BEST Annual Report 2005/2006

Annual Report 2005/2006
Board of European Students of Technology
doors to a new world, while technology holds the
key to enter and move forward. Engineers have the
privilege to master both, but at the same time, they
carry a huge responsibility.
Soon, in a world ruled by information and
technology, talented engineers seeing beyond
borders will be steering the wheel of the society. As
members of BEST and being talented students of
technology, we will be the ones building this
future!
Enjoy the following pages, as they will show a
small sign of our constant efforts to be the change
we want to see in the world!
2
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14, 15
16
17
19
20, 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28, 29
31
32
Welcome!
Welcome from the XVIII International Board
Growth of the Organisation
Local BEST Groups
My Passion for BEST
Complementary Education: BEST Courses in
2005-2006
A Professor’s Experience with BEST
More External Events
BEST Educational Involvement
BEST Involvement in Thematic Networks
Career Support Service
Career Events in BEST
Management of BEST
Our Achievements in 2005-2006
Communication in BEST
What is the BEST Training System?
BEST IT Systems: Supporting Communication
Streaming to a Common Image
BEST Alumni Network
Careers in Europe: A Successful Cooperation
Cooperating with other Organisations
Finances of BEST in 2005-2006
Partners of BEST
BEST Identity Statement
VISION
MISSION
Empowered diversity
Developing Students
People understand and respect different cultures
and societies. The environment of empowered
diversity supports people in applying their full
potential and acting responsibly.
BEST helps students to achieve an international
mindset, to reach a better understanding of
cultures and societies and to develop the capacity
to work in culturally diverse environments.
BEST creates opportunities for personal development of students and supports them in reaching
their full potential.
BEST SPIRIT
BEST Spirit is the inspiration
for all our actions
Flexibility
Friendship
We seek the ability to make changes and
deal with changing conditions.
We build good relationships in which
people help, support and care for one
another.
Fun
Improvement
We enjoy everything we do.
We strive to continuously improve the
standards in everything we do.
Learning
We gain skills and understanding through
experience.
POSITION
ACTIVITIES
BEST is a voluntary, apolitical, non-profit, nonrepresentative
international
association
of
European students of technology.
Core Activity
Providing complementary education
Other Activities
Providing career support
Increasing educational involvement
Welcome from the XVIII International Board
We wrote one more year of the story of BEST. It was a
year of growth and change for us as members as well as for
the entire organisation. BEST has grown fast in size, developed more activities and gained status and influence.
We faced numerous challenges, exhausting amounts of
work and sometimes tough decisions. Together we made it
through and we can be proud of the results.
The most enjoyable part was working with BEST members. They show so much dedication, motivation and will-
Name Nadina Busuioc
Susan Langer
Jihad R’Baiti
Elina Seppanen
Michal Wojtera
Xavier Ronde-Oustau
ingness to face new challenges, it is overwhelming. They
are not afraid to learn new things, try out their skills and
push their limits to reach maximum results. It is impossible
to find such a diverse group of friends with such team spirit
anywhere else. We want to thank you all; it was a pleasure
working with you!
During a year hundreds of stories are born. Wherever
BEST members travel and meet, they create memories to
last a lifetime. We cannot fit it all inside, but this report will
give you an overview of what BEST and its members are.
BEST Group
Position
Bucharest
Copenhagen
ENSTA, Paris
Tampere
Lodz
Helsinki
President
Secretary
Treasurer
Vice President for External Services
Vice President for Internal Support
Vice President for Local Group Support
Growth of the Organisation
One of the greatest things about BEST is our constant
growth and endeavour for development and improvement.
Every year new groups are eager to join and show how
their participation will contribute to BEST. They are the ones
bringing the most new ideas and remind us to stay innovative.
the steps that will be taken to fulfil the requirements. As
well, the actions done throughout the whole process will be
taken into account.
By the end of June 2006, BEST reached the amazing
number of 70 local groups after inviting 3 new groups to
join. This means that BEST is now settled in 70 European
high standard technology universities and is spread in 29
countries in Europe.
This year brought a lot of development in the area of
membership in BEST. The process to become a member
group of BEST is now flexible and adapted to the growth
process of the group individually. This way their motivation
and creativity will have space to grow, while learning more
about BEST at the same time.
Another 3 observer groups are patiently waiting to be
approved by BEST to join the organisation and take part in
all the activities.
On a General Meeting, the full members of BEST can
vote upon new groups democratically. To become a member group an action plan has to be presented, that states
On behalf of the whole organisation, we hope that the
next year in BEST will bring at least the same development
and innovation to all the former, current and future groups
of BEST.
Number of Local BEST Groups
Number of BEST Groups
80
Number of countries
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
2004
2006
Membership Changes
Presidents’ Meeting (Ljubljana, November 2005)
New observer groups
Madrid Carlos III
Reykjavik
Novi Sad
New Baby member
Brno
New Full members
Rome, Tor Vergata
Gdansk
Istanbul
Aalborg
General Assembly (Zagreb, April 2006)
New Observer groups
New Baby members
New Full member
Brussels ULB
Graz
Reykjavik
Novi Sad
Ekaterinburg USTU
8
Local BEST Groups
Name University
President no. of Members
Budget,€
Full members
Aalborg
Almada
Athens
Barcelona
Belgrade
Brasov
Bratislava
Brussels
Bucharest
Budapest
Chania
Cluj-Napoca
Coimbra
Copenhagen
ENSAM
ENSTA
Eindhoven
Ekaterinburg
Ekaterinburg, USTU
Gdansk
Ghent
Gliwice
Gothenburg
Grenoble
Helsinki
Iasi
Istanbul
Kosice
Krakow
Leuven
Liege
Lisbon
Ljubljana
Lodz
Louvain-la-Neuve
Lund
Aalborg University
New University of Lisbon
National Technical University of Athens
Technical University of Catalonia
University of Belgrade
“Transilvania” University of Brasov
Slovak University of Technology
Free University of Brussels (VUB)
“Politehnica” University of Bucharest
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Technical University of Crete (T.U.C.)
