Summer Universities… it all began in 1988 when AEGEE had the intention to promote the European integration. The project promotes cultural exchange, exploring the diversity of cultures in Europe, fighting for tolerance and guiding you in order to become an open-minded citizen.

Every year, more than 2000 young Europeans take part in Summer Universities from all over Europe, organised by more than 100 antennas. The project can be different in each antenna: It can be Summer Course, Summer Course Plus or Travelling Summer University. Summer Course is where the youngsters have about 14 hours of courses per week about specific topics like language, environment, politics. Summer Course Plus is pretty much the same as Summer Course, the only thing that changes is the hours of received courses, and for this one is about 20 hours per week. Travelling Summer University is the one that attracts a lot of young Europeans. It is more like a cultural trip to at least four different parts of Europe and it combines different cultures from the places visited with courses.

The project itself is one of the best ways to promote multiculturalism in Europe. Every year, hundreds of young people join AEGEE just because of Summer University. They enjoy the idea of spending two or more weeks somewhere they have never been before, with people they will meet for the first time, coming from different cultures, with different perspectives and new ideas.

This year, in 2017, the Summer University project is celebrating 29 years of thousands and thousands of happy people, great friendships, awesome memories and unforgettable summers. Every year, before all the work begins in organising this amazing project, main coordinators and people who want to get involved in organising this event are taking part in Summer University Projects Schools. This is an event to learn how to be the best SU organiser. This year not one, but five SUPS are being held around the Network. They already took place in Berlin, Las Palmas, Voronezh, Tartu and the last one will take place in Skopje between 23rd and 26th of March.

The people that are working for this project in order to make it great are the members of the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT): Project Manager & Treasurer – Lucia Gavulová (AEGEE-Bratislava), Content Manager – Claudio Gennaro (AEGEE-Agrigento), Public Relations – Ralitsa Mihaylova (AEGEE-Berlin), IT Responsible – Philipp Blum (AEGEE-Aachen) and the appointed CD member – Joanna Pankowska (AEGEE-Warszawa).

This year, 5 smaller SUPS were organised, and the SUCT told us that it was a risk they took “because we saw the decrease in the number of participants, high price, lots of time needed to be taken from daily schedule. Therefore, we made 5 SUPS all over the Network so that people could be flexible with travelling. It is also cheaper and in general more reachable. We have trained 75 future organisers and there is still one more SUPS to go, so we believe the impact is pretty big. With each participant that brings at least a tiny bit of knowledge back to its organisers’ team or decides to become a valuable helper, we have fulfilled our goals.” As for feedback, they said they got a really amazing response and “that is all thanks to amazing teams of trainers and local organisers who made it possible”.

This year you will have 65 chances to discover the AEGEE Spirit, to make new friends, to have an amazing summer and the time of your life! You can choose any of 23 Travelling Summer Universities from Castelló to Moscow, and 29 Summer Courses from Las Palmas to Samara and Tartu to Mağusa, in addition to three Summer Courses+. Check them here and choose your destination!

Even if there is a decrease in the number of SUs, it is not seen as a problem “since the number of organising locals is not significantly decreasing and since we still have more applicants than places available. This should change. Otherwise, the SU Project would face difficult times. The reasons behind this can be compared to almost all activities in AEGEE – less active members willing to organise, missing knowledge transfer and also the unstable political situation in some parts of Europe is not making things easier”.

Next year, the Summer University Project will celebrate its 30th birthday. There is already a team who is working for it and is going to prepare a programme for the next year. Lucia Gavulová told us that “we are starting very slowly, getting to know each other, observing what we want and what our ideas are. The SUCT and the CD had a live meeting to find the balance between our plans and to set up some initial timeline. We have to admit that at the moment this project team is not the most active in AEGEE and we would still welcome some help, so if you are interested, let us know”.

You can read more about the SUPS in the article written by Golden Times here.

You can find the Summer University on Facebook here.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

The month of January brought us a new Local of the Month: AEGEE-Berlin showed a movie about AEGEE members’ life and is organising not only an event for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, but also a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. The board talks about an exchange with AEGEE-Kyiv. Get more information about this active antenna.

The AEGEEan: After being nominated LoM, present us your local.

AEGEE-Berlin board: For thirty years now, AEGEE-Berlin has stood as an example of our values, most visibly in the broad spectrum of nationalities and cultures present within the members and on our board. We have been through difficult times before, when the antenna struggled, but now this is one of the best times! We are not only a group of students, but also a group of friends.

What can you tell us about the Pulse of Europe event? What are you organising for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome?

As you might know, #PulseofEurope is an event organised every Sunday until the 12th of March. It is a gathering of pro-Europeans who want to stand up and be active in the fight for united Europe. As young Europeans, we consider it our responsibility to support this movement. That is why not only we have attended but also have taken to the stage to present our point of view. And not for the last time!

Considering the 60th anniversary, we have come together with five other Berlin-based NGOs (not only youth ones), in order to organise a March for Europe in Berlin for those who are not able to travel to Rome.

Which is the feedback for your SUPS, which took place in your city in January?

The SUPS was a very inspiring event with inspiring people. We were lucky to have high quality trainers and also amazing participants. This combination made it very productive and educational. We can not do differently than just to thank them all again for having been here with us.

Did you get successful in showing the movie “The Art of the Possible”? How can people watch it if they missed it?

