Annual Report 2014/2015

ANNUAL

REPORT 2014/15

ANNUAL

REPORT 2014/15 Board of European Students of Technology

Avenue Roger Vandendriessche 18 1150 Brussels Belgium BEST.eu.org info@BEST.eu.org facebook.com/BESTorg flickr.com/photos/BESTorg twitter.com/BESTorg linkedin.com/company/best

Álvaro Gutiérrez González executive editor

Michał Jagosz

layout and typesetting

Editors Aggeliki Marini Alexia Spyridonidou Amato Van Geyt Ana Rita Medeiros Ana Rosa Constança Júnior Emre Niyazi Yazilikaya Gunta Meluskane Ioana Jivet

João Ramos Clemente Liliana Duarte Maren Elise Ruud Mariana Silva Marilin Lutsoja Marta Cortesao Masa Miladinovic Mathieu Vandenberghe Olav Ingvaldsen Bengtson

Photos flickr.com/photos/BESTorg BEST Photo Contest unsplash.com

Olcay Sari Oscar Marginean Pinelopi Marini Piotr Jurewicz Sonja Mihajlov Tiago Monteiro Ugur Saymaz Veronica Verlan

3

Welcome word from the Board

Dear Reader, On behalf of Board of European Students of Technology, we would like to wish you a warm welcome to the Annual Report of BEST 2014/2015.

This report represents the sum total of one year’s worth of work, goals, actions and achievements; all filled in just a few dozen pages. One year to impact on the development of European students of technology, a mission we are fully committed to.

It is now 27 years ago when a group of students came together in Grenoble, France, and first articulated the idea of a European Association that could strengthen the relations between European Universities. An idea that would be called BEST. An idea that has grown huge since its humble beginnings, and is now spanning 96 universities over 33 European countries.

This year we balanced the visionary joy of looking ahead, with the pragmatism of finishing what has been started. BEST concluded an important cycle of strategic planning, setting important milestones along the way and finalising big changes. BEST looked ahead and created a new strategy to tackle the issues that still face us. We began to implement new structure changes to revitalise our international projects and resources. Most

of all, BEST stayed true to its vision, and once more strove to deliver quality complementary education, educational involvement and career support to stakeholders all over Europe.

But of course, we also proved that the work is not yet finished, and that current and future generations of BEST members still have many dreams to fulfil and opportunities to make a difference, not only inside our organisation, but especially in the world of technology students. We thank you for your trust this year, and for your commitment in the future.

Most of all, our thanks go out to all the partners and members who made the achievements described in this document possible.

We wish you a pleasant reading and hope that this Annual Report is just one step of a long and fruitful relationship with BEST.

Yours faithfully: Mathieu, Olav, Ioana, Ou Yan, Oscar and Maren, the XXVII International Board of BEST.

Contents 3.

Welcome word from the Board

What is BEST? 8. What is BEST? 10. Presidents and Universities 13. Profile of BEST Members 14. Nursing & Membership Team

9. Structure of BEST 12. Members and Statistics 14. Growth of BEST

Highlights of the year 17.

19.

21.

23.

Long Term Strategic Planning 2015-18 Changing the Structure SEFI Francesco Maffioli Awar

18.

20.

22.

Market Research

27.

29.

32.

35.

38.

Courses

Knowledge Management Public Website

BEST Educational Platform

Services 26.

28.

30.

34.

37.

39.

Complementary Education Competitions EBEC Final - Riga 2014 BEST Career Day EoEs & Local Events on Education

EBEC Project BEST Career Events BEST Career Centre Scientific Work and Publications

Educational Conferences and Partner Meetings

Internal Activities 42.

44.

46.

48.

50.

51.

Training System Virtual International Plenary Internal Events Presidents’ Meeting Gdansk 2014

43.

45.

47.

49.

Quality Assurance in Training Private Area and Makumba update Financial Overview General Assembly Chania 2015

International Projects’ Forum Istanbul 2015 Relationship with Alumni

External Relations 54.

56.

58.

60.

62.

Erasmus + SEFI Partner NGOs Partners of BEST Public Relations

54.

57.

59.

61.

FEANI European Youth Forum Round Table Working at booking.com

What is BEST?

8

What is BEST?

Annual Report 2014/15

What is BEST?

