| Type | Pre-professional Organization |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Key people |
EESTEC International:[1] |
| Area served | Europe |
| Focus | Students |
| Method | Conferences, Exchanges, Workshops, Internships |
| Volunteers | 1700+ |
| Members | 1700[2] |
| Website | www.eestec.net |
The Electrical Engineering STudents' European assoCiation (EESTEC) is a non-profit student organization for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) students in Europe with 39 branches[3] in 20 countries. EESTEC is a pre-professional organization that empathizes a more general skill-set (e.g. Soft skills and presentation skills); by comparison the IEEE is an organization entirely devoted to professional skill development (e.g. RF antenna design, publications).
Contents |
EESTEC is divided into three tiers. Top-down they are:
The idea of creating a European student organization for electrical engineering students was born in 1958, but preparation meetings started in 1963 in Paris, France.
EURIELEC was founded in Berlin in 1964, with goals such as promoting contacts and practical work between foreign students of electrical engineering, and also exchanging information for study possibilities and excursions with other EE faculties. Official language of EURIELEC was French, and on the Congress in 1968 it was changed to English.
1966 Delft, The Netherlands
1967 Paris, France
1968 Berlin, Germany
1969 Madrid, Spain
1970 Eindhoven, The Netherlands
In 1984 EESTEC idea was born. In the year 1985, representatives of three Dutch student guilds ETV (Delft), Thor (Eindhoven) and Scintilla (Enschede) forming the Committee for International Contacts (CIC) wrote a letter to old EURIELEC NatComs. It said that "From 1966 until 1971 there has existed a European Association of Electrical Engineering Students (EURIELEC). During this time the student movement changed. The association died, according to the statutes. Your student association was a member of this Eurielec." They claimed in that letter to set up a new association with EURIELEC formers, "under the umbrella of an existing association like IEEE or ERUEL". They said they were thinking about an annual meeting in one of the associated countries.
It was 1986 when the first EESTEC Congress was organized in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It was organized for 50 participants coming from 33 different cities in 17 different European countries. It seems there were not at that time Local Committee, introduced the year after with the old name of NatCom, which is National Committee.
The Electrical Engineering STudents' European assoCiation is an organization of and for electrical engineering and computer science students from universities, institutes or technical schools in Europe that award an engineering degree. It was founded in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in 1986. Since 1995 it is a recognized association seated in Zürich, Switzerland. From year 2002 the EESTEC seat returned to the Netherlands, but now in Delft. A Local Committee is a local branch of EESTEC International. Currently there are 39 LCs in more than 20 countries with over 1700 members.
The primary aim of EESTEC is to promote and develop international contacts between students and professionals. The sharing of ideas and experience among electrical engineering and computer science students is made possible through workshops, exchanges and other activities. EESTEC is also promoting international career and job opportunities. For example, one of the ongoing projects in that field is to make a database of electrical engineering and computer science students so that the companies can easily find and recruit professionals throughout Europe.
Vision: - United EE/CS students all over Europe in order to reach their full potential in academic and social life.
Mission: - We are a network of local committees spread in the universities all over Europe - We are the connecting link between universities and industry - We organize academic and leisure events - We dedicate our time, energy and experience to do volunteer activities - We support and promote technical performance - We promote the European culture - We encourage personal development strategies and aim at reaching high technical and soft skills - We build alliances with organizations and institutions with similar missions and vision - We make future leaders - We promote team spirit and team work
The electrical engineering and computer science aspects of EESTEC are expressed through workshops, the most important activity of the association. During one week seminar lectures are presented by specialists from the industry and universities and discussions are conducted in small group sessions. Subjects are select from new technologies, special fields of electrical engineering and computer science or soft-skills. An EESTEC Workshop is a strictly professional event combined with sightseeing and social activities.
During an exchange students from several Local Committees visit each other for about ten days. During these multilateral meetings the participants gain awareness of the foreign university reality, industry and cultural aspects.
Besides traditional workshops and exchanges, EESTEC organizes internship programs for its members. EESTEC trainees are motivated and well qualified in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science. They can, due to the associations highly advanced network, exactly match a profile sought by the company and can therefore significantly shorten probation.
ECM is a meeting where the chairpersons of all Local Committees take part in order to be trained, share experiences and contribute to the future development of EESTEC. ECM lasts for five days, consisting of working sessions, simulations and discussions on topics concerning how to run a Local Committee. There are discussions about organizing events and cooperation on the international level. The meeting has around 50 participants.
EESTEC has a yearly congress. Approximately 125 European electrical engineering and computer science students take part in this congress. The congress is meant to discuss, with all the Local Committees and the board, the current affairs and the goals and plans for the upcoming year. Policies and organizational matters are topics. An important part of the congress is the election of the new board. Next to the general assembly, workshops and trainings are held.