We did air it, so I would say yes, we were successful and very pleased to have the creator of the movie, Luca Giazzi, personally there to take part in the discussions. For everyone it was a very cosy evening. The second part of the question is more for Luca than us, as he has a plan of publishing the movie.

Are you satisfied with the exchange “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv? Which was the best moment of the exchange?

More than satisfied. Twenty-six youngsters from Germany and Ukraine got together to discuss the issues that modern Europe has to face and shared their knowledge and experience. The whole event was supported by the EVZ foundation and various other partners. It was a big challenge for us to organise it as it is always risky when you work with grants. Also it was very important for us becasue it showed that we, as antenna, are capable of this kind of performance. We are very grateful to all the organisers and helpers who made it possible and nailed it.

The general topic of our exchange project “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv was to educate and provide experience of participatory democracy and voluntarism. Thus, on the second day in Berlin we decided to try out something new by sending all our participants in small groups to local volunteer initiatives, where they would not only be informed, but also engaged. One group went to a homeless shelter, where they helped cooking the meals, another one- to a refugee dormitory, where they built up beds. Two other groups visited different places as well.

We have been skeptical at first, but our participants were overwhelmingly moved by the experience, which was a novelty for many. They unanimously agreed on this having been the most transformative and intriguing part of the exchange in Berlin and some have voiced their will to continue such volunteering activities in their home cities. We hope the memories of this event will guide them in the future.

Have you elected a new board? Who are the board members? Can you tell us something about them?

The election of the new board took place at the beginning of January. Now we have five board members from which two are from the last year. They are all very motivated, promising and ready to make our antenna shine. And what is a better start than getting elected for the Local of the Month?

Are there any members who are also active besides your internal events?

We are very proud of the fact that there are. We have two SUCT members, one JC subcommisioner, a CD assistant for communication and a member of the Eastern Partnership project. This year we hope to get even more members interested in the work on the European level.

What are the future plans of your Local?

Besides usual exchanges and local activities, we are all already excited about the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of our local, which will be epic! Of course we are organising a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. So save the dates: from the 18th to the 30th of August and just Hakuna Matata. We would also like to repeat the success with the conference and make another one, of course on a different topic. And the most important plan we have is to continue spreading our awesomeness.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

AEGEE is filled with fun activities with loads of, at first, seemingly incomprehensible abbreviations. The one you need to remember to help you set up the best Summer Universities is the Summer University Project School, or SUPS. There are a number of them hosted by various antennae all over Europe. Read all about it in this article, sponsored by our friends at SUCT.

Preparations for Summer Universities 2017 are already starting and many organisers all over Europe are about to be part of creating a memorable summer for thousands of students. For some it is the first time organising it, others have experience but did not manage to reach their full potential in previous years.

The SU Project that we all know and love is made by you – the people who give their time and effort to make it happen and to make it better. So, in order for everyone to experience AEGEE’s oldest project in its best light, we believe we have to give you the opportunity to get prepared for everything that comes with the role of SU organiser.

This is why this year you will be able to choose from five different Summer University Project Schools -five four-day training events that will give you the foundations for a successful organisation and train you for tackling any obstacle on the way. They will take place from the end of January until the end of March, so you will be able to find at least one that fits your schedule. If you have the motivation but lack the experience, spending a long weekend in Berlin, Voronezh, Tartu, Las Palmas or Skopje could be just what you need.

Our local organisers are working hard to provide the best conditions for your intense, but rewarding stay. Trainers with extensive experience in event coordination will teach you everything you need to know before, during and after your event. Are you new to visa invitations? Never made a budget before? Have no idea what to do in conflict situations? Let’s learn it together!

You can apply until Sunday the fourth of December and, meanwhile, do not hesitate to spread the word: tiny.cc/sups17

And remember, life is like a Summer University – it’s a lot more fun if you go to SUPS!

Written by Claudio, Lucia, Philipp and Rali, SUCT

The Summer University Project School is going to take place this year in Catania from the 7th until the13th of March. The participants will learn all they need to know in order to organize the perfect Summer University. We asked Ioana Duca, Main Organizer of SUPS 2016 and Roberto Patanè, president of AEGEE-Catania and SUPS Responsible, about the event, so now you have no excuse not to apply for it.

The AEGEEan: Ioana, you have a rich history in AEGEE. Why Main Organizer for Summer University Project School?

Ioana Duca: It is true, but in AEGEE is never too late to do something. Unfortunately, during my term in the Comité Directeur I didn’t have the opportunity to do as much as I wanted, as there is too much bureaucracy and too many other things to do, but now I’m still trying to do some things. Plus it is my favorite topic in AEGEE: Summer University and how to organize an SU.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Catania, winner of the best Summer University in the past years, are the local organizers. How do you think that this will influence the participants of SUPS?

Ioana: I’m happy that AEGEE-Catania will organize SUPS this year. I think we will all have the chance to see the secret behind winning best SU several times in a row. And more important for the participants, they will be able to see, observe and learn from AEGEE-Catania, a very experienced and highly prepared local. And what way is the best in order to learn? To see them in action!

The AEGEEan: Your local has been organizing great Summer Universities for the past years. Why did you choose to organize a Summer University Project School only now?

Roberto: I was the main coordinator of the best SU 2015 and an organizer in 2013 and 2014. So I just took part in the latest best three SUs out of four and as everyone knows, three is the perfect number [he smiles, ed.]. Jokes apart, this year as president I decided, together with some board members, that it is time to organize a memorable SUPS.

The AEGEEan: What is the theme for this year SUPS and why did you choose it?