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
University of Coimbra
Technical University of Denmark
ENSAM
National Institute for Advanced Techniques
Eindhoven University of Technology
Urals State University of Railway Transport
Urals State Technical University
Gdansk University of Technology
Ghent University
Silesian University of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology
National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble
Helsinki University of Technology
“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi
Istanbul Technical University
Technical University of Kosice
AGH - University of Science and Technology
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
University of Liege
Instituto Superior Tecnico
University of Ljubljana
Technical University of Lodz
Catholic University of Louvain
Lund Institute of Technology
Jeppe Mulvad Larsen
14
Diogo Lorena
19
Myrto Argyropoulou55
Marcello Masgrau
20
Mirko Grujicic
30
Sebastian Jusca
35
Jan Mazanec
26
Imre Vanhemelryck
20
Dan Florescu50
Gabriella Kovacs
15
Manolis Koufidakis
15
Ligia Martin
45
Andre Guiomar
10
Anne Louise Frost
15
Anne Teichner
25
Rudy Pastel
5
Mark van Heeswijk
9
Natasha Borisova
30
Olga Gladysheva
22
Wojciech Kulesza
30
Liesbeth Taerwe
22
Kamil Korczynski
29
Jonas Sundell
20
Mathieu Delor
20
Kristina Uusi-Esko
15
Ionut Manastireanu50
Ahmet Sarialioglu
26
Rastislav Chomjak
15
Ewelina Szczudlo
35
Karel Eeckhout
16
Francois Bonjean6
David Paisana
32
Tanja Kranjc
20
Slawomir Klab
30
Christophe Bodson
16
Veronica Karlsson
12
5.000
28.000
15.000
18.000
3.490
12.500
5.000
10.000
33.000
3.000
8.000
25.000
4.500
26.800
5.000
2.000
10.000
14.000
5.000
11.500
10.000
20.000
20.000
15.000
7.500
15.000
9.500
8.000
36.370
7.500
10.000
15.000
40.000
10.560
7.000
17.000
9
Lviv
Lviv Polytechnic National University
Lyon
INSA Lyon
Madrid
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Maribor
University of Maribor
Milan
Politechnic of Milan
Nancy
National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine
Naples
University of Naples “Federico II”
Paris, Ecole Centrale
Centrale Paris
Paris, Polytechnique
Ecole Polytechnique
Patras
University of Patras
Porto
University of Porto
Riga
Riga Technical University
Rome
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Rome, Tor Vergata
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Skopje
University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”
Sofia
Technical University of Sofia
Stockholm
Royal Institute of Technology
Supelec
Supelec
Tallinn
Tallinn University of Technology
Tampere
Tampere University of Technology
Thessaloniki
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Timisoara
“Politehnica” University of Timisoara
Trondheim
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Turin
Politechnic of Turin
Uppsala
Uppsala University
Valladolid
University of Valladolid
Veszprem
University of Pannonia
Vienna
Vienna University of Technology
Warsaw
Warsaw University of Technology
Zagreb
University of Zagreb
Baby members Brno
Brno University of Technology
Kaunas
Kaunas University of Technology
Novi Sad
University of Novi Sad
Reykjavik
University of Iceland
Taras Kovtalo
30
Eric Dubreuil
15
Victor Astorga
20
Urska Krajnc
15
Massimiliano Araldi
10
Mederic Gillet
23
Alessandro Miceli
20
Emmanuel Louvrier7
Laetitia Messner
20
Aggelos Saliagkopoulos 25
Pedro Vilas-Boas
30
Kristina Kirsanova
36
Giuseppe Porsia 15
Riccardo Rossi
21
Ana Veta
35
Petya Lozanova
29
Kerstin Bengtsson
15
Jerome Henry
32
Armin Tull55
Heidi Lunden
10
Fanis Grollios
20
Karina Herman
45
Solveig Fiskaa
14
Ivan Difrancesco
25
Karin Sjostrand8
Igor Llorente
25
Borbala Bordas
25
Evelyn Napetschnig
23
Pawel Pelka
24
Petar Cvahte
45
Michal Kral
Daiva Bagdonaite
Janko Micic
Andri Kristinsson
My Passion for BEST
BEST is more than just a way to spend my whole time
and energy. It’s not only the amazing diversity of things you
can see and learn, not only the amazing amount of people
working for free on this one big idea, Europe; it’s not even
the sum of all this, it’s more: it’s this force you suddenly
feel when you get together with people you already know
or you never saw, but who are sharing the same ideas as
you do, the same enthusiasm, the same will to go further
and further...
But is BEST worth it? Always 1000 things to do, always
1000 things to think of, always the risk to meet someone
somewhere in Europe, without the guarantee to meet
again... but then, yes – the BEST experience is something
unique, which you remember your whole life! So, are you
ready for the challenge?
Manuel Gay
Local BEST Group Lyon
12
22
20
19
10.700
4.500
26.000
25.000
2.500
5.500
14.000
6.000
5.000
6.000
15.000
21.000
13.000
14.740
12.000
10.000
18.600
20.000
45.000
2.500
18.450
30.000
20.600
55.710
11.100
25.000
4.000
6.000
120.000
30.470
14.620
7.000
3.130
32.000
10
Complementary Education:
BEST Courses all around Europe
BEST offers a wide spectrum of activities,
all of which develop students in different ways.
However, there is one activity we cherish more
than anything, our service – complementary education. Each year local BEST groups organise
around 70 courses lasting from 1 to 2 weeks.
At a BEST course, the students gain knowledge within the branch of engineering the
course targets. Participating in a BEST Course
is a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop
your technical skills, improve your mobility and
start creating an international network of future engineers.
BEST Courses in 2005 – 2006
Title of the event
Organiser no. of appl./part. Winter season
The eyes in the skies
Artificial intelligence: success or failure of the humanity?
Energy: What Challenges for Tomorrow?
Mobile Magic – Let the waves do it!
Speak as you eat! - A tasty introduction to EATalian language
European Week 2006: Multicultural Project Management,
a messy melting POT ?
Mechatronics: Add Your Brick to Engineering
Build your own Smart Home!!!
ENSTA 141
Ekaterinburg, USTU 167
Paris, Ecole Centrale 283
Tallinn 403
Rome 762
20
20
20
22
20
Supélec 67250
Ekaterinburg 176
30
Athens 549
23
Spring Season
Robot Programming – Creating Intelligent Machines
Re-Design your city: Discover how to live with water!
Recycle-man, your friendly neighbour!!!
Nuclear Energy: from Fission to Fusion
Be like God - Control your climate
Stop Smoking & Go Faster! –
Discover the New World of Transportation
Careerology: The world after graduation
Robots and machines: How will they change us?
25 hours to innovate; from idea to object
Home, green home! – Build an ecological house
Materials Matter! – Materials science and its improvements
on the human potential.
