Friends Magazine

A lumni
Network
February 2014
friends
Welcome
Welcome
from PR, Communications and Alumni
Relations Manager
from IAESTE A.s.b.l. President
Bernard Baeyens
Dear Friends
Dear Alumni,
It feels like ages since our last issue but that’s mainly because so much
has happened! Not only did we have the amazing 67th Annual Conference in Quito, Ecuador and the 3rd Annual Alumni Conference, we
also have a whole new IAESTE Board in place, ready to tackle the challenges ahead.
You can read about the events and hear from the new board members in this issue. We also have
the usual mix of alumni stories, reports from our events and useful opportunities.
We would like to especially thank those of you that filled in our survey on the future of IAESTE
back in January. We were overwhelmed by the response, not just in terms of numbers, but of the
excellent and useful input you gave us in your answers. We are currently in the process of defining our strategy for the next few years and the information you provided will prove essential. In
fact, we may even come back to you to ask for more input in the near future.
My own role within IAESTE has been expanded and consequently I have a new job title. I am
no longer just the Alumni Relations Manager, but am now the PR, Communications & Alumni
Relations Manager. Wow, what a mouthful! What it means in reality is that I have a better
overview of all our communications and PR activity, including managing our social media
platforms. Of course my first priority remains the Alumni Network and although I can’t tell you
much right this second, there is some exciting news coming up very soon!
I hope you enjoy the issue!
Bruce Mehlmann-Wicks
Alumni Relations Manager
We started a new year with an intensive General Conference in
Quito. New statutes will change our structure and our way of
working. We are an extraordinary but very complex association. We are coming from more
than 80 countries, with still much more different cultures, with many different languages
(all of us trying to speak an understandable English), different ways to see life, different
professional backgrounds and different ages and experiences. Some people are making
a living through IAESTE as governmental, academic or company employees, others are
working from the student associations and many are volunteers. If you are reading these
lines, it is also because you feel part of this group and you are an important part of it.
We have been quite successful during these 66 years in providing to the most able young
people independently of their family background and fortune, a possibility to make a good
entrance in the global professional world, due to our core values. You haven’t seen much
text or documents about them but they are there and permeate always in our speeches.
Core values are very important nowadays and we can see a very good example with the
enormous changes that, for instance, Pope Francis – from Argentina- is bringing in the
Catholic Church just returning to the core value of this faith -, or other leaders, like President Mujica of Uruguay with his speech during the last General Conference of the United
Nations.
Today I would like to emphasise just two of them: Tolerance and Trust.
Tolerance is accepting the other as he is, not as a threat but as enrichment for us and for
society. To see his way of live as another way to give solutions to the basic problems we
all face. With this value, our Association can provide a relief to the actual situation of the
world where, due to the economic crisis, we see more and more countries and societies
closing themselves to the others because they think differently. This was a Core value of
our founders and it still is ours.
A second value is Trust. The external world obliges us to be more bureaucratic: waivers, accreditation procedures, ISO 9000 procedures, etc. But I am afraid that this makes
us forget that these papers will not protect us from non-ethical behaviors. In the end, we
always have to trust our partners and they have to show that they respond to that trust,
taking care of our students as much as we will take care of theirs.
What’s inside
Welcome and contents.................................................2
Japan and me.................................................................17
Welcome from IAESTE A.s.b.l. President..............2
Alpine air is good for you!.....................................19
67th Annual Conference...........................................4
Alumnus William Holness on his internship in
3rd Annual Alumni Conference...............................8
Scotland................................................................20
KIC InnoEnergy Programmes...................................11
How can you help.......................................................23
When I met IAESTE........................................................14
Contacts...........................................................................24
IAESTE Career Fair Twinnings.................................15
Both have always been important for IAESTE
and we will do our best with your help to put
them forwards during this year. I am sure this
will help to enhance our work and results.
Bernard Baeyens
President IAESTE A.s.b.l.
Thanks to the contributors to this issue
Bernard Baeyens
Olga Legacka
Gloria Gangotena
Teresa Torzicky
Lisseth Saenz
Baudouin Contzen
IAESTE Switzerland
William Holness
Thanks to IAESTE Ecuador for the photos from the
67th Annual Conference
Special thanks for help with design to : Fredrik Hult Jakobsen
A lumni
Network
International Evening – the party
worthy of the royal family
International evening is must have during each
IAESTE event. There is no better way to get known
other countries than through typical food, beverages, drinks national clothes and music. Although
bringing all staff for the international party was not
easy due to strict custom regulations, we managed
to organise the best party of the week.
exchange partners gives the opportunity to discuss
the offers more in details, address all questions and
also, what’s the most important, let us know each
other and understand our needs better. In Quito the
IAESTE 5000 project has been started, which aim
is to achieve 5000 traineeships in 2015. We hope of
course on alumni’s support.