Ioana: The inspirational theme of this SUPS is South Park. Personally, I’m not very familiar with this TV show. It was a proposal from SUCT (Philipp) and we all agreed that it is a nice idea that can fit with the place and the event; we have students, buses, a school and I think it is a nice and attractive idea.

The AEGEEan: How many participants will there be? Are you looking for someone special, some kind of skills and knowledge from a participant?

Ioana: We will have 25 participants. We are looking for motivated people that really want to learn how to organize the best Summer University, to learn and discover new things and to make some new friends. Skills and knowledge will be gained during this event, they just need to be open and ready to learn and experience.

The AEGEEan: Why do you think that AEGEE members should apply for your event?

Roberto: AEGEEans should apply because everyone can improve their skill such as: Event management, Fund Raising, Team building, Creativity, and so on. Also, they can discover all these along with some experienced trainers and surrounded by the wonderful Sicilian landscapes, in the most awarded as best SU city.

The AEGEEan: Did you already choose the trainers? Who are they?

Ioana: Yes, and it was one of the most difficult decisions ever. We had a lot of applications, around 20, and almost all applications were really good, motivated and experienced members and for this reason, it was very difficult to decide. Unfortunately, we couldn’t select all applicants.

The trainers team of SUPS 2016 is composed by: Lucia Gavulova –  SUCT, Paolo Furia – AEGEE Catania, Ander Guerrero – CD, Carolina Alfano – SUCT and Mateusz Muszalski – AEGEE-Kraków/Audit Commission; best team of trainers!

The AEGEEan: How are the preparations going so far for this event?

Roberto: We are still working in order to organize the accommodations, meals, social program for the participants, and make everything prepared to host the trainers for some high level sessions.

The AEGEEan: What are your expectations for this event?

Ioana: I expect to have the best organized SUPS ever, as we are in Catania! Trainers to be not only amazing (as they already are), but to share their amazingness! Last but not least, participants to be active, motivated and by the end of SUPS, to go home with a bigger luggage, full of knowledge, experience, motivation and friendship (they should pay more for their return luggage). And to show once again that the cooperation between the Academy, SUCT and AEGEE-Catania is perfect.

Here you can find the Facebook event for SUPS and you can apply here.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

During Autumn Agora Kyïv a new Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) was elected. Four people, coming from four corners of Europe, started working with a team meeting in Bruxelles. We asked our fab four some questions to understand how the longest running project of AEGEE will change (and improve) this year.

The AEGEEan: Please present your team.

Yevgeniya: We are a team of four enthusiasts excited about the Summer University project, ready to implement great ideas and enjoy the work. Briefly, these are our tasks and where we come from:

Project Manager (PM) & FR: Lucia Gavulová, AEGEE-Bratislava, AEGEE-Aachen

Content Manager & Treasurer: Carolina Alfano, AEGEE-Salerno

IT & Publications: Philipp Blum, AEGEE-Aachen

PR: Yevgeniya Gagarkina, AEGEE-Kyïv

The appointed Comité Directeurs members, who were appointed to the team this year, are Maryana Semenyak and Ander Guerrero Ruiz. We already find them very helpful and we are glad to work with them.

Project Manager & FR: Lucia Gavulová, AEGEE-Bratislava/Aachen

Lucia and Carolina were elected, and both ran for Project Manager. How did you divide your work?

Lucia: After reviewing all the task SUCT has to do throughout the year, and adding some new ones, we noticed that we needed a Content Manager in order to strengthen the content of SUs, which is a very important position in most projects. Based on this we then decided very fast and easily.

Carolina: We didn’t “fight” for that position, we just looked at the reality. There were a lot of things to do and develop, and in a simple way we decided to divide the hard work of PM in two parts. And the result was the role of Content Manager.

You had a meeting in Brussels earlier this month. How did it go?

Lucia: Very well! We had a really intense and efficient meeting, we planned and timelined the whole year, divided tasks, talked about and implemented new ideas, and of course we had a nice team building as well, since we travelled to Aachen after Brussels and got to know each other better.

Yevgeniya: Apart from that, I didn’t know anyone from the team in person, but from the first moment I knew that working with them would be really comfortable and interesting. This was proved very fast – I hope you will be seeing the results of our productivity throughout the whole year.

IT & Publications: Philipp Blum, AEGEE-Aachen

You launched a feedback form for advice from SU 2015. Why did you decide to start from there? And do you already have some preliminary results?

Lucia: Already after the elections in Kyïv, people started approaching us, either complaining about some issues from last year, or giving us ideas for improvement, so we decided to listen to the actual voice of the members and adjust SUs to the needs of network. We received plenty of interesting and important input and we included those into our to-do list for next year.

What are the highlights of your program for the upcoming year?

Lucia & Philipp: A new application procedure, a new website, new themes and much more! Thanks to the SUpporters Interest Group, we will be able to provide you with better materials, help, checklists and other things that you can use to make organising an SU easier. Also, we will make the open calls for Summer Universities open to all members, regardless of whether they applied in the first round or not. This way we can ensure that all the people who apply on time get their results on time.

PR: Yevgeniya Gagarkina, AEGEE-Kyïv

One of the new aspects will be the SUpporters (the Summer University Interest Group). How does it work? What are its tasks?