The story of BEST dates back to April 1989 when the idea of an international, non-political student organisation was turned from concept to reality.

For the 26 years already we have been connecting Europe, growing to 96 Local BEST groups in 33 countries nowadays. But we are far more than a sum of numbers. We are well organised, powerful and innovative student network, providing unique communication, cooperation and exchange possibilities that impact students, partners and universities across the continent.

Following the vision of “Empowered diversity”, we provide complementary education through BEST Courses and Competitions, bringing added value to formal education and creating a unique opportunity to learn through experience. That’s how the mission of our organisation: “Developing students”, reaches its full meaning, giving students the possibility to study, gain practical knowledge and self-improvement in a multicultural environment. Through international involvement, students lower their cultural barriers, learning to respect and understand different ways of thinking.

BEST also aims to deepen the connection between students, companies and universities, considering them all to be of great importance for developing high-quality, prosperous future employees of the society. All of this is achieved through our services, as well as through BEST Career Support, where we provide students with job opportunities and open the door to their career.

Providing BEST services to over 1.000.000 students from all around Europe wouldn’t be possible without highly motivated and devoted BEST members. For us, the members, all of Europe is home, and we are a huge family. Our actions are inspired by our values. We strive for improvement and flexibility, we cherish friendship, we are passionate about learning, but we also never forget to enjoy all of our experiences and have fun.

All of our work is done for students and by students. Through the engagement of our members, we provide services which aim to broaden the horizons of European students of technology. Our actions are inspired by our values.

Through flexibility, we are open to quickly respond to changes. We always aim for improvement by continuously raising the standards in everything we do. We value friendship through building good personal relations and supporting teamwork. We strive to make our activities enjoyable and to help students become more internationally minded by having a chance to share and develop ideas. That, however, is not where we stop, since we believe in continuous improvement and growth. And we will for the years to come.

BEST

What is BEST?

9

Structure of BEST Reaching out to 1.300.000 technical students from 33 countries, BEST has grown into a vast European organisation. There are 96 Local BEST Groups from all over Europe, forming the basis of the organisation. Each group has presence in one university and has its own local board, practices, traditions and culture. The connection between all groups is achieved through the common values of BEST, which they all endorse as their own. What makes BEST a strong and ever-growing organisation in providing services for European students of technology is this heterogeneous but coherent mixture.

Built on the basis of the local groups, several international bodies aim to provide support to the groups. Spread over very diverse teams, approximately 15% of our active members work in all sorts of domains - from marketing to IT, from educational involvement to career support, training and competitions.

The biggest international teams, the BEST Committees, can be seen as an equivalent to corporate departments. There are six committees of BEST and each has a distinct area of expertise.

These areas are Education, Financial matters, External Events, Internal Training, IT and Marketing. Each of them is led by a coordinator who ensures the coherence of the activities with the other bodies of BEST.

Another indispensable aspect of the international work in the organisation are BEST projects.

Various projects take place every year and involve members of different committees as well as local group members who are not otherwise internationally involved. The need to move towards a structure with a bigger focus on projects than committees was highlighted among the outcomes of the Structure Evaluation project which took place last year.

At the top level, BEST has an International Board that represents the organisation, coordinates the different bodies of BEST, ensures good communication between them and facilitates the global development of programmes and activities.

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What is BEST?

Annual Report 2014/15

Presidents and Universities LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Aalborg Almada Ankara Athens Aveiro Barcelona Belgrade Brasov Bratislava Brno Brussels Brussels ULB Bucharest Budapest Chania Chisinau Cluj-Napoca Coimbra Copenhagen Delft Ekaterinburg UrFU ENSAM ENSTA ParisTech

Daniel Rune Jensen Adriana Jesus Mert Unsal Artemis Lella Eduarda Morais Erik Recio Milos Djuric Mihai Dragan Gabor Nagy Daniel Kovac Jorn Jacobs Fadi Shall Alexandru Mitrea Laszlo Tamas Ertl Sofia Athanasiou Andrei Capastru Madalina Pintea Joel Torrado Andreas Kaas Johansen Roxanne Goemans Alexander Ipatov Thomas Boully Raksmy Nop

LBG Erlangen

Patrick Hoffmann

LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Damian Wilke Lisa Dujardin Mateusz Ryba Mariana David Jürgen Neubauer Hyun-Jai Lee Niklas Ilkka Bogdan Carpusor Ilker Aylaz Atacan Bulgurlu Goktug Gumus Gediminas Slekonis