67th IAESTE Annual Conference
met in the Middle of the World
By
Olga Legacka and Gloria Gangotena
Quito, the capital city of Ecuador is well known because of its gold churches, Mitad del
Mundo and TeleferiQo. In IAESTE history this will be remembered as the great organised
Annual Conference, where significant changes in IAESTE statutes has been introduced,
vivid discussions about IAESTE future took place and almost 6000 traineeships have been
exchanged and where we also gathered alumni from all over the world.
Photo description: For Patricia Pagani Gasser (Bolivia) and Mohd Hafizal
Bin Mohd Isa (Malaysia) during theirs first exchange sessions.
Photo description: To prove the excellence of the International Evening even
the royal family decided to join this party. IAESTE UK team.
Opening Ceremony: What Alexander Humboldt has in common with
IAESTE?
Mr. Carlos Montufar in his speech during Opening
Ceremony took us back to the 18th century when
the Alexander von Humboldt with the group of European scientists was exploring Latin America. This
memorable expedition may be regarded as having laid the foundation of the sciences of physical
geography and meteorology. The role of this kind of
“exchange” and “international experience” between
two continents had a huge impact on the world’s
development. Wasn’t it the first kind of knowledge,
culture and technical experience exchange? Mr.
Carlos Montufar is the founder of the Universidad
de San Franciso de Quito, the host of Annual Conference and the home of IAESTE Ecuador.
4
Photo description: IAESTE Brazil and their famous Caipirinha.
Exchange session – the place to
decide about traineeships
Photo description: Carlos Montufar, Vice Chancellor USFQ, was
Honorary President of the 67th Annual Conference. IAESTE AC President
is also IAESTE employer, during the opening ceremony he decided to offer
excellent opportunities – two lucky IAESTE trainees will do their traineeship
on Galapagos Island and in the Amazonas jungle in 2014.
6655 offers were brought this year to exchange
sessions, but not all of the traineeships were exchanged. Some of them will be available also
online (in Intraweb). Someone could ask, why we
in IAESTE still meet at the exchange tables and
not do everything online? IAESTE is based on
trust and friendship. The physical meeting between
Photo description: Wendy Waring (UK) and IAESTE Teddy Bear Arch. In
Quito the 65th Anniversary IAESTE Teddy Bears worldwide tour has been
finished.
5
A lumni
Network
General Conference – new members, new statutes, new board
Annual Conference celebrated 15th
Anniversary of IAESTE Ecuador
The General Conference is the highest decision
making body and possesses full power to take
formal decisions for the fulfilment of the aims and
approves the new members, budget and regulations
of the Association. The most significant outcome
of this year GC are: three new associate members:
India, the Netherlands and Republic of Korea and
new statutes and structure. The new, more strategic
and executive role of the board was defined, with
the president as the head of the Association. Prof.
Bernard Baeyens (Colombia) has been elected as
President of IAESTE.
This year IAESTE Ecuador celebrates its 15th Anniversary. Hosting IAESTE AC was the main point
of anniversary celebrations.
Gloria Gangotena de Moufar, National Secretary of
IAESTE Ecuador, about the AC organizer experience:
“When we proposed Quito as the next site for the
AC we really were not quite aware of what we were
getting into. Until the day before the conference we
were not really sure how many people were coming.
The planning of every event, dinners, tours, extra
help required was gigantic, not only for the large
number of people but also for the many requirements each event has.
The weather prognosis was glum, it was supposed
to rain every day. It seems that this is not a very
accurate science, since we only had rain one afternoon, which helped a lot in the spirit of the people.
We very much hope that everyone will remember
Quito, the warmth of its people, and a GC that we
tried to do as professionally as we could.”
Photo description: IAESTE India, IAESTE Netherlands and IAESTE Korea
are new IAESTE associate members. Saptarshi Basu and Brighton Anbu
(India) marking India on IAESTE map.
Photo description: New IAESTE Board: (from the left) Laszlo Papp (Hungary), dr. Jonny Miliken (UK), Patricija Kara (Latvia), Guenter MuehlerGreatschel (Germany), prof. Bernard Baeyens (Colombia)
6
IAESTE and SWISSCARE
Since 2013 IAESTE have been partners with
international travel insurance company
SWISSCARE.
SWISSCARE provide the right kind of travel
insurance
for
students
undertaking
traineeships/internships/ placements overseas.
Although it is not a requirement that you
specifically take a SWISSCARE insurance policy,
we recommend them as they provide the
appropriate type of cover for your IAESTE
experience.
