking deeper into a more or less camouflaged civil war ever since, with the Krim-peninsula being occupied by Russian troops, de facto turning it into Russian territory.

Is there something left of the pro-European spirit that emerged in the course of the Euromaidan 2013/14, how do people perceive the EU, its opportunities and challenges nowadays, to what extent do people in the Ukraine seek an association or even membership with the EU?

AEGEE Kiev, together with AEGEE Heidelberg, is organising an international youth exchange on exactly those topics this autumn. It aims at creating a platform for a frank and open-minded exchange of opinions between young students of both countries, continuing well beyond the few days of the actual encounter. What is the vision of young people in Germany and in Ukraine regarding the future path of the EU and its associated countries? What are the values of the EU worth promoting and fighting for? How do the impressions of young people in both Ukraine and Germany compare and maybe contrast to each other? How can young people participate in political decision-making, how can they shape the EU according to their vision of the future?

Ideally, this exchange will create lasting bonds and friendships between its participants and encourage young, motivated people to campaign for the European Union and its values. By exchanging their experience and different background stories, this congress will broaden their minds and also contribute to showing them new ways to get politically involved. Ultimately, the participants will be encouraged to switch perspectives.

Speakers from universities, institutions and governments of both Germany and Ukraine will be invited to talk about their specific involvement in the EU or in its relations with its neighbours in Eastern Europe. As physical outcome, a short movie will be created, documenting the most important issues of discussions that took place, but also highlighting the participants’ enthusiasm for the EU – this way it will be a means to multiply the message of the YOUrope exchange and to motivate more people all over Europe.

The EVZ – Foundation* (Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung, Zukunft), supports the project financially. This is why nobody is hindered to participate due to financial reasons: The costs of the exchange will be fully covered by EVZ.

Written by Theresa Schäfer, AEGEE Heidelberg

* This project was implemented within the “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” programme with support from the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ). The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Foundation EVZ. The author is solely responsible for the content.

A research team from the German Graduate School of Management and Law in Heilbronn, Germany, has developed a system to measure the intercultural openess of German companies, which should orientate immigrants seeking a job in the country. Rafael González García de Cosío, a former member of AEGEE-Sevilla, has been involved in the research and writes about the results.

There’s always a time when the student life comes to an end. When long holidays, summer universities and autonomy are suddenly over. A new chapter starts in everyone’s life when time arrives to look for a job. However, because of the economic crisis in many European countries, thousands of young people are deciding to pack and look for a better future abroad, even fearing a lack of integration in their planned destinations. The favourite for many is Germany, which unlike other nations in the continent has a strong economy and is calling for foreign workers. Thanks to AEGEE, many candidates already have an open mind and the cultural baggage needed for integration. But are companies also open to foreigners?

A research team called AIKO -Auditierung Interkultureller Offenheit (Audit on Intercultural Openess)- from the German Graduate School of Management and Law in Heilbronn has found a way to measure how interculturally open German companies are when facing foreign applicants.

The objective of the research, according to one of its members, Frederike Hoffmann, is to ‘‘analyse the intercultural skills of institutions and enterprises‘‘, through categories and indicators of intercultural openess. In addition, the idea is to promote the welcoming culture of companies towards new incomers and to foster work structures withouth discrimination in Germany. As a result, the goal of the whole process is to struggle against the skills shortage in certain regions.

The research is based on surveys within German companies and institutions. The AIKO team has already gone through several organisations, from kindergardens to explosion-proof companies. There, the team interviews workers and managers in order to analyse the application of their scientific indicators in the organisation. As the researcher Klára Denzin puts it: ‘‘thanks to guided interviews and expert workshops it was possible to determine categories and indicators that helped to measure the rate of the intercultural openess‘‘.

But what are the results so far? What are the strenghts and the weaknesses of these companies? ‘‘Essentially, companies don’t fail in terms of intercultural openess. In the companies, the first strenght was that they agreed to express themselves. That already shows a certain openess‘‘, says Raimund Rück, a member of the team. The director of the study, Prof. Dr. Christopher Stehr, goes further and summarizes the success of German institutions in four points: the phenomenon of the tandem partner who introduces the new incomer into the organisation, the presence of people in the company who already speak the language of the new worker and help them with the integration, the adaptation of both employees and companies to the new situation and the induction time that enterprises give their employees to learn all processes. But Prof. Stehr also reminds the weak points of German companies: ‘‘they underestimate workers with different cultures. But they should adapt to the change. Companies think about workers joining them, not about people. They should be integrated in the network, and in some of the companies we visited, that is hard to fulfill‘‘.

The next step in the research is to establish a certification process. The AIKO team wants to provide the organisations with a gold, silver or bronze qualification certificate, which will encourage foreign applicants to apply for a job, as well as stimulate their integration once hired by the company. According to Mr. Rück, that would ‘‘contribute to the economic promotion […] and create added value to the companies in the region‘‘. And the aim of the team is that the system expands to other areas of Europe. This way, not only the organisations will benefit, but students and other immigrants will also be able to carry out their adventures without the fear of feeling excluded. As a result, both AEGEE members and businesses will contribute to a more open and multicultural Euorope.

Written by Rafael González García de Cosío, AEGEE-Sevilla

Eight participants and many guests – in total, more than 20 people from Austria, Romania, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Iran, the Ukraine etc. Why did they all come to Frankfurt? They all followed our invitation to the Frankfurt Spectacular Art and Culture Festival, taking place every summer in late August, to celebrate diversity, culture, art and party.

Our guests arrived on Thursday or Friday, 23/24 August, and stayed for the weekend. We had an intensive programme with a lot of activities and fun in Frankfurt. Frankfurt is known as the airport hub, but we were able to also explore the city beyond the airport – besides the Roman ruins, the cathedral and the romantic Main river, we also saw the huge Skyline with the skyscrapers of the innumerable banks, reason why Frankfurt am Main is also called “Mainhattan”.

Besides a city tour, we also visited quite a few museums, as Frankfurt is famous for its museums along the shore – “Museumsufer” – and has one of the highest densities of museums in Europe: Modern Art, Communication, Sculptures, Architecture, World Cultures and many more. The museums are very interactive and open until late, so this is not boring as you may think. And if you need a break, you can just walk along the stands on the riverside, enjoy the music, the art exhibitions, the food stands and the party areas – until very late at night.

On Saturday night, we of course had our European cooking night at the river where everybody brought not only some drinks but also some food – we enjoyed many diverse specialties, topped by the Austrian Sacher Torte!

After a short Vodka Ahoi interim party at the place of one of the organisers, we went to famous Alt-Sachsenhausen – a romantic part of the city full of restaurants, bars and clubs. We went to some bars and after that none of the reporters can tell you exactly what happened… It is still unknown why some organisers/participants were running late for the planned brunch the next morning… The afternoon was a bit more relaxed, before most of the participants left; for those staying until the very end, a nice firework completed the Frankfurt experience.

And for everybody who did not attend out event: How about joining us next year?

 Written by Oliver Genkin, AEGEE-Frankfurt