Yevgeniya: This is actually a group of people with very different experience, who are interested in SUpporting the SU project. We created several tasks in different areas: design, help with booklets, PR, FR, IT, visa support, translations, training, the presentation of projects… and our SUpporters can choose their own task. Once the tasks are finished, they won’t be given any new task unless the SUpporter himself wants it, and chooses something else, so we have no “slaves” [she laughs, ed.]  Internally, SUpporters are divided into groups according to their tasks and have someone from the SUCT as their group leader. They can also be in different groups at the same time. We already appreciate their work and hope that this idea will be a huge success.

In the past years, we saw the number of SUs and applicants decreasing. What solutions do you have in mind to prevent this from happening this year again?

Lucia: A lot of support from SUCT and AEGEE bodies for organisers, more appealing content, some cool competitions and mainly new guidelines for organisers with another topic focus, which will make organisation easier.

Content Manager & Treasurer: Carolina Alfano, AEGEE-Salerno

Summer University Project School (SUPS) open call is out. Why do you think SUPS will be important to attend and to host?

Yevgeniya: SUPS is the right place to become the best organiser of a SU, to get to know all the insights and realise the strategy of managing a project, to get motivated and inspired, to get practical skills and to exchange experience. We talked to participants and trainers of previous years, and got inspired by their stories, so we are sure that an awesome summer of 2016 is impossible without SUPS.

Don’t miss a perfect chance to have SUmmer starting much earlier, than in your calendar, by hosting SUPS! In my opinion, SUPS is one of the brightest European events, where you will watch a new SU generation  be born. What is more, you will have the chance to show your city and local culture to excited and motivated people, attracting more and more potential participants to your SU. We will tell lots of interesting things, and surely all the efforts will be worth it.
Carolina: Because all the things that a great organiser has to know about SU are concentrated in six intense days with SUCT members, the best trainers and experienced members. This year we will give it our best to give every local the possibility to organise an amazing Summer university.

Check the new website here.
Pictures courtesy of Aysan Yakut “With the planet – 2015”

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The dates 5-12 of March will remain in AEGEE history, as that was the exact week when the 10th  edition of Summer University Project School (SUPS) took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the Youth European Capital of 2015. The organisers themselves set a perfect example from the very first day: participants were accommodated in a hostel in the center of the city, every day a three course meal was provided, participants had the chance to work in a big university room, to have a “party basement” for themselves and to enjoy a  professional city tour lead by Vlad Popescu (AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca). They also had the possibility to experience the result of the successful FR of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca, as one of their sponsors, SYKES, made a presentation for the participants and asked for future cooperation with AEGEE. Special thanks to Bia Sabau and Raluca Radu. A job well done!

And now, may I have your attention, please? It is time to introduce the trainers! On the stage appears Ksenia Lupanova, representing AEGEE-Moskwa. She is motivated, inspired and SUPSrised the participants with her knowledge on content management, risk assessment and PR. From the opposite side of the ring comes Ioana Duca, representing herself…and also the CD. While talking about the Action Agenda and showing the participants why exactly is she the Financial Director in the budget session, she also managed to raise awareness on a very important topic: green Summer Universities. Next, two trainers who cannot be introduced separately as they became more or less one during SUPS.

Antonis Triantafyllakis (AEGEE-Heraklio) and “Loud” Luca Lombardo (AEGEE-Torino), “the brothers from another mother”, do not only look alike, but speak alike, think alike and present alike – meaning: with lots of passion, energy and motivation. The topics of conflict, project, organisers and participants management, fund raising and presentation skills were not foreign to them, as well as the sensitive matter of how to adjust your Summer Uuniversity for the disabled.  And in between, coordinating every move they take, was Anna “Smailikova” Pykhtina, the training manager of SUPS 2015. Her smile lead the participants without any difficulties towards a better understanding of the concept of leadership and time management. Such a compatible and caring team of trainers has yet to be seen outside of SUPS!

If we proceed from the saying “sharing is caring”, the participants themselves were actually the most caring people of all – they were sharing knowledge, ideas, experience, points of view, culture, habits, food, drinks, beds… Everything was happening in a non-formal environment – during sessions people were sitting in a circle, speaking openly and without any concern, that they will be judged or interrupted.

People were always actively participating, even if sometimes it was hard, and were overcoming barriers with every step of the way. Sometimes a problem would appear – the mouse would stop working or the coffee would be over and it was just a pleasure to watch the team members cooperating and handling it so swiftly, that participants had actually fun with the situation.

The biggest and most useful training in SUPS was the case studies of course. Participants were divided into four teams, each representing a fictional AEGEE antenna with real characteristics of different parts of the world. Let’s take AEGEE-Palimera (sounds familiar?) for example, a big antenna, the city of which is situated at the Ionian Sea, has a lot of beaches, islands and an amazing students’ life. This antenna was an example for Mediterranean ones, with their typical trades and population. Among the tasks of the participants was to make a SU from scratch using every day the new knowledge they gathered during sessions. In the end they had to present their SU to new fictional members and in the local radio. That “little” exercise developed the participants’ people skills and team work as they had to learn to work together with people they barely knew.

After a long day of work, it is time for party! Organisers had a diverse social program prepared for the participants: karaoke night, club night, cheap-drinks-night, dancing-till-you-drop-night, European Night, games-in-the-basement-night and, sadly, in the end – white T-shirt party, aka good-bye-night. But, as you are all familiar, in AEGEE events there are always more than enough parties and social activities, so it is hard for something to leave an impression. Well, SUPS somehow managed to do even this.