Gdansk Ghent Gliwice Gothenburg Graz Grenoble Helsinki Iasi Istanbul Istanbul Yildiz Izmir Kaunas

LBG Kiev

Lada Kurabtseva

LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Radoslav Kosik Aleksandra Lepek Patricia Gonzalez Gomez Ben Somers Laurent Vanosmael João Ramos Clemente Tomo Markocic Weronika Berek Angelo Rodriguez Garcia Henrik Normann Romana Mosiievska Pierre-Alexis Ardon Maria Garcia Pareja

Kosice Kraków Las Palmas Leuven Liege Lisbon Ljubljana Lodz Louvain-la-Neuve Lund Lviv Lyon Madrid

Aalborg Universitet Universidade Nova de Lisboa Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi Ethnico Metsovio Polytechnio Universidade de Aveiro Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Univerzitet u Beogradu Universitatea “Transilvania” Slovenska Technicka Univerzita Vysoke uceni technicke v Brne Vrije Universiteit Brussel Université Libre de Bruxelles Universitatea POLITEHNICA din Bucuresti Budapesti Muszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Polytehnio Kritis Universitatea Tehnica din Moldova Universitatea Tehnica Cluj-Napoca Universidade de Coimbra Danmarks Tekniske Universitet Technische Universiteit Delft Uralskiy Federal’niy Universitet Arts et Métiers ParisTech ENSTA ParisTech Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg Politechnika Gdanska Universiteit Gent Politechnika Slaska w Gliwicach Chalmers tekniska högskola Technische Universität Graz Grenoble INP Aalto-yliopisto Universitatea Tehnica “Gheorghe Asachi” Iasi Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Yildiz Teknik Universitesi Ege Üniversitesi Kauno technologijos universitetas Natsionalnyi Technichnyi Universytet Ukrainy “Kyivskyi Politehnichnyi Instytut” Technicka univerzita v Kosiciach Akademia Gorniczo-Hutnicza Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Université de Liège Universidade de Lisboa Univerza v Ljubljani Politechnika Lodzka Université Catholique de Louvain Lunds Tekniska Högskola National University “Lvivska Polytechnica” Institut National des Sciences Appliquees Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Annual Report 2014/15

LBG LBG LBG LBG

Madrid Carlos III Maribor Messina Milan

Daniel Valsera Luka Kristic Andreea Militaru Sebastiano Conti

LBG Moscow

Gleb Bokhonov

LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Asim Hajdarevic Adrien Carpinteiro Alessandro Sgueglia Natasa Cvetkovic Katarina Rajovic Stefan de Lavaissiere de Lavergne Jenny Kampanou Semso Kalac Catarina Pedro Lukas Vondra Lasma Stanka Gabriele Mariti Aldo Pietrangeli

Mostar Nancy Naples Nis Novi Sad

LBG Paris Polytechnique LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Patras Podgorica Porto Prague Riga Rome Rome Tor Vergata

LBG Saint Petersburg

Nikita Imaev

LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG LBG

Borce Dzikovski Petya Nikolova August Bonds Alexia Loth Maret Martsepp Liisa Ojaniittu Zoi Karagiannidou Antonia Zarnescu Alessandra Bonato Alexander Taranger King Amedeo Mocchiutti Matilda Jirblom Adrian Sospedra Martinez María González Escartín Dénes Papp Veronika Haberle Dasha Voyedilova Michal Czech Katarzyna Szukalska Ana Franjic Sergey Kudlay Dario Sarik Cagatay Sir

Skopje Sofia Stockholm Supélec Tallinn Tampere Thessaloniki Timisoara Trento Trondheim Turin Uppsala Valencia Valladolid Veszprém Vienna Vinnytsia Warsaw Wroclaw Zagreb Zaporizhzhya Aachen Isparta

LBG Ekaterinburg

Arthur Haneev

LBG Faro Algarve LBG Paris Ecole Centrale LBG Reykjavik Observer Istanbul Bogazici

Artem Yultyyev Charles Bonnet Róbert Karl Lárusson Guneycan Kilic

What is BEST?

