AIESEC History
- The idea behind AIESEC started in the 1930s, when representatives from schools
across Europe exchanged information about various programs and schools that specialized in business and economics.
- By the late 30s, students were carrying out internships in other countries, but mostly at their own incentive, and it all came to a standstill with the onslaught of World War II.
- In 1944, though, the neutral Scandinavian countries were still exchanging: in Stockholm, Bertil Hedberg (official at the Stockholm School of Economics) and the two students Jaroslav Zich of Czechoslovakia and Stanislas Callens of Belgium founded 'AIESE', the predecessor of AIESEC.
- AIESEC's informal activities 'to help develop friendly relations between member countries began in 1946. AIESEC was officially founded in 1948. Callens said the goal was 'to expand the understanding of a nation by expanding the understanding of the individuals, changing the world one person at a time.
- ”In 1949, 89 students participated in the so-called “Stockholm Congress”, the first of many “Exchange Programs”.
- Soon, AIESEC became popular: by the end of 1960, 2467 exchanges were reported, and 4232 by the end of 1970.
- A landmark in AIESEC history was the “International Theme Programme” that officially established all international, regional, and local seminars on specific topics, which in time grew to be a guideline for future AIESEC generations. In the following decades, debated topics were International Trade, Management Education, Sustainable development, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsibility, and in the 1990s, intranets called Insight were established to facilitate networking.
- Currently, AIESEC “provides over 5,000 leadership opportunities, 3,500 work abroad opportunities, 350 conferences, and virtual tools to build networks.”
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