74th IAESTE Annual Conference Was Held Online

74th IAESTE Annual Conference realized with the participation of 747 people from 87 countries was initially planned to be held at Vienna, Australia, but it was carried entirely to the online platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the conference considered IAESTE’s biggest event, important decisions were made about quotas, the general course of the program and applications.

The main agenda of the 74th IAESTE Annual Conference this year, as every year, was internship quota exchanges between member countries. In the conference in which exchange coordinators serving at country offices and National Secretaries of countries held simultaneous meetings, internship forms were collected on behalf of students who wait for internships abroad by countries that exchanged their internship quotas in a one-to-one manner. The conference included 1275 one-to-one exchange meetings and became one of the biggest organizations that could be realized by IAESTE A.s.b.l. under the pandemic conditions.

Turkey is the 6th country with the most internship exchanges

In the conference where nearly 3000 quotas were exchanged this year, Turkey became the 6th country with the most exchanges. After the conference, each country office will work hard in order to provide quotas for students who will do internship in different parts of the world in 2021. Students who work actively for IAESTE will have the priority to benefit from these quotas through their university representatives in Turkey as well. Although there is a decrease in country quotas due to the pandemic, IAESTE member countries were determined to continue the program and it was decided that opportunities students can benefit from will be pursued for the 2021 summer term.

Medal to Prof. Dr. Gülhayat Saygılı

In the meeting attended by IAESTE Turkey every year, this year a group of 5 people composed of Istanbul Technical University IAESTE Representative Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nalan Erdöl Aydın, Yildiz Technical University IAESTE Representative Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Karslıgil, IAESTE Turkey Office Representative Dr. Çiler Öztunca and Cahit Okanbu from the IAESTE Turkey Office team participated under the leadership of National Secretary Prof. Dr. Gülhayat Saygılı. Each year IAESTE A.s.b.l. gives congratulatory medals to National Secretaries who reach a certain term of office. This year, IAESTE Turkey National Secretary Prof. Dr. Gülhayat Saygılı was awarded a medal by IAESTE A.s.b.l. Executive Board due to her 10th year.

IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience)

IAESTE A.s.b.l., a non-profit, independent and unbiased student exchange organization, provides the mobility of nearly 4000 student interns worldwide each year. IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) has a confederation structure composed of national committees that represent the mutual interests of the academy, industry and university students. Turkey joined this organization founded in 1948 by the initiative of Istanbul Technical University in 1953 and became a full member in 1955. Turkey has been a part of this organization for 65 years and is among the 10 countries with the most quota exchanges every year.

Click to watch the video prepared for the conference.