11

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Univerza v Mariboru Università degli Studi di Messina Politecnico di Milano Moscovskiy Gosudarstvennij Technicheskiy Universitet imeni N.E.Baumana Univerzitet “Dzemal Bijedic” Mostar Universite de Lorraine Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II” Univerzitet u Nisu Univerzitet u Novom Sadu Ecole polytechnique Panepistimio Patron Univerzitet Crne Gore Universidade do Porto Ceske vysoke uceni technicke v Praze Rigas Tehniska Universitate Sapienza Universitá di Roma Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” Sankt-Peterburgskij Gosudarstvennyj Politekhnicheskij Universitet Univerzitet “Sveti Kiril i Metodij” Tehnicheski Universitet Sofia Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité Tallinna Tehnikaülikool Tampereen Teknillinen Yliopisto Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis Universitatea “Politehnica” din Timisoara Universita’ degli Studi di Trento Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet Politecnico di Torino Uppsala universitet Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Universidad de Valladolid Pannon Egyetem Technische Universität Wien Vinnytskyi natsionalnyi tekhnichnyi universytet Politechnika Warszawska Politechnika Wroclawska Sveuciliste u Zagrebu Zaporiz’kiy Natsionalniy Techninichnyi Universytet RWTH Aachen Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Uralskiy Gosudarstvenniy Universitet Putey Soobsheniya Universidade do Algarve Ecole Centrale Paris Háskóli Íslands Bogaziçi Üniversitesi

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What is BEST?

Annual Report 2014/15

Members and Statistics

96 Local BEST Groups 33 Countries % of members in the following countries

2011

3706 3350 3294

BEST Members

3080

2015 2014 2013 2012

BEST

What is BEST?

13

Profile of BEST Members Experienced in managing local and international teams Comfortable with travel throughout Europe

Team players

Proactive & creative

Work and study experience in international environments Trained in soft-skills

61,4 Gender [%]

38,6

Undergraduates or recent graduates Succesful in project management Internationally minded Experienced in working in virtual teams

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What is BEST?

Annual Report 2014/15

Growth of BEST Having diversity as one of its values, BEST has always welcomed newly established groups in European universities while simultaneously ensuring the stability of our existing groups. New members allow BEST to offer its services to a wider audience. Every year, interested groups have the chance to join BEST by showing their motivation and commitment to support our activities.

In November 2014, BEST established a fifth group in Turkey, extending its reach in the country. Now, an even greater number of students can benefit from our services, offering them the possibility to develop in an European environment.

“New members allow BEST to offer its services to a wider audience.”

Nursing & Membership Team It was identified years before that our nursing system was not working as well as wanted.

Therefore, the LBGs in need of extra support did not receive sufficient support. One nurse LBG was selected, which would take care of the nursed one (observer, baby, monitored or suspended), and the LBG would choose a doctor from it’s own group. Together they would create and follow-up an Action Plan. In addition, the Vice President for Local Group Support and the relevant Regional Adviser(s) overview the progress closely.

In the spring of 2013 an idea was born. It was to create a team that would be educated properly, and take care of the nursing system in the organisation. The members of the team would be so called doctors for the LBGs in need of it, where a doctor from the Membership Team will be chosen and become the main responsible for the nursing: creating the Action Plan, ensuring that the nursed LBG implements it and, in general, give help and support. There will also be selected a nurse LBG, which will share their knowledge and invite each other to events, to develop fruitful learning experiences.

From the spring of 2013 until the autumn of 2014, the idea was further discussed, and the team was defined. In November 2014 the call for team members was sent. A lot of applications arrived, and 5 of them were picked out to be part of the team. In addition, doctors from existing nurse LBGs were also added to the team resulting in a team of 12 people.

In January 2015, the team gathered in Brasov.

There they set the goals to work upon and started the work. Currently there are 3 new LBGs that are looking for a doctor from the team and a nurse LBG in BEST.

Highlights of the year

3 strategic themes BEST is going to focus on following years: Quality of Services Outreach and appeal of our services Internal alignment towards external services

BEST

Highlights of the year

17

Long Term Strategic Planning 2015-18 From the very beginning, BEST has been a dynamic organisation. We have gained knowledge on various areas and aimed to be good in what we do.

We have learned from others, embraced new ideas and always cared about having an impact. We have continuously tailored our services in order to meet the needs of our stakeholders, while taking into account the yearly strategies of the boards and the informal, unwritten long-term plans of the organisation. All of this happened in cycles with a length of one year, despite the need of many initiatives to be sustained long after the change of mandates.