Don’t let the scorpio tweak you! – workshop on mobile robotics
My heart will go on - Biomedical Engineering
Chania Thessaloniki Belgrade Paris, Polytechnique Sofia 193
218
168
217
103
20
20
20
22
22
ENSAM Ljubljana Lyon Nancy Grenoble 151
175
215
206
266
23
20
20
20
20
Patras Gliwice Lodz 150
94
146
22
20
20
Gothenburg 126
Maribor 162
Liege 79
Skopje 55
Tallinn 94
Kraków 138
26
25
20
24
24
22
Summer Season
Yacht Design
Milky way and Mars under the stars
Kick the ball and track it!
From scratch to a machine – Discover your dream car!
Papa’s got a brand new bag
Pimp my house! – Building Automation
11
No Panic with Bioinorganic – Discover your Proteens!
Copenhagen 120
Crash Course 2006
Ljubljana 89
Universal Design – Architecture for All
Vienna 189
Use your laser, man! – Optoelectronics
Warsaw 91
Feel the speed. Feel the engineering. –
What’s behind Formula 1 cars?
Madrid 295
Risk assessment in contaminated areas
Chania 207
Don’t get lost in three trees
Riga 142
Can we fix it? Yes, we can!! Bob, the biomedical engineer
Leuven 155
A look inside! Do you mind? – The human brain inside out
Eindhoven 255
Renewable energies
Louvain-la-Neuve 176
“Quality Management” – Rise up to the standards!
Cluj-Napoca 42
Face 2 Face With Signals
Iasi 69
Wild Water World – Let’s Get Wet!
Bratislava 160
LEt’s GO! –
Athens 252
“Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Learn about human resources management
Brasov 88
Photonics, your beam to the future!
Brussels 243
R.O.M.E. –
Raising Operations Management Effectiveness through Lean Production Rome, Tor Vergata 236
Coimbra’s ancient roots: Useful and Medicinal Plants!
Coimbra 157
Engineer the future: Get yourself sustainable!
Lisbon 358
What goes around comes around –
Renewable resources for sustainable production
Lund 131
Electricity from Thin Air – Wind Power!
Tampere 228
Let’s network – welcome to the candyshop!
Budapest 352
Empowering the 21st century – Energy systems of the future
Aalborg 213
Bridge up your life!
Trondheim 105
Wood Stock 2006
Helsinki 221
Go back to nature and into the future with Artificial Photosynthesis
Uppsala 142
Maritime Industry: Be like Popeye the Sailor Man. Sea It !!!
Gdansk 104
Robots – What Can They Do With (out) Us?
Almada 175
Wake Up, Join the Robolution!
Porto 163
Safe Structural Design
Brno 98
On the move? Do it safe!
Naples 152
The Birth of BEST Anthem. e-Music - a Creative Approach
Kaunas 66
Pedal to the Metal – 10 things you don’t know about your car
Bucharest 73
When Imagination Comes True: Big Infrastructures Made in Italy
Milan 226
I like the way you move
Turin 197
Wind – Water – Heat – Sun: The power is around us
Valladolid 246
Number of applications and participants for year 2005-2006
12325
25
25
20
20
20
20
20
20
25
20
20
20
21
20
20
20
20
20
30
24
20
20
24
27
24
26
23
30
20
22
20
25
25
20
24
27
1422
A Professor’s Experience with BEST Courses
In the spring of 2005, I was asked by one of my former
students to get involved in teaching a BEST summer course.
Although I was alone to handle a two-week teaching, I was free
to choose the theme of the course and had authority to assess
the students’ competence.
Due to the interesting cultural diversity encountered in a
BEST class, the ideas were exchanged more rapidly than in an
ordinary class, and I was impressed by the ability of the students
to understand and correctly master a matter out of their usual
scope. This is why I would also recommend it to my colleagues.
Professor Jacques Hermia
BEST summer course July 2005
12
More External Events
When applying for a BEST event, one
will notice the great variety of events,
which BEST offers in addition to BEST
courses. They are BEST Engineering
Competitions, Leisure events and Events
on Education.
These events are very different from
our courses and give the students other
possibilities of developing themselves. No
matter if they want to improve their cultural understanding, express their opinion on educational issues in Europe or
use the knowledge they already gained
at their home universities to compete
with other international students, then
BEST gives them the possibility of doing
just that.
Title of the event
Organiser Number of Number of
applications participants
BEST Engineering Competition
BEST Engineering Competition
BEC – BEST Engineering Competition
BECool! BECreative! BECompetitive!
BEST Engineering Competition
BEST Engineering Competition – Pump it up!!
Events on Education
BEST Academics and Companies Forum
Ethics and Sustainable Development issues
in Engineering Education
Active Learning in Engineering Education
Virtual Mobility – the Educational Challenge
of the Future
National & Inter-European Challenges in Bologna
Process Implementation
Leisure
events
(B)eat the Snowflakes!
Viking Winter – Discover how warm Sweden can be
Career Event: What Kind of Engineer are You?
The slopes are alive!
Retro Roots
Navigare Necesse (B)EST: Sailing Event
Belgium By Bike: A Beer too Far
B5: boats between beer, bears and beach
Go High Reloaded
Tallinn 75 21
Timisoara Veszprém Barcelona 57 33 163 23
20
20
Istanbul 195 20
202 170 20
20
Madrid Porto Bucharest 59 20
Lviv 69 23
Bratislava Stockholm Ghent Vienna Kosice Lodz Ghent Ekaterinburg Cluj-Napoca 96 201 151 156 11 35 97 52 52 22
20
20
20
11
20
20
25
16
13
BEST Educational Involvement
Events on Education
Through its Educational Involvement, BEST provides
European students of technology with a platform to gather
knowledge and discuss their ideas on specific topics of engineering education.
The core action is constituted by Events on Education,
which are meeting places for students and other stakeholders in engineering education – universities and companies.
There, they have the chance to debate and produce significant outcomes on various educational issues.
In order to achieve its goals in the field of education,
BEST cooperates with various networks and organisations.
They appreciate BEST as the most excellent opportunity to
get the input from students in their European-wide initiatives. This is enabling BEST to act as a key player in the
decision-making process.
In 2005 BEST became a member of the Thematic Network EIE-Surveyor and its members attended 13 conferences all around Europe, presenting both the outcomes of
the Events on Education and their personal contributions.
To achieve the goals of Educational Involvement, during
the period July 2005 – June 2006 five Events on Education
were organised by Local BEST Groups Rome Tor Vergata,
Aalborg, Istanbul, Madrid and Porto. 1045 students applied
to these events and in the end, there were 105 participants.
More than 40 university and company representatives also
took part there.