What are the benefits of SWISSCARE:
• Apply online and pay with credit card
• Certificate delivered instantly by
email
• Worldwide cover
• Claims by email accepted
• Sickness and accident
• In patient treatments
• Outpatient treatments
• General practitioners
• Specialists
• Medicine
• Evacuation and repatriation
• Assistance 24/7
For detailed information please download:
• Masterpolicy
• Specific condition
You can also call SWISSCARE directly for more
information on:
+41 840 001 001.
Click here to purchase your insurance
7
A lumni
Network
In the end we had participants from Europe, North
and South America and Asia! As it was such a small
group and the weather was so kind, we decided to
change our programme to include more of the fun
side of an IAESTE conference, and most importantly, we decided to get out of the hotel and see some
of the beautiful sites of Quito.
3rd Annual Alumni Conference
By
Bruce Mehlmann-Wicks
The 3rd Annual Alumni Conference took place in Quito, Ecuador from 17-20 January 2014 and ran alongside the 67th Annual Conference of IAESTE. It was always going to be a challenge to host an alumni conference in Ecuador. For many European alumni it was simply too far, or too expensive to come for such a
short conference. At some points I wondered if we should even go ahead, but in the end I’m glad we did,
because although we only had a small group, it was a group full of enthusiasm for IAESTE.
Aided by our wonderful guides, Felipe and Daniela
from the IAESTE Ecuador organising team, we
explored the city, visited markets, took some fantastic bus rides, saw some wonderful architecture and
tasted some local cuisine. Back at the hotel there
was time for networking with the hundreds of other
delegates from around the world, meeting up with
old friends and making lots of new ones.
The evening events were a real highlight, especially the international party, which was definitely one of the
best there has been. Not only because of the massive amounts of wonderful food and drink from around the
world, but because of the amazing entertainment and lovely atmosphere. The farewell dinner on the Sunday
was a great way to finish the weekend, with music and culture, prize giving and fireworks, all ending with a
lovely dinner with friends from around the world.
Next year the 4th AAC will take place in Croatia and promises to be the biggest one yet! It will be a real mix
of fun, culture and learning. I am expecting places to be filled fast, so look out for when registrations open
later this year!
8
9
Become a Career Partner
at IAESTE
Did you
know that IAESTE
supports their alumni
beyond internships?
Becoming
an IAESTE
Career Partner is simple
Pay a yearly donation to help
support the project
We support the career development
of young scientists and engineers well
beyond their education.
If you share our mission to enhance
the employability of young
professionals, why not
partner with us?
Advertise your job vacancies to our
members
Work closely with us to provide
information and guidance to
our alumni
How do
we do this?
What do you
get in return?
Through our global
Alumni Network
Play an important role in
increasing the employability of
young people around the world
By providing careers
information, guidance and
access to jobs
Targeted advertising of your
vacancies to up to 10,000 qualified
IAESTE alumni
By working in partnership
with companies
Promotion of your company’s
brand as a Career Partner
of IAESTE
Interested?
10
Then contact
[email protected]
for further details or visit
www.iaeste.org/career-partners
Energise your Career Prospects Earn an MSc or PhD in Sustainable Energy!
Machteld van Rijsingen, KIC InnoEnergy and Jerome Simpson, Regional Environmental Center
Few as yet may be aware that the recently founded European Institute of Technology’s (EIT) Knowledge
and Innovation Community (KIC) for InnoEnergy not only seeks to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of sustainable energy by financing Innovation Projects but also by offering Masters and PhD
programmes that support the transition from student into entrepreneur.
A Completely New Type of Energy Education: Master School
KIC InnoEnergy’s Master School has many distinguishing features. Seven programmes in sustainable energy deliver cutting edge knowledge in renewable energy, clean fossils and chemical fuels, smart grids and
smart cities as well as sustainable nuclear energy. All combine the best technical training in energy engineering with essential skills in entrepreneurship while leading technical universities and business schools (see
inset) in collaboration with energy corporations lend their considerable experience and futuristic visions to
the course contents, participating actively throughout. This gives students a unique industrial perspective,
coupled with an in-depth understanding of today’s key energy challenges, plus how new energy-related
products, services and businesses are created and run. In addition, extensive use is made of remote labs,
online seminars, video-conferencing and virtual study visits in a truly international setting.
Having successfully completed
the programme (worth 120 credits
under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System or
ECTS), you will be awarded the
Master of Science (MSc) as a
double-degree, since the studies
are completed at two of the above
universities.