One of the visions of the XXIV Board of BEST and the committee coordinators was that we, as an organisation, need to define clear longterm directions for our development. As a response to this idea, several members of our organisation found the motivation to engage in the creation and, later, implementation of a long-term strategic plan.

Three years later we came to evaluate the implementation of the plan made by the XXIV Board of BEST and measure the impact of planning on a bigger time scale than one year. We have identified both the good aspects of the original implementation as well as its improvement points.

After gathering input and analysing different methods of guiding the process of creating a strategic plan, we set to create a new long-term strategic plan which always keeps our services and our stakeholders at the center of our services.

This represented an adventurous project whose success was built with careful steps and under the following premises: a transparent process with input taken from members at all levels of the organisation and experience in different areas supplemented by accurate planning and research, collaborative and creative thinking, in addition to the numerous lessons we learned from the past.

The long-term strategic planning workshop, at St. Petersburg, represented a key element for the project. With a lot of enthusiasm, passion and knowledge about BEST, the result of a complex process of planning and discussions was a proposal for the next 3 year strategic plan for BEST - a plan aimed to bring a new practice of strategic planning in BEST and increase the stability of the organisation. By the end of the workshop we concluded on 3 strategic themes: Quality of Services Outreach and appeal of our services Internal alignment towards external services

For each of these strategic themes, general objectives were defined and they became the foundation for the annual action plans for the following three generations. The focus areas and their objectives became the so-called BEST Strategic Plan 2015-2018, which was approved at the XXXIV General Assembly.

This plan helped us realise the steps BEST needs to take in order to reach a higher level of development. It enables us to understand where we should concentrate our efforts. It unites us towards certain goals. It is a proof that we always aim higher and higher and that we are open for novel practices. Last but not least, it represents a small effort that we hope to bring significant benefits for the following generations.

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Highlights of the year

Annual Report 2014/15

Market Research

In a diverse and evolving environment, adapting to changes is the key to maximising our contribution towards our stakeholders. BEST, aiming to evolve and meet challenges efficiently, places the Strategy of External Services as a major focal point. We initiated this effort in order to observe how the needs of our stakeholders change and how our services align to these new needs.

Market Research is the project through which we aim to gather the input from Students of Technology, regarding BEST’s activities in the fields of Complementary Education, Educational Involvement and Career Support and therefore to be the bridge between the external world and relevant bodies of BEST. This project is structured according to our three different stakeholders: students, universities and companies with all three reached through individually designed surveys. Regarding students, BEST Students’ Survey was launched in February 2013 with the goal of gathering insight concerning their experience and expectations towards complementary education, educational involvement and career support. In total, 3,000 students were reached throughout Europe. Then,

universities were reached through interviews to assess their perceptions on the impact of which the student organisations should have towards universities, to investigate what services such organisations must provide and to seek out opportunities for future collaboration. Finally, companies were approached through phone call interviews with the intention of assessing the contribution which the student organisations have and to seek potential cooperation in other fields.

Market Research was an eye-opening project, revealing the needs of students in variousfields, connecting the path from their study experience to their academic and professional aspirations.

Students of various countries, engineering fields and level of studies shared their thoughts, concerns and goals. Connecting this input to the services that BEST provides to students, we are able to evaluate our contribution, our status in providing students with support on the areas they are missing from traditional education and helping them to develop and gain experiences.

BEST

Highlights of the year

19

Changing the Structure It is a truth universally acknowledged, that progress is impossible without change. For BEST, change began in 2003 with the “7 STEP programme”. Its steps, if properly executed, would lead to an evaluation of the Structure of BEST. However, the Long Term Strategic Planning and the Identity document, which form STEP 1 and STEP 2 of the programme, still didn’t exist at that time. So setting them up became the priority.

Not so long after, BEST’s Identity document was created and first attempts to evaluate our services were made.

In 2013/2014, The XXVI Board of BEST agreed that the structure topic should be priority for the year, with a workshop happening in spring.

Therefore, a lot of activities were planned, leading up to a Structure Evaluation Workshop in March 2014. As the final measure of STEP 3, done by the previous board, the outcomes of the survey had to be evaluated. Therefore, a Structure

bodies, existing indefinitely, handling a specific area and maintaining and developing specific knowledge. Projects would be time-bound, be created with a specific aim, and be dissolved when this aim is reached.