The topics of the events ranged from E-Learning to Ethical Issues, from Extra Curricular Activities to Virtual Mobility
and accreditation. Their outcomes were presented to different Thematic Networks and at some European educational
conferences such as SEFI Annual Conference.
Late at night in a train to Istanbul, I was thinking “Here I am, travelling to an event
where I am supposed to discuss education. Who am I to discuss with professors or companies representatives, who know much more about education than me?”
In the following days I realised my doubts were unfounded. Participating in the BEST
Academics and Companies Forum, I took active part in discussions with fellow students and
professionals, who were listening with great interest to the ideas of twenty students from
all over Europe.
When I came back home, I knew that our input – as students – was valuable.
Goncalo Castro, participant
BEST Academic and Companies Forum
Istanbul, February 2006
14
BEST involvement in Thematic Networks
Thematic Networks are a special kind of network
structured as a three-year project on a specific theme
of concern in engineering education, supported and financed under the framework of the Socrates Erasmus
programme. Their influence on the decision – making
process in matters concerning universities and their students is significant.
BEST is participating in these networks most often as
the sole and only student organisation. Therefore, its contribution is seen as valuable and necessary. The following
table describes the Thematic Networks BEST is currently
member of and outlines their role within the project.
Thematic Network Description
EIE-Surveyor:
reference point for
Electrical and Information
engineering in Europe
TREE:
Teaching and Research in Engineering in Europe
ReVE:
Real Virtual Erasmus
Role of BEST
• Reflection on generic competences and subject-specific
competences in Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE),
• Implementation of quality assessment methodologies on
some educational resources available in EIE,
• Reflection and proposition of a methodology for accreditation, in order to enhance comparability and common certification procedures,
• Proposition of a census of the existing curricula in EIE in
Europe, the multinational degrees, and the situation of the implementation of the Bologna-process in EIE, at the bachelor,
master and PhD levels
BEST is a member of the Monitoring
Team of the network
The global goal of TREE is the development of the European
dimension in Engineering Education (EE). This means enhancing the compatibility of the many diverse routes to the
formation of Engineering graduates which exist in Europe in
order to facilitate greater mobility of skilled personnel and
integration of the various situations throughout Europe.
BEST is a member of the TREE Management Committee and is currently leading
two Special Interest Groups (SIGs): B6
“Stimulating student research in the first
cycle” and C8 “The role of extra-curricular activities in engineering education”
The REVE project is aimed at enhancing the impact and efficiency of traditional Erasmus programmes through the setup and support of mainstream Virtual Erasmus actions in the
European Higher Education Area.
BEST is a member of the ReVE Management Team.
15
Declining Student Interest for S&T Studies: Trends, Factors, and
Solutions…
The development of student enrolments in science
and technology (S&T) at various levels of the educational
system has been an issue of interest in many OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
countries over the recent years, as economies are increasingly driven by complex knowledge and advanced cognitive
skills. The OECD Global Science Forum has just completed
a two-year study on this issue, which analysed statistical
data on student enrolments and graduation rates together
with information on factors contributing to possible declining interest. Solutions attempted in different countries, and
the preliminary findings were debated during a concluding
international conference in Amsterdam.
In the search for possible speakers and panel members
from the student community, who could bring their own
view of the problem during the conference, BEST has been
the most helpful partner and their cooperation the most
promising. A survey addressing the reasons why students
chose to pursue S&T careers was prepared and carried
out by BEST. Its results were presented during a keynote
speech in the Amsterdam event.
We look forward for the input of such active and interested student organisations as BEST, in issues of concern
Frederic Sgard
OECD,
Global Science Forum
Students and Virtual Mobility: Our BEST Experience
For a few years now EuroPACE is collaborating intensively with BEST. It all started within the TREE – Thematic
Network, in which both organisations are partners.
Since then we had plenty of occasions to discuss with
students about virtual mobility, and as an example we could
refer to the ReVE project, where we try to enhance the impact and efficiency of traditional Erasmus programs through
the set-up and support of mainstream Virtual Erasmus actions in the European Higher Education Area. We took BEST
on board as a partner to have the students’ point of view
at each phase of the project, and more importantly, in each
step to implement virtual mobility in their learning process.
Besides the very constructive input from the students’
representatives in all project meetings, we could also count
on BEST to fine – tune further our project’s intermediate
results thanks to the workshops we could organise during
BEST Symposia on Education, the outcomes of which are
very valuable for the projects of ReVE Virtual Mobility.
We value a lot the constructive attitude of BEST in the
ReVE project and the students’ willingness to be involved in
projects on European level. We already have BEST included
as a partner in new project proposals, and we are definitely
looking forward to further collaboration.
Wim Van Petegem
Vice-chairman EuroPACE¹
and Director K.U.Leuven - AVNet
1 EuroPACE is a network of European universities collaborating in the field of e-learning – for more information, see:
http://www.europace.org
Teaching and Research in Engineering Education – for more
information, see: http://www3.unifi.it/tree
Real Virtual Erasmus – for more information, see: http://reve.
europace.org/
16
Career Support
BEST Career Centre
Where to draw a line between higher education and a career life? It is all about developing
necessary skills and facing challenges – every day.
These are the two passions of BEST members and
we want to share it with other students.
Did you dream of an IT system gathering all
Career related services for BEST students and companies to meet?
Despite the last years of problems with BEST
Career Support, members chose to keep it as one
of our core activities and develop it further. We want
it to complement our other services in order to support the development of students comprehensively
through their studies and into their working lives.
We hope to bring BEST to the leading edge of providing career support for students by students.
-
We have it at http://www.best.eu.org/bcc
A database of over 8000 CVs of those students
Job and internship offers from our partners
Complete profiles of our partners
Promotion of special programmes…
On this platform, BEST students not only find
information about their future employers, but also
find out about special opportunities for seminars,
internships and jobs. BEST partners, on the other
hand, have access to those students by searching
among those high talented students, speaking 3
languages for the majority, and eager to develop
career experience abroad. One of the powerful
tools of the system is a targeted newsletter: to
reach students in a specific region, a field, or all
of them.
BEST Career Centre is already a fast improving
tool, entitled to propose more features and applications for both students and partners: a tool to get
those stakeholders from all Europe always closer.
Connecting Students to the Corporate World
The love story between Schlumberger and me
started in 2005 at the XXIV General Assembly in
Greece where I got to know the company during
the presentation session of the opening day.
At that time, I was looking for a job in an international company that would be technical oriented
at the beginning and that later on would give me
the opportunity to go into management. After talking with the Schlumberger recruiter it was obvious
to me that Schlumberger was a company I would
like to work for.