KIC University Campuses and Locations:
• Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Finland
• Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), The Netherlands
• ESADE Business School, Spain
• Grenoble Ecole de Management, France
• Grenoble Institute of Technology (INP), France
• Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Portugal
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
• KU Leuven (KUL), Belgium
• Paris Institute of Technology (Paris Tech), France
• Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo), Italy
• Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
• Silesian University of Technology, Poland
• Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain
• AGH University of Science and Technology (AGH), Poland
• Uppsala University (UU), Sweden
More info on these institutions is available here.
11
A lumni
Network
Which Masters Programme is for You?
The seven MSc programmes are:
1. Clean Fossil and Alternative Fuels Energy
2. Innovation in Nuclear Energy (EMINE);
3. Energy Technologies (ENTECH);
4. Renewable Energy (RENE);
5. Energy for Smart Cities;
6. Environomical Pathways for Sustainable Energy Systems (SELECT); and
7. Smart Electrical Networks and Systems (SENSE)
Students who have participated in the Master School have described their experience as the “Best two years
in my life”; that it was “Gratifying to work with different cultures and nationalities”; that they have welcomed “opportunity to explore energy efficiency in the context of a real problem, within a real project” and
“to help reshape the future.” A fifth student expressed the view that “KIC Masterschool works like a bridge
between the working and educational worlds.”
Deadlines and Entry Requirements
In order to be admitted to a KIC InnoEnergy MSc programme, you must have completed a relevant bachelor’s degree encompassing a minimum of 180 ECTS credits or equivalent academic qualifications from an
internationally recognized university. For the programme specific requirements, please click here. All applicants must also provide proof of their English language proficiency via an internationally recognized test
such as TOEFL, IELTS or University of Cambridge/ University of Oxford Certificates.
The deadline for students from outside the EU closes on February 28th, 2014, so do hurry! For students
within the European Union, their applications are invited between March 1st – April 30th, 2014. (The reason
for the early deadline for non-EU students is chiefly to be able to provide early notification of application
results so students can apply for a visa which can take up to several months for some of the countries they
would be studying in – see the list above. However, non-EU students can also only be awarded scholarships up to February 28th – the so-called first round). Detailed information on the application procedure and
requirements (including an FAQ) can be found on the website here.
Participation Fees and Scholarships
For non-EU based applicants, tuition fees are waived for ‘excellent’ students plus a scholarship is offered
which includes a one-time ‘relocation’ package (NB: normally the fee including all extras is Eur 8,000/
year). For EU-based applicants the participation fee (normally Eur 4,000/year) and costs related to curriculum events, e.g. kick off, summer schools, innovation seminars are waived by KIC InnoEnergy. ‘Excellent’
students are also eligible for a scholarship worth Eur 750 monthly allowance for up to 24 months.
12
Double Your Chances of Success!
For EU-based applicants, there is also a bonus opportunity
to win a two year scholarship via kicinnoenergychallenge.
com. Until April 30th you are invited to demonstrate your
entrepreneurial spirit and technological skills by completing
the KIC InnoEnergy Challenge. This involves answering
15 multiple choice questions in 20 minutes and solving a
Sustainable Energy Case. Do you know for instance which
spectrum of electromagnetic radiation contains insufficient
energy to produce electricity in a silicon solar cell?
PhD School
The PhD School is designed for doctoral candidates that are already
associated with one of the KIC InnoEnergy partners who have and
seek technical excellence, nurturing their drive for innovation, business creation and entrepreneurship. It aims to build a European network that links research and education in sustainable energy with
both the technical needs of the industry and with society at large.
The programme is open for year-round applications and the evaluation committee meets three times a year, usually in January, May and
September. Once the evaluation committee has ranked all applicants, a
final selection takes place via a series of online interviews and a oneday assessment centre. There are a number of caveats, however, and
interested PhD candidates are encouraged to take careful note of the
selection criteria here. A handbook on the PhD school is also available
by clicking on the image right.
Next Steps
In case you are curious to learn more, visit KIC Master School here and the PhD School here. You can also
meet Master and PhD School representatives at career and student fairs which are taking place until the end
of April across 20 countries in central and eastern Europe. For details on specific dates and times, please
contact REC Senior Expert Jerome Simpson (Tel: 00 36 26 504 039) who as KIC InnoEnergy partner for
central and eastern Europe coordinates Master School and PhD outreach in the region.
About KIC InnoEnergy
KIC InnoEnergy is currently one of the three KICs, together with ‘ICT’
and ‘Climate’, created under the leadership of the European Institute of
Technology. KIC InnoEnergy is a European company fostering the knowledge triangle of education, research and business. Its strategic objective is
to be the leading engine for innovation and entrepreneurship in the field
of sustainable energy. Its 27 shareholders are all key players in the energy
sector, namely top rank industries, research centres and universities. More
than 100 additional partners contribute to its activities. Its dynamic network is open to new entrants that will increase its excellence. For a list of
all innovation projects implemented under the auspices of KIC InnoEnergy, please click here.