Departments will be the new continuous international bodies. They will gather people with specific technical knowledge and they will also be responsible for maintaining and organising this knowledge. Furthermore, they will still be responsible for their own department projects over which they have clear ownership. Lastly they will exist indefinitely just like committees.

Projects, on the other hand, would be the new way to organise most of the work we do in BEST. Projects will be divided into three categories; Department Projects, Strategic Projects and Adhoc Projects. The main differences between these types of projects are the ownership and goals.

“Departments would be these bodies, existing indefinitely, handling a specific area and maintaining and developing specific knowledge.”

Short Intensive Meeting happened in Ghent in December and the LBG survey outcomes were analysed there. According to the outcomes of the event, the main areas identified as having need for improvement were International HR, External Relations, Services, EBEC Project and Decision Making. During Structure Evaluation Workshop, two approaches were evaluated: Department based approach and Project Based approach. As the weaknesses of either approach are covered by the strengths of the other, it was decided to go for a mixture of both.

The basis for the new structure is a Matrix Structure, balancing departments and projects.

This is a development of the Project Based Approach that has been worked upon previously, but it also takes into account the need for continuous bodies. Departments would be these

Along with the change in the structure, there will be also a team called “International HR Team”, which would include all the department coordinators and other relevant, experienced people. Their responsibility is to have an overview of the Human Resources of BEST. Having this overview, combined with knowing the future needs of the organisation , they can make plans for developing people in order to have the right resources at the right time. They would also be responsible for finding people to work on projects and coordinate the recruitment to departments.

20

Highlights of the year

Knowledge Management This was one of the focus areas of the Long Term Strategic Plan 2012-2015 (LTSP). The objectives of this focus area include having a well-structured, sustainable and easily accessible Knowledge Management System, as well as promoting a culture of documenting our work and sharing knowledge, in addition to using and developing existing knowledge.

In March 2013, the Knowledge Management workshop took place in Riga, Latvia, as a first step towards achieving the goals of the Knowledge Management focus area under the current LTSP. The main outcome of the workshop is a set of 24 projects that are planned to be implemented in the final two years of the current LTSP under the Knowledge Management Project. During the previous year, work on six existent projects was continued and four new projects were selected.

Knowledge Management Workshop, which aims to help LBGs to create their own Knowledge Management system suitable for their LBG where members are the ones creating it, was delivered in LBG Copenhagen in March and LBG Aveiro in June.

The workshop has been planned also for other LBGs in summer and autumn, when the monitoring of knowledge management status in the previous two LBGs will happen.

Several of the projects are related to Private Area (PA): Knowledge Management page, that will serve to show BEST what’s the current status of KM projects, BEST Library – new part of our internal communication tool, Private Area, that will facilitate easy access to all of our knowledge, redesign of our committee pages-, a tool that will allow people to identify knowledge experts using extensive search of Private Area (BEST Position tracker) and increasing the usage of PA tools that any member can easily access (Education on PA tools). Other projects include promoting Knowledge Fairs as a sharing platform during BEST events and using mailing lists for sharing the experience between knowledgeable people and interested members.

Further work and implementation of these projects will be done during the next BEST year.

Annual Report 2014/15

BEST

Highlights of the year

21

SEFI Francesco Maffioli Award BEST, following a tradition of years and building further the cooperation with SEFI, attended SEFI Annual Conference 2014 with the topic “Educating Engineers for Global Competitiveness”. The Conference was hosted

by University of Birmingham (UK) with major input from a number of midlands Universities during 15-19 September 2014.

During SEFI Annual Conference in Birmingham, SEFI launched for the first time SEFI Maffioli award in the memory of Professor Francesco Maffioli from Politecnico di Milano who, among other, served as President of SEFI during 199699. The award reflects Professor Maffioli’s passion for cooperation with engineering students and his efforts to ensure they have a voice in the development of engineering education in the future. The Award would be given to individual students or student associations in recognition of their dedication to SEFI and/or engineering education in Europe and in World.

BEST was honored to receive SEFI Maffioli award for the first time that it was launched.