I am now working in Scotland in Schlumberger
for almost one year and I am enjoying every bit,
as my job is challenging and full of unpredictable
situations.
Angela Scaueru
Junior Field Engineer
Schlumberger
17
Career Events
This year a new kind of event was tried out: the
BEST Career Event. The program of Career Events
consists of a mixture of company workshops, training, debates and discussions. The goal is to help the
attending students to get in closer contact with potential employers, and to provide them with a better
understanding of the company lifestyle. Interested
companies can hold their own workshops and company presentation within the alotted time.
So far, three career events have been held, organised by Local BEST Groups Turin, Ghent and
Ljubljana. The Career Events are currently still in
a trial phase, and there were strong differences
between the selection procedure for attending students, and the number and background of the joining companies. In the future, BEST will evaluate the
Career Event concept, to see if it could become a
standardised event to be offered to students and
companies.
Job Fairs in 2005 – 2006
Organisers
Belgrade
Brasov
Bucharest
Cluj-Napoca
Gdansk
Gdansk
Gliwice
Gliwice
Iasi
Krakow
Lisbon
Lodz
Louvain-la-Neuve
Porto
Skopje
Sofia
Supelec
Tallinn
Timisoara
Valladolid
Warsaw
Zagreb
Dates
Oct 31 - Nov 01 2005
May 15 - May 18 2006
May 8 - May 11 2006
May 16 - May 17 2006
18 October 2005
9 November 2005
Mar 7 - Mar 8 2006
6 October 2005
13 April 2006
14 March 2006
Mar 13 - Mar 24 2006
23 March 2006
Mar 6 - Mar 9 2006
6 April 2006
Mar 20 - Mar 22 2006
Oct 25 - Oct 27 2005
6 March 2006
Mar 30 - Mar 31 2006
Apr 5 - Apr 6 2006
29 March 2006
May 9 - May 10 2006
Mar 21 - Mar 23 2006
No. of visitors No. of companies
1.500
12
4.000
29
5.00084
3.000
35
250
1
200
1
5.000
34
2.000
10
3.000
17
8.000
46
1206
4.000
32
40065
70
1
2.000
14
15.000
30
1505
4.00056
6.000
40
5.000
18
10.000
39
10.000
22
18
P&G is the world’s leading fast moving consumer good companies, marketing over 300 brands of
top quality (a.o. Pampers, Pringles, Gillette). The
secret of these good results? Our people. Thanks
to our promotion from within policy, the new hires
of today are the leaders of tomorrow.
That’s exactly the reason why P&G values the
cooperation with BEST already for many years and
will put even more focus in the coming year on leveraging it to a higher level.
We strongly believe that students participating
in BEST activities gain extra-curricular experience
which makes them better prepared for their future
career in a business environment getting more dynamic and demanding every day.
On top, the pan-European network of BEST groups
facilitates active promotion of P&G seminars or vacancies to a very specific audience of engineering students all over Europe.
As such we want to play an active role in supporting the BEST members who enthusiastically invest a
few years of their life to help their fellow students. We
do think that the challenges they are facing now are
helping them to develop themselves into the managers of tomorrow we are looking for!
Wouter Schaekers
Procter&Gamble
BEST member 2000-2004
19
The Board of BEST
Local Group Support
The International Board of BEST is the yearly elected
top-management team, consisting of six members: the
President, the Treasurer, the Secretary and the three VicePresidents: for External Services, for Internal Support and
for Local Group Support. Within this structure, the members
of the Board coordinate the information flow among the
Local BEST Groups, supervise the international projects developed to support the services offered to students, decide
upon the division of resources and represent the organisation towards the outside world.
This is all done in a multi-cultural environment and in
parallel with their regular university studies, which makes
their task very challenging and educational.
While the network of BEST expands, the connections
between each BEST group become more essential. This
year a new function in the board and a first generation of
regional advisors dedicated one year to take care of keeping the overview of the local groups and providing support
where needed.
Sharing between BEST groups got extra attention, to
assure the individual knowledge and experience of every
BEST group is spread among the network. To fully support
our Local Groups, the needed IT & promotion tools were
continuously improved and individual trainings were provided if requested by a BEST group.
The Committees of BEST
BEST International Committees cooperate with the Board
members to achieve their goals and to provide materials,
services and communication tools to Local BEST Groups to
improve their activities.
Corporate Relations Team: makes and keeps contacts with partners and sponsors of BEST (Coordinator:
Raido Kivinurm)
Educational Committee: represents BEST in educational matters and European Thematic Networks (Coordinator: Nicolò Wojewoda)
External Events Committee: manages the organisation of BEST Courses and other events (Coordinator: Nuno
Andrade)
IT Committee: supports BEST in IT-related matters
(Coordinator: Rudolf Mayer)
PR, web and marketing Team: designs promotional
materials and maintains the image of BEST (Coordinator:
Harilaos Vasiliadis)
Training Interested Group: manages the BEST Training System and aids Local Groups in HR related matters
(Coordinators: Federico Pisanu, Cristina Dumitru)
Career Support Committee: provides international
career oportunities to the young engineers in Europe (Coordinator: Madalina Niculae)
The committee members are students from all Local
BEST Groups, who join the committee based on their own
motivation and this gives the committees an international
aspect. The majority of committee work is done virtually, on
mailing lists and with the use of chat, servers and wiki.The
committees are lead by a coordinator, elected every year.
20
Our Achievements in 20052006
At the beginning of every summer, the International Board analyses the status of the organisation
and sets goals for the following year. These goals are
results of a thorough analysis of the resources, needs,
projects and fresh initiatives. Each goal comes with a
set of actions (timeframe, task division, planning) and
along the year, this makes it easier for us to achieve
our goals. During the process, we learn to be flexible,
to adapt, to change and to re-define the plans. The
main goals for 2005-2006 are presented below; enjoy
discovering the achievements we are really proud of!
Defining BEST Identity
After sixteen years of existence, BEST found itself
standing on a turning point. The goals and aims set in
the early nineties were not coherent anymore with the
current situation. The process of re-evaluating the organisation and its aims started, and after the first year of
working, involving everybody from fresh members to the
founders of BEST, a new identity statement was created.
The main leap forward is the change in the definition and
focus of the association: a network that was aimed “to
promote Europe among Europeans” became an organisation that aims to develop students.