13
A lumni
Network
I
When I met IAESTE...
Lisseth Saenz on her traineeship in Peru
I remember the day I decided to go abroad. I
was studying for a final exam at home, when
suddenly, a thought came into my mind:
“what if I make a traineeship abroad?“.
A few days later I went to the students’ exchange
office at my university. There I met the current
National Secretary. She talked about this great exchange program and invited me to join a new Local
Committee in Piura, a nice city located in the north
of Peru.
After two years volunteering for my Local Committee, I got the opportunity to make a traineeship
in Vienna from July to August, 2012. I worked as a
Project Assistant in Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft,
which is now called Austrian Real Estate. It was
a great experience I will never forget. I’m so glad
to have learned about Building Engineering and
Construction Technologies in a developed country.
I made new friends, shared culture and knowledge,
visited amazing places and picked up some German
vocabulary.
Universidad de Piura joined IAESTE in 2001. During these 13 years, since the creation of IAESTE
Peru, we have exchanged with more than 20 countries. IAESTE Peru became an Associate Member
in 2013 at the Belfast Annual Conference. We have
2 Local Committees: Piura and Lima. We are working together with other universities of Peru.
IAESTE LC Piura was founded on July, 2010. We
were only 8 members. Thanks to alumni support we
have been making progress, spreading the word to
companies and new students in several cities such
as Piura, Chiclayo, Lima, Arequipa and Cuzco.
Now we are more than 50 members. Since then our
team has been participating in IAESTE competitions. For example: 2011 Alumni photo competition
and 2013 video for the 65th IAESTE anniversary
celebration, in both cases, we are proud of having
obtained the 1st place!
Peru is known for its delicious food, amazing
beaches, mountains, jungle and of course: Machu
Picchu, one of the 7 wonders you should see before you die. You will love it! Besides, if you don’t
speak Spanish, don’t worry. Just take an elementary
course at home. Once you arrive in Peru you will
learn more and more! Peruvian people are very kind
and helpful. You will truly spend a good time here!
Definitely, being part of IAESTE has been the time
of my life.
IAESTE Career Fair Twinnings
- Sharing knowledge between Local Committees in Europe
By
Teresa Torzicky
A delegation of five IAESTE members from Austria and Slovakia had the chance to visit
this year’s IAESTE Næringslivsdager in Trondheim, a career fair for engineering students
conducted by IAESTE Norway.
The purpose of the visit was to share knowledge about event organisation, allow IAESTE
members to meet and get to know each other and search for possibilities to collaborate
more closely in future, regarding conducting Career Fairs.
IAESTE Career Fairs as events for
promoting IAESTE
Conducting career fairs for engineering and science
students has over the past 25 years proven to be a
very good way for promoting IAESTE among companies and students, whilst also generating financial
means for the IAESTE Exchange programme.
At the moment IAESTE has established a network
of more than 20 fairs in 6 countries and while some
of the fairs have conducted since 25 years ago,
like in Norway, the network is also steadily growing with newly generated events. Last year a new
IAESTE career fair was for the first time arranged
in Maribor, Slovenia and also IAESTE Austria is
happy to announce a new event in Innsbruck for
2014.
Due to the growing number of events and also to
the fact that internationalisation gets more and more
important in today’s world, a closer collaboration
between fairs in different countries will be highly
beneficial for IAESTE from a global point of view.
Career Fair Twinnings are a first step, which should
foster collaboration and encourage a steady knowledge exchange between IAESTE committees, conducting career fairs.
Impressions from the Career Fair
Twinning Trondheim 2014
“Working together is the best way for learning from
each other!” under that motto the 5 guests from
Austria and Slovakia worked with the around 40
members of LC Trondheim together on making the
two day event a success for all involved parties.
With nearly 80 participating companies and around
10.000 visitors the IAESTE Næringslivsdager in
Trondheim is a very large event and a lot of helping
hands are needed to ensure that things such as booth
IAESTE Career Fairs for connecting students and companies and promoting IAESTE
14
15
A lumni
Network
construction, catering, company presentations, etc.
all work out as planned. As helpers during all these
tasks, members of the visiting delegation received a
direct insight in how these things are handled at the
career fairs of IAESTE Norway and thereby had the
chance to look for good concepts, which could be
potentially integrated at other IAESTE Career Fairs
in Central Europe too.
Besides that, the main organiser Heidi Schjøll
Brede and other members of the organising committee, which worked for the past months on preparing the event, had an extensive meeting together
with the visiting delegation to discuss in detail how
the preparation for the fair is arranged and all the
connected tasks, which are conducted in the time
before the event.