Everyone was astonished by the creativity and thought put into the social part of the event. Next to the more or less mandatory gossip box, participants were asked to write letters to each other, which they could collect on the last day. The closing ceremony of the event was a blast (of tears) – trainers and organisers held speeches, exchanged presents, gave certificates,  played songs and made a lot of photos to remember. And last but definitely not least – The Elections, where all the “best” categories were voted.

And so, after a week full of learning, self-development and excitement, it all had to come to an end.  I will not speak about all the sad faces I saw on departure day or all the emptiness that remains after an event such as SUPS, because before it was even over, the space was full of promises for a reunion, people were discussing options when and where to meet again, which, in my humble opinion, is the best recognition of the awesomeness of Summer University Project School 2015.

Written by Lia Georgieva, AEGEE-Berlin

Originally planned in December in Cluj-Napoca, the Summer University Project School had to be postponed to March due to a lack of participants. Now, from the 5th to the 12th of March, the Romanian city will host 25 participants and trainers who are eager to share all their secrets about the Summer University project. Deadline for applications: 31th of January. 

Even though the abbreviation stands for Summer University Project School, it is actually the power source for the organisers of Summer Universities. For evelen years, this great school has educated AEGEEans to make them better organisers, helpers and even participants. As the project develops itself year by year changes and improvements are inevitable. Among the many highlights of this year are: GREEN SU, more Action Agenda ACTivities, inclusion of disabled people and extra award categories. As Outgoing Responsibles are the best allies of the project, their duties and importance are revised and strengthened as well.

Of course we don’t want to reveal all the secrets of the training by giving spoilers here, but we call it a quick trailer in order to attract the audience and provoke your curiosity. From PR strategies to budgeting, from managements to logistics, leadership, risk assessment; all blended in case studies – practical tasks in groups to show what kind of situations organisers can face during the SU. These are only some of the ACTions of the movie.

The director of the SUPS is Anna Pykhtina (but you can call her Smailikova), former SUCT PR responsible who will act as Trainer Manager of the Project School. “It was not a planned decision”, Anna says. “I was asked by the Academy if I was interested in doing this. Honestly, I wouldn’t apply as I never thought I can be a training manager, but I love challenges and now I’m super happy!”.  Although SUPS was moved from December to March, she still feels “excited to be the Training Manager of such a great event. As I saw the project from the inside, now I am willing to make it even better.” She won’t be alone, but she will be assisted by four valiant trainers.

Antonis Triantafyllakis (AEGEE-Heraklio and SUCT IT manager) is “extremely experienced and highly motivated” to use Anna’s words. He will explain everything about logistics, give examples of games and best team-building practices and teach how to deal with intercultural learning and how to work with disabled participants. Moreover, he will do the impossible: showing the participants how to make the “what is AEGEE?” session appealing even for veterans.  Luca Lombardo (AEGEE-Torino and member of the Audit Commission) is in charge of project and conflict management, fundraising and a mysterious and intriguing inspirational session. Another member from SUCT is Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva and Publication Responsible), who will explain how the SU project works and share her experience about risk assessment and Public Relations. Last but not least there is Ioana Duca, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, who will deal with budgeting, Action Agenda and Green Summer University.

The location of the event is still Cluj-Napoca. “Half of the inhabitants of Cluj-Napoca are student and it is the European Youth Capital of 2015. Also, our city has a rich cuisine like sarmale (cabbage filled with meat), mici, cozonac, mamaliga and countless others”, Bia Sabau, the main organiser, explains. Despite not being such a big local, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca is very active. “We are a just a hand-full group of members, but we are very active and energetic. Last year we organised a lot of events: Yvote convention, Network Meeting, a Summer University and many more”.

Asked for reasons to apply for SUPS Cluj-Napoca 2015, Anna said the first reason is that “ the sessions that will be delivered are useful not only for organising Summer University and not only for AEGEE as you will learn so many things and get not just theory, but seven days of practice!” The second reason has a lot to do with the past edition of SUPS in Izmir. “Four  out of four members of the newly elected Summer University Coordination Team first met there and gained knowledge which helped them to not only organise Summer Universities, but even apply for working on the European level!”

The Summer University Project School in Izmir in 2014 was unforgettable for a lot of participants. “I have to say that after the SUPS I felt like I had been in the dark for so many years”, Masi Njeshi from AEGEE-Tirane says. “After the event I felt stronger because the training sessions somehow showed me the right way to take what we needed for our SU.” It was also a spur to set the bar higher for local organisers. “Before SUPS I was thinking about how I can organise a picnic with my local member, after SUPS I understood that the time is right for an AGORA”, Göksan Kahraman from AEGEE- Izmir concludes.

For more information you can visit the SUPS facebook page or their website
or you can apply here.

Written by Suzan Dilara Tokac, SUCT PR responsible and Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

The closing plenary of Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014 will definitely remain one of the most special AEGEE moments for Anna Pykhtina (AEGEE-Kyiv), when she gave her first speech as Main Organiser of the upcoming Autumn Agora Kyiv 2015. “Smailikova”, as everyone calls her, is the current president of AEGEE-Kyiv and Training Manager of the upcoming Summer University Project School that will take place in Cluj-Napoca. With an endless energy and passion for AEGEE, she has been elected as our new Member of the Month!

The AEGEEan: First of all, congratulations! How did you feel when you found out about your nomination?

Anna Pykhtina: It’s sooo nice from you! But, honestly, I do not feel I really deserve it. There are so many great people that did much more than me…

Tell us, when and how did you join AEGEE?

