AEGEE tries to give as many opportunities as possible to young Europeans by minimizing the cost of participation in the events and making them accessible to everyone! The organizers of every event are students and young people – like you, who want to guide you to the best parts of their city, to take you to the best clubs, to show you the best sights, food and the local culture! Low cost does not mean low quality or idle time and activity cuts. The opposite in fact! The organizers take advantage of all kinds of student discounts and sponsorships from the public and private sector, often dropping the cost to 10-20 euros per day! This price includes accommodation, food, activities, transportation during the event, but not your personal and air travel expenses. Think about how much a meal on a Greek island or a night in a hotel would cost you if you traveled alone, do the math and see how much you can save!
Some events like the Summer Universities are more strictly administered and the cost cannot exceed the price of 14 euros per day. In other events that take place during the year the cost can be at the same or higher price, but this is usually justified by the activities included in the event.All the AEGEE events are uploaded in the AEGEE online platform(MyAEGEE) and all the members have access and can apply!
In terms of content, AEGEE events are simply the best! There are a variety of events and places to choose from. Namely, cultural events, thematic conferences, personal development trainings, language courses and let’s not forget the General Assembly of AEGEE – the Agora – and the European Planning Meeting of AEGEE! There is something for everyone and most events combine the cultural experiences and meeting new friends with thematic trainings and exercising one’s soft skills.
What makes AEGEE different from other youth organizations is the interdisciplinary aspect and the emphasis on introducing the cultural element of the different cities and countries during the events. Traveling abroad, meeting young people from different cultural backgrounds, exchanging views and sharing experiences with them contributes to the achievement of the goals of the organization, to bridge cultural differences and promote solidarity within young Europeans!
If you have never traveled abroad alone this is a good opportunity to get your first “European experience”! Network with people from all over Europe, practice your English and communication skills, try flavors you didn’t even know existed and live a mini-Erasmus experience for a few days abroad that will be unforgettable!
In addition to cultural events, AEGEE organizes events with more specialized topics; improving members’ personal skills through methods of non-formal education (eg. Human Resources Schools, Project Management Trainings, Soft Skills Trainings), informing and updating members on current issues of AEGEE and Europe (Network Meetings) and making decisions and voting for the course and future of the organization (Agorae, European Planning Meetings)!
You can always stay informed about all the upcoming AEGEE european events by signing up to our newsletter or by visiting our Facebook and Instagram!
Get Involved!
In addition to being a member of our antenna, you can participate in the European level as a volunteer, helping to shape the Network and the operation of the organization, while at the same time enriching your knowledge (and your CV)! There are various Working Groups in AEGEE, for example Climate Emergency WG, Mental Health WG, Political Activism WG, Social Equity WG and Interest Groups like the Language IG, Culture IG etc. and their members try to promote ideas regarding these topics to the members of AEGEE in collaboration with the various antennae of the Network or the Board of Directors (CD) of AEGEE. Every member has the opportunity to be active in an AEGEE Working Group (WG), aside of his/her experience in the field. The most experienced members can apply for any AEGEE European body, from the Summer University Coordination Team to the AEGEE Board of Directors (Comité Directeur) based in Brussels. You can learn more about AEGEE instruments, Working Groups, Interest Groups, Focus Areas of AEGEE, Committees, Commissions and Projects through the AEGEE-Europe official page. If you still want to be active locally visit this link.
Funded Projects
DIVE
My Europe, My Say is a European project, implemented by a consortium led by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement- Bureau Européen du Scoutisme (WOSM). The consortium includes AEGEE-Europe and 48 independent youth organisations members of these two networks across Europe, and covers 30 countries. You can check the website of the project here.
The project encompasses various aspects, all the way from capacity building tracks to large scale youth exchange events to interactive spaces of dialogue between young people and decision makers. My Europe, My Say will be:
- Strengthening the capacities of youth organisations to offer activities which enhance youth participation, civic competences and political awareness and to increase outreach to more vulnerable and socio-economic disadvantaged young people.
- Offering young people, the opportunity to reflect upon their European identity and values – in the framework of the new narrative for Europe.
- Engaging youth organisations into a pan European campaign around Youth Participation to elections– especially in the framework of the European Elections in May 2019. This will help building a common understanding of an EU citizenship
- Providing young people with relevant information on how to register to vote while living in another EU country.
- Creating spaces of dialogue with decision makers in the framework of the European Elections and beyond. This goal will help reconnect young people to decision-makers while utilising innovative and interactive communication methods such as online forums and webinars.
- Engaging a large number of young people from all across the continent to spread awareness about the importance of participating in the 2019 EU elections, with contributions from our project teams of Y Vote and Europe on Track.
Participating AEGEE-locals
Project partners:
AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Sofia, AEGEE-Zagreb, AEGEE Düsseldorf, AEGEE-Budapest, AEGEE-Torino, AEGEE-Utrecht, AEGEE-Warszawa, AEGEE-Maribor, AEGEE-Leon, AEGEE-Istanbul, AEGEE-Tallinn
+ Hosting locals for events:
AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca, AEGEE-Passau, AEGEE-Antalya, AEGEE-Bamberg, AEGEE-Izmir, AEGEE-Tartu
+ Two project teams: Y Vote, Europe on Track
My Europe, My Say is with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, and will run from October 2018-October 2019
Diversity in youth organisations – AEGEE, JEF and ESN take action
JEF Europe, AEGEE-Europe and Erasmus Student Network came together in 2016 to discuss the issue of diversity and how to include young people from various backgrounds in their activities. Being some of the biggest youth organisations and representing hundreds of thousands of young people, the networks realised that they needed to be even more open and inclusive in order to provide proper representation for the youth of Europe.
The project DIVE was born with the help of volunteers from the local organisations of JEF France, JEF Bulgaria, AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Cagliari, ESN Sweden and ESN Dubrovnik. “Diversity and social inclusion in European youth organisations” was a two-year project focusing on sharing good practices funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union in order to help the participating organisations to:
- Develop organisational tools to be accessible to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Learn to break down barriers and obstacles young people face when it comes to participation
- Gain more understanding on the topic of social inclusion
The three networks worked with YES Forum, the umbrella of organisations across Europe working with disadvantaged groups. YES Forum provides us with the field-specific knowledge to be able to be more accessible and inclusive towards youth groups that might not be the mainstream target audience of our organisations.
3 trainings took place in 2018-2019 in Sofia, Athens and Malmö
The DIVE trainings gathered participants who wanted to learn more about the topic of social inclusion in youth organisations and want to take part in creating mechanisms that can involve more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in volunteering and the activities of their own organisations.
My Europe My Say