“All in all the visit was a great experience for us
and we are really thankful to Heidi, Lene, Martin
and Ole for hosting us during the event and to the
whole Team of LC Trondheim for sharing their
knowledge with us”, Peter, Christin, Lukas, Sherzod &Teresa from the visiting delegation agreed.
IAESTE Career Fair Twinning in Central Europe
For spring 2014 further possibilities for Career
Fair Twinnings will take place in Central Europe
in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Further
information about dates and events can be found on
http://www.iaeste.eu/internal/cft.
Members of IAESTE Trondheim and the AUT&SK “Career Fair Twinners” working together on making
the two day event a success for companies & visitors
16
Japan and me : a long-lasting story of friendship…
which started with an IAESTE internship !
M
By
Baudouin Contzen (Managing Partner, Action Consulting)
y first contact with Japan goes back
to 1982. Then a 4th-year student in
engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles (Université Libre
de Bruxelles – ULB, Brussels, Belgium), I had applied for a summer internship with the International
Association for Exchange of Students for Technical
Experience (IAESTE) and I was lucky enough to
get a 7-week internship with Denso (then Nippondenso), a leading supplier of advanced automotive
technology, systems and components for all the
world’s major automakers, in Kariya (Aichi Prefecture, Japan), not far from Nagoya. At that time,
Nippondenso employed about 28,000 employees
world-wide and had a sales turnover of around 2.8
billion EUR. Thirty years later, Denso is a giant
group employing 132,000 employees in 30 countries and has a sales turnover of around 30 billion
EUR.
Fascinated by the way Japanese engineers were able
to robotize production, I had specifically asked for
an internship in that domain and joined the Production Engineering Department where I conducted a
study on the weldability of high-density electronic
components on printed circuit boards (whose results
were incidentally confirmed two years later in a
paper published in the Japanese Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering by Panasonic). The
internship had also allowed me to visit 7 out of the
8 manufacturing facilities of Nippondenso in Japan,
as well as factories at Toyota, Sony, Kubota and
Suntory, and thanks to my Section Head, Koichi
Fukaya, to my coach, Takeshi Aoki, and his boss,
Mitsuhiko Kawamura; and to their colleagues of
Section 1-2 (Kenji Kitabatake, Shigeru Harashima,
…), I was able to discover some of the wonders of
Japan (what I call “the other side of the coin”). Besides letting me discover their professional environment, they invited me to visit their homes and meet
their families, and we travelled together to various
places in Japan (including at Ise, Kyoto, Nara,
Osaka, Himeji and Hiroshima). A wonderful experience, which fuels my plea for more international
internships and intercultural exchange !
This was the starting point of a long-lasting story of
friendship. Soon after my internship, Fukaya-san
and several of his colleagues stopped in Belgium
during a professional trip to Europe, and I later
had the pleasure of welcoming in Europe several
honeymooners (including Aoki-san and Kitabatakesan). Fukaya-san, who in the meantime had become
Denso’s President & CEO, even took the time in his
extremely busy time schedule to have lunch with
me in 2003 while in Frankfurt for the Motor Show.
I returned to Japan on holidays with my family
during the summers of 1984 and 1985 and travelled
with a Japan Rail Pass all over Japan from Sapporo
(Hokkaido) to Beppu and Oita (Kyushu) and from
Fukuyama to Kanazawa (and even to the island of
Sado).
17
A lumni
Network
Throughout my many stays in Japan, thanks to the
kindness of Japanese people, language was never
a real problem although the use of English was by
then (and still remains today in many areas…) not
widely spread (especially in less touristic areas).
During my internship at Nippondenso in 1982, I
was sharing a small apartment in one of the company’s dormitories with a blue-collar employee who
would not understand a single word of English. I
still remember my very first sentence in Japanese to
get two pieces of bread for breakfast at the company’s restaurant: “Pan niko kudasai” ! And I quickly
learned to recognize a number of Japanese ideograms (kanji) and to use a number of key sentences
to find my way and travel throughout Japan…
Last June (2013), I was lucky enough to return to
Japan for the 15th time and had the chance, after
a short stay in Tokyo and around Mount Fuji, of
meeting again Aoki-san and his family in Nagoya, and to admire the Daimonji Gozan Okuribi
in Kyoto on August 16th with Kitabatake-san and
family, before continuing my holidays in Kyushu
(Kumamoto, Mount Aso, Miyazaki, Kagoshima,…)
enjoying hot springs (onsen), an erupting volcano
(Sakurajima), and delightful cuisine.
M
By
IAESTE Switzerland
aybe it’s the fresh air, the calciumcontaining nutrition or maybe just a
coincidence, that both the first and
the second place in the Blog Post
Competition have been occupied by two creative
people who have a special connection to Switzerland.