I joined AEGEE in Spring 2012. Me and my best friend, Mariia Ponomarova (AEGEE-Kyiv), were in Bulgaria together in summer, after she came back from her first Summer University in Italy, and instead of having fun with me and other friends she was telling us about how amazing it was. Imagine: we are finally away from home, dancing, partying, swimming, we are happy and then she starts: “You know, in AEGEE, there were parties with 35 foreigners and we lived all together for two weeks, traveled around the county, ate Italian food and now I have so many friends who are willing to come to Kyiv and ready to host me!”. Instead of killing her, I realised that I had to apply as well! And then, after I attended my first and only Summer University as participant in Salerno, I came back knowing for sure that now I would like to give something back to the organisation.

And then my favourite part starts – both me and Mariia applied to organise the Travel Summer University in Kyiv in 2013 without telling each other and we were both elected as Main Coordinator and Incoming Responsible. 35 participants, five cities, a great team and an amazing experience! So, basically I became really active in the spring of 2013.

You have been very active in AEGEE. What has been your best memory?

That’s one of the most difficult questions I have been asked! But this year’s moment will be for sure the closing plenary of Autumn Agora Cagliari, when the results of who would be going to host the next Autumn Agora in 2015 were announced. I remember that I was sitting not far away from the stage, nervous and my friends were thinking  that I was preparing for the SUCT speech. And then the Comité Directeur said “Kyiv!”, and I could hear my local screaming and running to the stage, whereas AEGEEans from different locals, my friends, were standing and applauding as everyone could understand how important this choice was! It was unforgettable!

During the last Agora, you were the host of Agora Inspire. How was the experience?

Amazing! Although I will always have the feeling I could have done a better presentation or make more jokes, I really enjoyed it. From my first Agora in Mannheim where Agora Inspire was held for the first time, I wanted to perform on stage, sharing my experience or trying to inspire others. But the thing is that I could never choose what exactly I wanted to speak about. So, applying to become host with Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Debrecen) was the perfect solution!

Is there an AEGEE member in particular who has inspired you in your work? Why?

I am always inspired by other people and the amount and quality of work they do and talking about my friends in AEGEE, I can say that the majority of them are super cool. You can take the amazing Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva), whose creativity and dedication to AEGEE is tremendous; Jorge Sánchez Hernández (AEGEE-Dresden) with his non-stop desire to develop not only AEGEE-Dresden but to participate in other local and European activities too; Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia) with all her efforts and achievements… And my personal list consists of more incredible AEGEEans, who are the best examples for me.

But, at the moment I am mostly inspired by my board members. We were working together before and during the Summer Universities. Some of them are board members from the previous term, some are only members for a year but I am really proud of the job they do. Elected in October, we are functioning like not only a team, but also friends. I feel I am super lucky to have all of them: Viktoria Leonenko, Olga Marrero, Yevgenia Gagarkina, Anastasiia Dzhulai, Daria Bielinska,Hanna Polishuk and Dmytro Piatkivsky, without any exceptions in the team and I hope that in one year we will still be friends with a lot of experience and memories.

You are now president of AEGEE-Kyiv. How do you motivate members to become active?

(I hope I motivate them!) I am the kind of person who does not like to talk about plans but rather to discuss the results and as I just started my term one month ago it is too early to say anything. The previous year was really difficult for AEGEE-Kyiv and most of the Ukrainian locals: more than four months of enormous efforts to continue the daily work, life and at the same time taking part in EuroMaidan actively, dealing with problems caused by the media and as result a decrease of motivation and activity of the members.

If in the past we were more focused on promoting AEGEE by Summer Universities and other European events, now we have changed the focus. My aim and the aim of the board is to make AEGEE famous among Kyiv students and youth by the high quality events, as a place to develop skills and platform to learn something new, not what they hear in universities. And with the current situation, since the government is more focused on the support of youth and NGOs, it can really happen.

Motivation is something that cannot be learnt, it comes from the heart and you will always feel if it is fake. From my experience, you get inspired when you see real devotion to the work you do and happiness when you see the results. And AEGEE is exactly this place for me now. I have no idea what will happen next in my life, for sure it is not the way it always happens, go to school, study in university and work, but that’s the beauty of life! I feel I am really lucky that I joined and became part of such an amazing Network where I get much more experience, memories and knowledge that is really useful in the nowadays world and I hope that I can share this happiness in a right way.

What about the Agora – have you started with the preparations?

Indeed! The preparations are going on from early Autumn, when I had lunch with the main coordinator of Autumn Agora Kyiv 2009, Kateryna Vronska. This knowledge transfer was really helpful to calm down as she answered my questions and gave really helpful advice. Agora was also one of the topics in our two-day knowledge transfer that we did  last weekend with the old and new board. And apart from weekly meetings with the team and oldies who are willing to help us, all of the board is focused on their own responsibilities. At the moment we are working on getting more support from the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine as well as from different foundations.

In three words, what is AEGEE for you?

Development. Inspiration. Home.

Training manager at SUPS, main organiser of the next Autumn Agora 2015, president of AEGEE-Kyiv. Do you have any future plans in AEGEE, other than that?

Not to get fired. Apart from AEGEE I also work in an event agency in Kyiv every day from 9 to 6.