Merging IT Systems
Gone are the days when BEST members needed three
usernames and passwords to access all our services –
Private Area, BEST Application System and BEST Career
Centre. Since 2006, these systems can be reached with
one login only, and their common data, like addresses,
can be shared.
This new feature was realised by the IT committee of
BEST, who developed a Merger tool to let people merge
their different accounts in each system. After thorough
preparation, BEST members can now enjoy not only an
easy access to BEST online, but also a transparent way of
sharing information. The next challenge is to make this
feature available also to non-members.
21
Establishing External Relations
While studying the contacts of BEST with the outside
world, we realised that until now the approach towards External Relations was uncoordinated, it lacked a clear strategy and a well-defined overview. This naturally happened
due to the growth of the network and the constant need of
adapting the system to the size of the organisation. How-
ever, during the last years, the growth became constant and
predictable and the need for an External Relations Agenda
became a priority. This year BEST investigated the current
situation in detail and defined a strategy for establishing an
External Relations system.
Evaluating Career Support
In the last years, BEST Career Support service has
not developed as we hoped. The interest towards what
we offer has not grown enough inside and outside the
organisation. This year we analysed the service to find
causes to this problem.
We found out that what we offered was not coherent with the needs of our partners and did not provide
enough added value to students. Thus our focus and
the role of BEST in the career field was redefined.
The current activities are based on our partners’
needs, so their focus was shifted to students with international mindset, high mobility and readiness to
face challenges. In addition, a new project started, researching more into what unique value we could offer
to students in terms of their career. We aim to realise
the full potential of BEST in the career field.
22
Communication and Internal
Events
Virtual Communication
We are students from various universities in Europe
and making our projects work relies, to some extent, on
face-to-face meetings. Only through these meetings real
interaction, cultural exchange and sharing are possible.
Around 50 such internal meetings happen every year,
from decision-making General Meetings, to workshops
and trainshops, from board meetings to short intensive
meetings of committees.
Every year, our most involved members meet in any
given corner of Europe to discover once again the BEST
spirit, to share, to gain new knowledge, to improve and
to have a taste of multinational team-work.
With 70 Local BEST Groups in 29 countries, the biggest problem that arises is obviously communication. One
hundred years ago, it would have been difficult to let students in Reykjavik know that they were accepted to a
summer course in Istanbul. Today it is only a matter of
seconds. As a network of students of technology, we have
well discovered the wonders of virtual communication.
Staying in touch in order to exchange ideas and work
together is important, that is why we exchange e-mails
and why we have instant messaging sessions; we put together projects even if we live thousands of miles away.
Internal Events
in 2005-2006
Type of event Number of events
General Meetings
Board Meetings
Committee Meetings
Workshops
JAMboree
Regional Meetings
Alumni Meetings
Number of participants
2
3
15
3
1
19
4
348
36
220
60
414
720
41
23
What is the BEST Training System?
Among all BEST events, there are also training events
that help BEST members to be efficient in specific areas as
well as provide good basis for our internal work. All the work
done in this area is correlated to the idea of BEST training
system that was born in 1998. When joining a Local BEST
Group, a new member immediately recieves basic knowledge about BEST and the training through all his BEST
life begins. BEST Jamboree should be then the next step
where BEST members encounter the international taste of
the organisation.
Next a mixture of local and international training opportunities comes. Knowledge is transferred on various topics via LBG motivation weekends, local LBG training, and
training on Regional Meetings. These are already somewhat
specific and mostly suitable up to local project management
and some Local Board functions. The foam on the cake is
of course the selection of top quality, specialised training
courses on international environment. The core of it is the
series of TrainShops, which cater for different fields necessary in special positions of an LBG. Be it about leadership,
fundraising, PR or IT, it always contains a great deal of applied knowledge specific to BEST. Accompanying Training
Interested Group, BEST Committees also actively take part
in organising such events, providing nessesary knowledge
on the field of their work.
Trainers Camps (TRAP) takes place once a year. New
BEST trainers are grown up to keep on transfer BEST heritage to new generation of BEST members. In addition, new
trainers always have opportunity to improve their skills by
attending periodically organised Trainers Meetings (TRAM).
In practice sometimes, the learning experience is not this
linear. However, if going on this training path, BEST can
assure great knowledge transfer and provide the continuity
of the whole organisation. For better overview of trainingrelated BEST events, the table of these events during last
year is presented.
Trainings for BEST members
Organisers Number of participants
Trainers Camp – trainers education and development
beKNOWN – training on marketing and design
bePROUD – training for leaders and managers
beRICHER – training on HR and optimising resources
beMORE– trainers education and development
Trainers Meeting Cluj-Napoca
Brussels
Sofia
Lodz
Louvain-la-Neuve Brussels
21
20
20
20
20
13
24
BEST IT Systems: Supporting Communication
In order to support BEST in achieving its goals and visions and guarantee good communication between all Local BEST groups, IT Committee of BEST provides technical
resources and services, developing concepts of IT applications and implementing the systems.
As a part of this job, ITC takes care of a network of
servers distributed across Europe to support BEST online
services. Thanks to the help of the Local BEST Groups and
the universities that host and provide the Internet access,
BEST can be online for the whole world. Moreover, BEST
members use everyday the internal services designed to
improve the communication and productivity of the organisation in their daily activities.
Application Servers
Mail Servers
An application server is a server, which hosts services as
webpages and databases, and also other applications such
as backup tools.
A mail server is a server making sure that the delivery of
emails going to @BEST.eu.org addresses happens.
Lisbon (Web Application Server)
Hosted by Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Tallinn (Development Server)
Hosted by Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
Cluj-Napoca
The server was acquired by Local Best Group Vienna
Hosted by the Local Best Group Cluj-Napoca
Stockholm
Hosted by the Local Best Group Stockholm
Ghent (Development Server)
The server was donated by Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Hosted by the Local Best Group Ghent
Tallinn
Hosted by the Local Best Group Tallinn
Chania (Database Backup Server)
Hosted by the Local Best Group Chania
Valladolid
Donated and hosted by the Local Best Group Valladolid
Tallinn (FTP & Backup Server)
Donated and hosted by the Local Best Group Tallinn
Vienna
Donated and hosted by the Local Best Group Vienna
25
Streaming to a Common Image
“We are beautiful!” said a BEST member recently. We
are creative students, full of energy and motivation. This is
obvious when you meet us, when you attend our events,
when you hear about our activities. Nevertheless, this message has to appear through all of our means of communication. The image of BEST around Europe has neither been
coherent, nor representative of who we really are.