The first place was occupied by Jacob Nürnberg
from Switzerland with his blog called „Spanish
Adventures“: „His appearance had something
meditating, when he was looking at the open valve.
The transfer began only a few minutes ago, but
there were already appearing first icy crystals on
the transfer line, growing bigger and bigger as the
humidity of the air began to condensate on the cold
steel. He was always fascinated by the power of
physics (…) It was four weeks ago, when he arrived
here. Here, that means Zaragoza, about 300km west
of Barcelona in the northern part of Spain. The last
three weeks were quite adventurous and brought
lots of changes to his life. The journey was an adventure itself…“
In fact, during the period 1984-1988, while working
as a Sales Manager for the Energy Division of CMICockerill Mechanical Industries, I also frequently
travelled to Japan for meetings with such companies as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi
Corporation, Fuji Electric, Sumitomo Corporation,
Chiyoda Corporation, etc. I also visited Tsukuba
Expo in 1985 with the then President of the European Commission, the Luxembourgish Gaston Thorn.
Allow me to finish this short article with the same
waka that I had chosen as a conclusion of a report I
had written in 1982 upon my return from my summer internship in Japan.
Shikishima no
Yamato gokoro wo
Hito towaba
Asahi ni niou
Yama-zakura-bana
After graduating from INSEAD (Fontainebleau,
France) with my MBA in 1989, I continued to
travel all over the world both for my profession as a
management consultant in strategy and organization
and to fulfill my thirst for discovering new horizons
during my leisure time (102 countries and territories
so far…).
Alpine air is good for you!
Following this link you can read Jacobs absorbing
story: http://65th.iaeste.org/news/spanish-adventures-jacob-nurnberg-switzerland/
Michael Buhagiar from Malta impressed the readers
with his blog called „Change your life forever”. At
this point we do not want to deprive you of a small
passage: „I am currently working at the Swiss Federal Labs for Material Science in Dübendorf some
8 minutes away from Zürich by train. I really feel
at home because my supervisor and colleagues are
really patient and helpful (…) Despite the very high
standard of living in Zürich, I found that Switzerland is a very cool place to live and this definitely
helps make the experience more worthwhile. I’m
also trying to start learning some German while I’m
here as it will definitely come in handy in future,
despite the fact that here in Zürich they speak a
variant called Swiss-German, which can be really
confusing! Grüezi Mitenand (That’s ‘Hello everyone’ to the non-Swiss people!)…”
Would you like to find out why an IAESTE internship can change your life? Have a look: http://65th.
iaeste.org/news/change-your-life-forever-go-on-aniaeste-traineeship-today-michael-buhagiar-malta/
Congratulations again to both winners and special thanks to all other participants who carry the
IAESTE message to the world with their lovely
statements!
Asked about the soul of Japan,
I would say
That it is
Like wild cherry blossoms
Glowing in the morning sun.
Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801)
The National Secretary Marianne Steinemann accepting the certificate of achievement for the Swiss
winner at the IAESTE International Conference in Quito.
18
19
A lumni
Network
M
Alumnus William Holness
on his internship in Scotland
y name is William Holness and I
am from Panama City, Panama. I
currently work at CBRE | Panama.
CBRE Global is the largest Real
Estate Company of our times, with local offices in
more than 50 countries, including Panama. I’m part
of the Appraisals, Advisory and LEED Services
Department and I’m in charge of LEED Services, as
a LEED Consultant.
Every week, there was always something planned
by the IAESTE Edinburgh Committee. From a
long weekend in London to spending some days in
the Isle of Skye, thank to this Committee, trainees
had the chance to discover many amazing places
in the UK and to gather with different students and
cultures from around the globe. Even within Edinburgh, there was always something planned during
weekdays such as Her Majesty’s Edinburgh Military Tattoo or the Fringe Festival in August.
LEED is the means of Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design; it’s a certification system
for sustainability and green buildings, created in
the 1990’s in the United States. The goal of this
certification is to reduce the impact of our building
developments with an efficient design and following some standards on construction procedures.
I first learned about IAESTE in February, 2013 in
my school (Technological University of Panama).
The Department of International Relationships is
always updated and willing to announce the opportunities for having academic and professional
experiences abroad. I was selected as a trainee in
Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a summer internship
from June to August, 2013.
tant organisations of the Construction Industry in
Panama in which I was a guest speaker in technical conferences. I can tell that with these lectures, I
encouraged other professionals and students to keep
researching about the Performance Measurement
topic in order to be implemented in Panama in the
near future.
As soon as I arrived at Edinburgh International
Airport, I had a warm greeting from the IAESTE
Welcome Committee and they even joined me to
my flat and showed me how to use the transportation system (coaches), and the amenities my neighbourhood had.