At the moment I am totally focused on my local and the Agora preparation. I had to stop myself from thinking about going to the European level because the quality of the work I do now would suffer for sure. I wish there was more time in a day and I wouldn’t need to sleep as much as I do – there are so many things I literally do not have time to do in AEGEE. And I have a rule that if something has to be done, it should be done very good, otherwise I won’t even start until I have all needed sources – time, effort, people to help and a good mood. I do not make any plans about what will happen in one year – neither what I will do in AEGEE nor which country I will move to.

And how is Anna Pykhtina – how would you describe yourself?

Perfectionist, sarcastic but at the same time super optimistic whatever happens!

Which other hobbies do you have, other than AEGEEing?

Snowboarding, collecting postcards and cycling.

Favourite book? Song? Movie? Colour?

Colour – purple, and for the others it is difficult to choose one. Let’s say this November my favourite book is  “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. My song this week is “Left Hand Free” by Alt-J, and the movie is “Fargo”, which I started to watch a few days ago.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Ever since its establishment in 1999, the AEGEE Academy has been working hard to develop and strengthen the human resources of AEGEE and to stimulate the motivation of its members, by providing them with non-formal learning experiences. Last April the new board of the Academy was elected, starting their term on the 1^st of June after their Knowledge Transfer. Next to this, the Academy also signed the Convention d’Adhesion during Spring Agora Patra. The AEGEEan spoke to the board of the Academy to find out more about their achievements and plans for the future.

Currently, the board of the Academy consists of eight members, namely: Speaker/PR Responsible Andra Berila (AEGEE-Bucuresti), Treasurer Patrick Scholz (AEGEE-Aachen), Secretary John Eikosidekas (AEGEE-Patra), HR Manager and External Relations responsible Urša Svetelj (AEGEE-Ljubljana), Database Manager Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia), IT Responsible and Board Assistant Costas Deltouzos (AEGEE-Patra), Alumni Coordinator, Network Communication Assistant and Board Assistant Maartje Natrop (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Mentorship Program Responsible and Board Assistant Lyda Michopoulou (AEGEE-Leuven).

Although only active for a few weeks now, the new board already has great plans upcoming, like the European School of Entrepeneurship (ESE), organised together with Youth unEmployment this September in Gran Canaria, the Fundraising European School (FRES) hosted by AEGEE-Barcelona in October, the Public Relations European School (PRES) hosted by AEGEE-Poznan in November and the Summer University Project School (SUPS) hosted by AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca in December. Besides these great events, plans already have been made for Spring 2015 too. As Andra tells us: “We are planning to organise a Self-Development European School (SES), Training for Trainers (T4T), Human Resources European School (HRES) and European School 2 (ES2).”

However, it’s not only the new board that is new. The Academy itself also got a new status, signing the Convention d’Adhesion at Spring Agora Patra. As Maartje explains: “Since we signed the Convention d’Adhesion, we are no longer a working group. It was a strange place to be in, as we have never really been a working group and therefore couldn’t comply with the requirements. Now we are officially an independent partner organisation of AEGEE, but serving the network remains our main priority. In practice you will not really feel or see the changes, it is just paperwork, but we will keep on rocking as always.”

And rocking is what the Academy has been doing lately. Thanks to the hard work of the former board, the Academy managed to “make the Academy rise from the ashes like a phoenix”, as Antonija Parat said before. “We have had an amazing board term.”, Maartje says, which also shows in the achievements made during the past half year. “We built a new website including an interactive map of trainers and a trainer database, a big online materials database, a new HR booklet, new HR strategy with different levels for trainers (candidate, trainer, senior, alumni), new PR strategy including a new Facebook page and small recruitment movie and we have been rocking a lot of European Schools, Training for Trainers and trainings at the Agora. We did a lot of work behind the scenes as well, like standardizing templates for presentations, Open Calls and creating knowledge transfer manuals for the future boards.”

The database for training materials is a never ending but very thankful job, according to Michele. “Brick by brick we build a house. I am collecting materials of trainers and especially of Academy events and some Network Meetings. At the moment we have the materials, but we have to update them and increase the quality. The best part of my job is that there is no end. My motto is: ‘To collect data is a step for knowledge, but to share is a step for community.’” Another important job is the website, which got updated in January. “The previous website of the Academy had an old fashioned design and its content was rather outdated, so when we launched the new one all of our trainers were excited about it”, Costas says. “The new website’s design is fresh and modern, the content is better structured and easy to find and we have some new features. The main addition that made everyone happy was the trainers’ database. Now it’s easy for everyone to see a list of our trainers and alumni with details about them and where they are located.”
Although the Training for Trainers that took place in April in Budapest already resulted in twenty new trainers, the Academy is always open to new applications. This can be done by applying on the website through a form, or by attending the next Training for Trainers in Spring 2015. Want to find out more about the Academy? Take a look at their website!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

There is a very good proverb almost in every language which in English sounds like «repair your cart in December; in July your sledge remember», meaning if you want to get the result in the nearest future you have to start working on it now. The best result and a lot of improvements are the aims of the new Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) elected at the amazing Autumn Agora Zaragoza 2013. So after only a little time to rest from Zaragaza they had an internal meeting in Brussels.

So these are the elected, self-called ‘Fantastic four’ – Francesca Russo, Project Manager (president of AEGEE-Padova), Gerardo Garcia Diaz, Publication Responsible (PR Responsible of AEGEE-Oviedo), Anna Pykhtina, PR-Responsible (PR Responsible of AEGEE-Kyiv) and Andrea Nostro, IT-Responsible (president of AEGEE-Reggio Calabria).