To achieve that, the members of the PR, Web and Marketing Committee of BEST (PRteam) worked a lot this past
year. By learning, planning and designing, we managed to
set an action plan in order to develop the Corporate Identity
of BEST. It would be the link between the newly written
BEST Identity and the chosen ways of communication with
our target audience and partners.
The design also took steps forward with the implementation of the fresh “shields” in all the materials. While still
leaving enough space for creativity, the shields provide the
necessary connection among the PR-materials throughout
Europe, therefore making BEST more recognisable. Together with fresher and more specific colours, you can already
notice the difference in the remarkable creations our young
engineer-designers produce.
In the year that follows, we will continue to design and
develop the Corporate Identity in order to achieve a common image of BEST both internally and externally.
26
BEST Alumni Network
After 17 years of activity, the amount of BEST members
increases daily and so does the number of experienced
retired BESTies. The Alumni network of BEST, gathering
engineers working all over Europe in all different fields, is
expanding day by day, to keep in touch with good friends
and to be updated about the current life/issues of BEST
as well as to help each other to share career experiences
or to give a hand to young BEST-graduates looking for an
international career.
Their successful presence in the European businessworld, as researchers, engineers or managers, proves
that BEST holds a huge potential of open-minded future
engineers.
Word from the First President
of BEST
Ida Lau Borch
In 1988, my Student Union was invited to Grenoble to
discuss the possibility of creating a student organisation
for students of technology across Europe. After a week of
work, fun, skiing and a lot of new friendships, we had decided to do something new - to create a student body that
we called BEST.
This was 18 years ago. Time flies! Is BEST still about
the same? In Eindhoven, autumn 1988, we had a guy from
Dresden, then DDR, attending our meeting. He had to
report to the local police every 24 hours, and was in the
“West” for the first time. The world now is a different place.
BEST is a different organisation. However, there are some
core values in BEST that are thankfully constant.
Those core values are the idealism of student organisation work, the practicality and realism common in those
who study technology, and the fun that comes from spending time with people from other cultures. In BEST, the sky
has never been a limit - just another border to pass. One
of the first things decided about BEST was to make it an
organisation that would exist to DO SOMETHING for the
students in our universities. That is idealism and that created the summer courses.
I don’t know where BEST is going, but I am sure that if
the organisation keeps true to its values of idealism, realism and fun, wherever it goes, it will be good. I hope the
alumni will go the same way. The alumni of BEST are a
unique opportunity. Thousands of dedicated, hard-working,
idealistic people in a network that includes a great diversity
of companies, cultures, competencies and careers - imagine
what we can achieve through such a network! Together we
can do anything, reach the moon or abandon poverty - the
problem is, we have to decide what it is we really want to
do.
27
Careers in Europe: A Successful Cooperation
Twice a year, the “Careers in Europe Forum” recruitment events bring together in Brussels and Berlin several
hundred graduates very strictly selected among many thousands from across Europe and international recruiters representing major international groups.
Prestigious hotels in Brussels and Berlin are transformed
into a recruitment centres for the occasion with bedrooms
set up as interview rooms.
Each event lasts two days during which more than 1500
private interviews are held between applicants and recruiters for among the best graduate positions available on the
market with many companies looking for engineers. The
Forum concept is unique in Europe because of its 100%
pan-European nature.
BEST has agreed to be an official partner of the Careers
in Europe Forum in order to position itself as a leading European student association able to present top candidates to
top-employers. The Forums benefit from very strong marketing campaigns and BEST logo is a part of them.
Careers in Europe, through BEST, has been able to
present to multinational companies excellent BEST members who had, on top of a strong academic background,
language skills and international experience. Many companies are discovering BEST through this partnership.
Some of the companies that have attended the 2005
event or will attend the 2006 event include: Arcelor, Bertelsmann, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bouygues Construction, Bridgestone, Brose, Cargill, Commerzbank, Deloitte, Deutsche
Post World Net Business Consulting, Dupont de Nemours,
Henkel, Hochtief, Masterfoods, part of Mars Incorporated,
Nestlé, Philip Morris International, PSA Peugeot Citröen,
Reckitt Benckiser, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, sanofi-aventis, Siemens Management Consulting, Swift, Total,
Tyco, UCB, Unilog, Yves Rocher, Wolseley, World of TUI,
etc…
For further information, please visit
http://www.careersineurope.com/forum
or
[email protected]
Stephane Wajskop
Managing Director, Careers In Europe
28
Cooperating with other
Organisations
BEST is an organisation used to multi-cultural work
and cooperation. The same way that sharing internally
between 70 groups from 29 different countries helps us
become stronger, sharing externally with other student
organisations can be just as useful for our development.
This is why we are always open to other students’ organisations.
We share ideas for the same target group or teach
and learn new things about approaching NGO-specific issues and strategies. We have two official partner-organisations and contacts with several others, all of which are
supervised and maintained by our Ambassador.
IFISO
The Informal Forum of International Students (IFISO)
constitutes an informal cooperation among 20 of the biggest student organisations around the world that are represented in Europe. BEST is an active member of IFISO,
because we believe in sharing as a first step in finding
solutions to any problem a student organisation may face
and because we feel the need of a platform in general
matters concerning European NGOs. The informal sharing
takes place virtually, through the online IFISO group, and
face-to-face, through yearly meetings that are spontaneously and voluntarily organised by the members. BEST
was represented in both IFISO meetings organised this
year where the main topics discussed were: NGO regulations, obtaining funds from grants, external relations,
membership process.
29
bonding
The bonding-studenteninitiative e.V. is an association
run for students by students in order to develop their path
to the professional life. We achieve this through a big variety of projects with students and companies in our 11
locations in Germany.
By cooperating with BEST, we are able to give an international insight to our students. We participate in the
Season Course programme of BEST and have the possibility to send German students across Europe. Last year
we attended each other’s internal events: August 2005
- bonding-BEST Ambassadors’ meeting, November 2005 BEST Presidents’ Meeting, January 2006 - bonding Gesamtvorstandstreffen (President’s Meeting), April 2006 - BEST
General Assembly Zagreb.
We want to thank BEST for nine years of valuable, productive and fruitful cooperation!
Christian Banik
President of bonding
(PR, IT, International Matters)
2005/06
CFES
International relations between CFES (Canadian Federation of Engineering Students) and BEST have hit new highs!
In January, we were pleased to have Bram and Nadina attend the CFES Congress, our annual national conference.
Bernard Goupil, our VP Finance and Administration, attended BEST General Assembly in Zagreb in April, returning
impressed once again with BEST.
