Board of European Students of Technology

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Image:Image-Board of European Students of Technology Logo.gif

Logo of BEST

Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is an international, non-governmental, non-political, non-profit, student organisation managed entirely by students. It strives to make technology students more internationally minded by encouraging their mobility and intercultural communication.

It currently (as of October 2006) consists of 74 local BEST groups in 29 countries around Europe with more than 1800 active members.

They have an online job fair with more than 8000 CVs of Engineering students from all over Europe.

In 2005 they organised:

78 learning and leisure events
17063 applications for these events
3 educational symposiums
2 general meetings

1 History
2 Partner organisations
3 Local BEST groups
4 BEST Courses
5 External links

[edit] History

The idea of BEST was born in May 1987 in Stockholm (Sweden) during a European conference for students of physics and mathematics. The outcome of the conference was a decision to organise an International Week every six months in a different country during which the interaction between European students would be developed.

The second International Week was held in Grenoble (France, March 1988). This meeting involved students not only from physics and mathematics but also from other areas of competence. The meeting in Grenoble was followed by an International Week held in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). However, the first meeting held exclusively for BEST was in Berlin (Germany) in April 1989. There it was decided that BEST would consist of a Board, a General Assembly and members. Taking part in this meeting were delegates from all over Europe: Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Eindhoven, Grenoble, Helsinki, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Louvain-la-Neuve, Paris, Stockholm, Trondheim, Turin, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.

At this meeting BEST was officially founded with the aim to promote exchanges and communication between European Students of Technology. In November 1990, in the meeting in Budapest, the Summer Programme appeared a set of two week courses all over Europe. In the summer of 1991, 13 summer courses were launched. The first three years this Programme was supported by the TEMPUS programme of the European Union.

The association kept growing, new members joined and new projects arose. During the XIV General Assembly in Tallinn (Estonia) it was decided that BEST should apply, together with CESAER and SEFI, to set up the H3E Thematic Network under the European Community's SOCRATES-programme. This Thematic Network was officially established in September 1996 to work upon the future of Engineering Education. This made H3E the first Thematic Network where students participate as equal partners.

During the XV General Assembly in Belgium, BEST started a partnership with the German student-association bonding-studenteninitiative e.V., thus recognising each others activities and setting up a framework for co-operation. Since 2002 BEST also cooperates with the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES).

Currently, May 2006, BEST consists of 70 local BEST groups while organising more than 100 Events per year.

Every year, at the General Assembly, a new international board is elected.

[edit] Partner organisations

bonding-studenteninitiative e.V. (since 1997)
Canadian Federation of Engineering students (since 2004)

[edit] Local BEST groups

A Local BEST Group (commonly referred to as LBG) is an association of BEST members at the same university. These LBGs are responsible for the activities of BEST at their university. Every LBG is independent from the international level of BEST. As a member of the BEST network, each LBG must organise a BEST Course every year, and promote the activities of BEST. Then, the LBGs are totally free to organise the activities they want: jobfairs, parties, competitions, ... The LBG's are divided into regions as following:

Alpine Region - Regional Advisor: Giulio D'Aversa, LBG Rome

LBGs: Grenoble, Lyon, Milan, Naples, Paris Polytechnicque, Rome, Rome Tor Vergata, ENSTA, Supelec, Turin

Central Region

LBGs: Bratislava, Brno, observer Graz, Budapest, Ljubljana, Maribor, Timisoara, Veszprem, Vienna, Zagreb

Central-East Region - Regional Advisor: Ania, LBG Krakow

LBGs: Cluj Napoca, Gliwice, Iasi, Kosice, Krakow, Lviv

South-East Region

LBGs: Athens, Novi-Sad, Belgrade, Chania, Brasov, Thessaloniki, Bucharest, Patras, Istanbul, Skopje, Sofia

Iberian Region

LBGs: Almada, Barcelona, Coimbra, Lisbon, Madrid, observer Madrid Carlos III, Porto, Valladolid

Lowlands Region

LBGs: Brussels, observer Brussels ULB, Eindhoven, Ghent, Leuven, Liege, Louvain-la-Neuve, Nancy, Paris Ecole Centrale, ENSAM

Nordic Region

LBGs: Aalborg, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Lund, Stockholm, Reykjavik, Uppsala, Tampere, Trondheim

North-East Region

LBGs: Ekaterinburg, Ekaterinburg USTU, Gdansk, Kaunas, Lodz, Riga, Tallinn, Warsaw

[edit] BEST Courses

Generally considered as being the core activity of BEST is the organising of BEST Courses, almost every Local BEST Group organising at least one every year. These are events about one to two weeks in length, uniting students of technology from all over Europe to study a technological subject. However, while these subjects are usually of an attractive and innovative nature, mixing various topics in engineering education, education on itself is not the only goal of these events: Equally important are expanding horizons, improving cultural understanding and in general providing European students of technology with the opportunity to experience something unique for little cost.

The quality and openness of BEST Courses are an important feat in distinguishing BEST from some other international student organizations. Any engineering student at a university that has a Local BEST Group can apply to BEST Courses, without the need to become a BEST member: As such, BEST provides a service not only to its members, but to all (engineering) students of associated universities. Furthermore, BEST Courses have to comply to a high standard. For example, Local BEST Groups are generally expected to supply all food, lodging, travel costs during the course, cultural activities and an exciting academic programme for the full duration of the course.

Participation fees for BEST Courses are low, and often even zero. The maximum participation fee for a two-week BEST Course is 45 euros and even less for students from many Central and Eastern European countries.