Cooking Lunch

Waffles, Belgian fries (yes, not French, not American but Belgian), beer, Grande Place and Manneken Pis – are things that the team did not have time to try or see. The most popular words that could be heard from the room during the long but productive meeting were: participants and organizers, quality and cooperation, improvements, implementations and lunch – “when is the lunch”?

Woken up by four alarm clocks early Sunday morning, the team gathered in the meeting room and started to brainstorm with sharing fears and expectations. New improvements are good, but everyone agreed that printing and delivering SU maps to locals on time is one of the more important things to do. Having a list with more than 25 things to discuss, they started with imagining what the perfect SU should look like. This was the most important thing for the team to be sure to move in the same direction and achieve the desirable result. The discussion lasted until late in the night. These are the nine main things you need to know:

1. Categories:

All activities in a Summer University, as usual, should be linked to the theme which is taken from one of the suggested categories. It doesn’t count as theme if there is only one or two activities fitting to it. (Not to confuse things, here is an example: Category = Environment, Theme = Recycling). You can find the categories below:

After eight hours of discussion

• language
• environment
• training
• local culture / history
• sports
• volunteering (work camps)
• arts / creativity / culinary
• politics / active participation
• other / miscellaneous

2. The cooperation with European level bodies:

The collaboration with AEGEE’s working groups, projects and commissions is continuing! Each of them are ready to contribute by creating great content. The bodies will submit their information before the 13th of December, so every local can see what they could gain from a cooperation. After choosing the European Level body to work with, there will be a chat meeting with the respective body, the local and a SUCT representative.

3. Compulsory sessions:

The implementation of compulsory sessions was a good (but late) idea for the last Summer and caused a lot of controversy. For some organizers it was boring and easy to skip, but it was so sad to get «zero» on the evaluation, right? As the SU is still the tool (in most locals) for getting new members who might become active afterwards, a SU should be much more than only partying and sunbathing. The Comite Directeur will share materials on the six different topics and each organizer team will have to choose two. They will be connected to the Strategic Plan and EBM topic. The SUCT will prepare a guideline explaining how to present them and to make them into a useful and fun discussion, not a boring monologue. They will also make sure this is done on time this year.

4. Learning objectives:

As the SUCT wants to improve the content, the cooperation does not only consist of giving the organizers a set of possible activities, but also set ‘learning objectives’. Learning objectives define what the participants will take away from the SU and what they will learn during the two weeks experience (example: participants will increase their photography skills). When the locals send their proposals for SUs with website form, an external team will check the learning objectives part. Each WG or Project can propose some Learning Objectives to the SUs that wish to collaborate with them.

5. Improvement of low-evaluated SUs work:

To help locals whose SUs were badly evaluated, a mentorship system will be created. After research by the team, a letter will be sent with two options (1) collaboration with another local who will be the “coach”  or (2) obligatory attendance of SUPS -which will be organized in March. And if the local has a lack of Human Resources they can ask for extra organizers. These people will be checked by the SUCT to assure that they are acting as organizers and that they are improving the SU content, not using it as vacation.

6. Wider choice of SUs for people with disabilities:

AEGEEans who listened attentively to the presentation of Andrea at the Agora, will remember that one of his ideas was to support people with disabilities better and provide them with a wider choice of SUs they could attend. So this year the system is changed, and disabled people will be able to select among all the SUs and whether they will be selected is up to the organizers. Along with these applications will come a letter from the SUCT suggesting to think carefully about the acceptance of this participant. And useful information, guidelines and successful stories by locals who organised SUs open to disabled, will be attached as well.

Brainstorming

7. Respect the work of organizers:

In order to avoid absurd complaints of new members who expected something different from a SU, a “disclaimer” will be created as a part of the application form.  Some organizers have already written and printed them by themselves. To decrease the amount of work, “disclaimer” will look like the “terms and conditions” form which each applicant has to read before sending their application. The main information about the format of the SU and a statement that all the organizers are volunteers will be included.

8. Problematic participants and their motivation letters:

Participant are not perfect and we love them because of that. Nevertheless, a lot of fresh members were not prepared and lied in their motivation letters about their amazing experience. There is a story about the guy who decided to leave the SU because he actually came to find a job and didn’t know that he has to stay with the group and take part in the activities. He took the place of someone who deserved that more, but how could organizers know that he was lying? Another problem is a blank motivation letter, an inappropriate one or a badly written one. It means that the outgoing responsible did not perform their task properly and that the applicant doesn’t pay much attention to the most important criteria of selection process.

Each outgoing responsible should check the truth written in a motivation letter and add a comment if it is needed. Andrea improved the panel for the SUCT so they will now easily find copy-pasted comments and letters so be smart and write your own and honest motivation. From now on, each motivation letter should have minimum of 500 characters. Other boxes cannot be empty either, but they won’t have a strict limitation. If these criteria are not filled, the application will not be sent.

9. Contests between participants and collaboration with our beloved AEGEEan:

Colorful feedback from participants is a great thing to receive, and the SUCT really loved the amazing summer pictures from the participants so this contest will continue! The rules of the photo- and video contest might change, but they will be posted online before the start of the first SU. And SU-stories in AEGEEan are a favorite for everyone, so this year the SUCT will create the contest between all of them and announce the results traditionally during the Autumn Agora in Cagliari.

All this new information might cause some discussions, but read it carefully and feel free to ask the SUCT any questions you might have.

Written by: Anna Pykhtina, PR-Responsible Summer University Coordination Team