All of our attendees to BEST courses thoroughly enjoyed
their experience.
Finally, with the kickoff of the International Engineering
Competition project, cooperation is better than ever before!
Thank you again for a great year of cooperation, and on
behalf of the CFES, we look forward to many more years of
accomplishments between our organisations!
Following that, we had one participant in your spring
season – Daisy Yee attended LBG Sofia’s course. From
talking with her, she had a great time. During the summer
season, we had many Canadians and BESTies coming and
going which was fantastic to see. We had the pleasure of
hosting Sofijia Cali, Daniel Andersson and Nuno Machado.
Sincerely,
Kyle Ruttan
CFES International
Relations Commissioner 2006-2007
30
GEOLOGY/GEOPHYSICS
PETROPHYSICS
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
PRODUCT/PROCESS RESEARCH
ENGINEERING:
RESERVOIR/PETROLEUM
WELL
PRODUCTION
PROCESS
ASSET MAINTENANCE
PROJECT/FACILITIES
DISCIPLINE
Innovation is a way of life at Shell. We
operate at the leading edge – not only in oil,
Great training you can take for granted
– along with real responsibility. And within
gas and chemicals, but also in renewables
such as wind and solar energy.
our global business, there will be many
opportunities to match your aspirations.
But technical leadership begins with technical
expertise. Which is why we work so hard to
So if you want to achieve more in your
career, get together with Shell. You can make
attract and develop people like you – today’s
talent and tomorrow’s leaders.
your online application right now – just visit
our careers website.
Shell is an Equal Opportunity Employer
www.shell.com/careers
Find it
The right
career direction
31
Finances of BEST in 2005-2006
BEST is a constantly growing and evolving organisation.
As such, its finances have to follow the move and take into
account the impact of the changes. The expenses are defined and voted according to the directions the organisation
needs to follow to continue a sustainable growth. The revenues are ensured by cooperation with corporate partners
and grants, based on trust and on the added value BEST
brings to the society.
Expenses
BEST offers services to students of technology. Those
services aim at developing by taking actions, being responsible and innovative. BEST is the challenge that prepares
students for their future life. As such, the organisation has
a complete structure and working meetings.
The organisation covers the expenses related to its
functioning: organisation of working meetings, general
meetings, delivering quality-training, production of promotional materials and covering representation expenses. We
want all members to develop fairly, and the organisation to
spread properly.
Board and Coordinators 14,30%
Representation 2,20%
Not Fixed Meetings 9,90 %
International Teams 6,60%
Administration 4,40%
Training 3,30%
Company Meetings 2,20%
Competition Event 0,44%
Events on Education 1,65%
PR 9,90%
Unexpected 0,00%
Extra-expenses 1,10%
General Meetings 44,00%
Revenues
As much for grants as for partnerships with companies,
the positioning of BEST as an organisation and its added
value (compared to others) are crucial. BEST presents its
activities and its goals to foundations and to the European
Commission every year, giving evidence of how it brings European students of technology together and develops them
to be responsible and active in the society.
Corporate partners support BEST for its activities, services for students offered by students, as those soon-to-be
graduates will drive these companies in the next years. All
the support and partnerships allow BEST to sustain its development and set its position in Europe.
Corporate partners 32,32%
Career Support Partners 28,28%
Supporters 2,02%
Project Partners 3,03%
EU Grant 27,27%
Extra revenues 2,02%
LBGs contributions 5,05%
32
Starting a Cooperation with BEST Bain & Company input
BEST is an open gate to generations of skilled technical students; and we share the keys to this gate with our
partners!
There is a possible access through Local BEST Groups in
the case of a specific interest in a university of the network.
This can also be extended to cooperation with a panel of
groups together for some bigger impact, national for example. And, for a European target group, a cooperation with
the entire organisation allows diverse opportunities.
The content of partnership can go from a presentation,
case studies or training sessions to challenge the students
and contribute to their development, until some very complex common projects BEST-partner on a common topic of
interest. BEST looks forward to find the perfect door to fit
with a potential partner and improve the links between the
talented students of technology and companies.
For any information, one password to open BEST doors:
[email protected]
Very similar to BEST, Bain & Company is striving to create an exceptional environment where passionate individuals are challenged, able to make a difference and supported
in continuously learning new skills. Our objective of the cooperation was therefore very clear: to show our passion in
creating results by applying a typical Bain & Company case
approach on a strategic topic within BEST.
With strong support from the BEST International Board,
an interactive session was prepared covering historic growth
within BEST and some of the strategic choices BEST made.
Bain’s goal was not to give answers but to stimulate the
thinking around Strategic choices BEST can take with a focus on its Career Service. Sharing Bain industry insights and
applying some frameworks stimulated students in thinking
around the topic.
Positive feedback, numerous discussions after the session and seeing the session resulted in strategic choices
BEST recently made, proved the concept to be successful. As a company, we hoped we gave everyone a flavour
of Strategy consulting. Many former BEST members have
joined Bain & Company and are sharing our passion to deliver results. We hope more will follow.
Alexander De Mol
Senior Consultant,
Bain & Company
Corporate Partners
Career Support Partners
Supporters
Partners: Shell
Since I graduated from BEST two years ago, I see
more than ever how the experience translates into real
world skills that are well aligned with a company like
Shell. At Shell, my colleagues and I work across borders
and cultures everyday to face challenges from technical,
logistical, environmental, social etc. We see something
similar happening in BEST, where every year groups of
students love to “go the extra mile” to interact with colleagues across Europe virtually or face to face to make
their initiatives a success. This requires you to be motivated, resourceful, and cross-culturally capable. These
“soft” skills combined with sound technical knowledge is
celebrated at Shell, hence our continued partnership with
BEST.
At Shell, we see a big benefit for BEST and ourselves
as when we interact we can constantly learn from each
other. We have been partners for some years now and we
hope that more BEST members will join us to help tackle
the global energy challenge.
Gert Kloeck
Project Engineer at Shell
BEST Leuven 2002-2004
Partners: Schlumberger
Schlumberger is a place where diversity, excellence,
technology and innovation have become a way of life for
the people in all levels of the organisation. We are always
looking for engineers who are fond of continuous learning, challenges and responsibilities, and BEST has proven
itself to be a valuable partner in our search.
Considering last year’s collaboration with BEST, the
largest European network of engineering students, on
both local and European level – the number and quality of the events we have attended or collaborated being
quite impressive, we are confident that we will extend
and strengthen our bond in the future, and we are looking forward to the challenges we will meet together in the
following years.
www.BEST.eu.org