As I have already stated, this experience had a
positive impact in my research and British English
skills, both written and spoken. The results of my
research opened me many doors at some impor-
I am friends on Facebook with many of the trainees
I met and we keep in touch every once in a while. I
even received a surprise from one of the Edinburgh
trainees in regards that she is coming to Panama
this year. I am confident that when I have the
chance to visit any of the IAESTE trainees’ cities, I
will not feel a foreigner there for the friendship that
was a result of last summer’s experience.
In the 21st Century, there should be no borders
within countries. IAESTE helps to meet this goal
gathering trainees from many areas of the globe,
with different backgrounds, cultures and habits to
improve academic and work skills.
I would absolutely recommend to any student
that has the possibility to take one of the IAESTE
traineeship positions abroad. It would be a perfect
complement for his or her current studies and having this experience on his or her résumé will open
many doors and perhaps academic publications and
further research of a specific topic.
I worked for the School of the Built Environment
at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. It was my
very first research experience. Thank to the opportunity and, of course, the wise guide of my mentor
Dr. Mohamed Abdel - Wahab, I had the opportunity to get to know some strategies and protocols
that are being used in countries such as the United
Kingdom, the United States of America, Chile and
Denmark regarding the performance measurement
of their Construction Industries, their advantages
and shortcomings and what could be learned in
order for those measurements to be implemented in
developing countries, such as Panama. Furthermore,
I gained experience and improved my research
skills as well as redaction and technical vocabulary
in British English.
20
21
How can you help?
In Your country:
Dear all,
The second issue of the Careers International newsletter is here and with it some useful information!*
Do you know how to properly prepare your CV for an international career search? Do you have troubles to
define the right salary expectation when moving to another city or country? No need to worry anymore, we
can help you with that!
And of course, you can still join our exclusive career summits and meet top companies from all over the
world; attend our unique online events and interact with high-level managers online or simply browse
through our website and find the job of your dreams!
Life is a journey. Start yours with us.
*If you don’t wish to receive information about job opportunities from us, feel free to click on the “unsuscribe” link at
the bottom of this message.
Upcoming career summits:
Top Women - XP Energy
Brussels, 26/3/2014
Top Engineers - XP Automotive
Brussels, 25/4/2014
...sponsored by
Top Engineers - Graduates Europe
And many online events!
Internationally:
• Help IAESTE grow and develop by donating to the association.
• Make your company a Global Sponsor and gain access to a worldwide network of Scientists, Engineers
and Architects.
In the Alumni Network:
• Advertise your companies job vacancies on the Alumni Network and gain access to skilled, qualified
engineers and scientists
• Provide content/manage discussions and forums on the IAESTE Alumni Network.
• Be a local Alumni contact and organise events in your region.
• Sponsor IAESTE events such as the 65th Anniversary celebrations
For further information on any of the above please contact us
...sponsored by
...sponsored by
• Become a Career Partner and advertise your company’s vacancies to our alumni.
• Attend reunion events in your area.
• Assist with the reception of foreign trainees in your area (e.g. offering accommodation, acting as a
contact person etc.)
• Promote the IAESTE programme to any undergraduate students that you know.
Germany, 16/5/2014
Volunteer with us!
There are often projects and interesting things that we need help with, so if you’re interested in
volunteering with us then get in touch. Whether you can spare an hour once a week, or much
more, there are always things you can get involved with, and it’s a great opportunity to stay connected to IAESTE. Contact us and let us know what your skills and interests are and we’ll get back
to you.
Give us feedback on the IAN
We’re always trying to improve our system and what we can offer our alumni, so if you have any feedback
for us, please do let us know. We’re particularly interested in finding out what you like or don’t like
about our online platform. With your feedback we can improve the experience for everyone. Send your
thoughts and comments to [email protected]
What’s your IAESTE story?
One of the things we all have in common is that we all have an IAESTE story. If you would like to share
yours with us for publication in our next edition, email me at [email protected] We’d love to hear from
you.
alumni.iaeste.org
22
23
A lumni
Network
Contacts
Contacts details: IAESTE Alumni Relations Manager
Mr Bruce Mehlmann-Wicks
[email protected]
Skype: iaeste.alumni
Postal Address: IAESTE a.s.b.l
51, Rue Albert Ier
L-1117 Luxembourg
Bruce
MehlmannWicks
Main Website: www.iaeste.org
IAN portal: alumni.iaeste.org
Follow us online
https://www.facebook.com/iaesteofficial
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/IAESTE-Alumni-Network-134077
https://twitter.com/IAESTE
Y
AR
NIVERS
AN
24
https://65th.iaeste.org/