This award is nothing less but a recognition of the efforts of BEST throughout the years to transmit students’ voice regarding educational matters and contribute in the improvement of engineering education. It serves also as a symbol of our creative cooperation with SEFI and our intentions to combine our efforts while working on our common goal: to improve engineering education in Europe.

22

Highlights of the year

Public Website The World Wide Web started in the early ‘90s by being a simple set of hypertext documents accessible by browsers; now websites have a substantial impact on the institutional image of an organisation.

In BEST, the website serves as the primary platform for students to interact with the services which we provide. Due to these factors and the feedback from our stakeholders, creating a new website for BEST has been considered a strategic priority for the organisation for the period 2012-2015.

For this endeavour, we have decided to stick to our culture of developing projects in-house by harnessing the technical knowledge we possess along with our network of alumni with professional experience in the area of web design.

During this year, we focused on assessing the technical feasibility and creating the structure of one application, as well as developing a top-notch Content Managing System.

We have also finished the design of the website and started its development. In order for this process to go as smooth as possible we have assembled the team which is responsible for implementing everything what BEST planned to do.

Annual Report 2014/15

BEST

Highlights of the year

23

BEST Educational Platform The BEST Educational Platform (BEP) is a project coordinated by Educational Committee (EduCo) with the intent to set up a thematic network, including activities such as conferences, local events on education (LEoEs), surveys, etc.

Through the involvement of BEST members, educational partners, universities and companies, the BEP project aims to make students’ voices heard on most important problems in education and to raise visibility of BEST in Europe.

The idea of BEP showed up for the first time in 2009, when the members of EduCo realised there was a need for the work done in the field of engineering education to be disseminated at a larger scale. Shortly after, the idea evolved into a project with a more specific plan. Students’ opinions and proposals on educational matters were acquired by organising Local Events of Education, Events on Education and by conducting a survey with the outcomes presented on a final conference. The goal was to make the brand of BEST in European Education field more visible.

The founders of BEP in BEST are: Pieter Coppens, Alla Kliushnyk, Giulia Chighini, Tadej Stepisnik and Zane Zondaka.

However, research on the topic inside the organisation in 2011 proved that BEST was not yet ready to embark on BEP due to the lack of knowledge in the area. The BEP project was then revived in 2013. On the second attempt, the structure of BEP was designed into the final shape and potential partners of the project were contacted. Since 2013, the project has had 2 coordinators - Marija Stanojevic and Aggeliki Marini. In order to establish BEP as a project funding was needed and therefore, an application for a grant under the ERASMUS+ framework was submitted.

The project is planned to last for two years. During this time, 3 kind of activities will be organised:

1. Survey

- Gathering opinions from students from all over the Europe about the topic “Excellence of engineering teaching and education” and all associated topics. By analysing the gathered data, providing statistics on how students believe how different educational systems have been working and what are the problems they identify.

2. Three Events on Education

- During this activity the students’ issues will be gathered about the topic “Excellence of engineering teaching and education” and all the subtopics.

These events will be organised together with partner organisations, which all have expertise on different educational aspects. Results will be presented in a final conference.

3. Final conference

- all the outcomes from the survey and Events on Education will be disseminated in this event.

Moreover, during the whole project, 4 partner meetings will be organised in order to evaluate what has been done so far. This strategic partnership will be organised under the coordination of BEST, in collaboration with the following partners: Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs, ASIIN Consult, Instituto Superior Técnico, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, European Association for Quality Assurance in higher education, European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management, and Procter and Gamble Service. Each one of them will have a specific role during the project and all will jointly strive for the success of this strategic partnership.

This project will be centered around the students’ awareness of educational matters and their willingness to actively take part in discussions related to European Engineering Education.

BEP will empower students to steer the design of engineering education curricula and applied teaching methodologies according to their opinions.

By making part of this project or its promotion many universities, local and national bodies involved in education, which are part of networks of project partners will have the opportunity to keep in touch with its outcomes, innovative ideas and roadmaps, which can hopefully assist them to improve their working methods. Finally, participation in the project will provide the students with a bigger picture of higher education.

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Complementary Education Complementary Education is one of the oldest and most spreaded service BEST provides to the students. Its purpose is to offer students new opportunities of development and to help them gain new knowledge and skills which will be useful in the future. Offering possibilities of learning and improving abilities, BEST strives to fulfill its mission of developing students by meeting students’ needs.

The main activity of complementary education are courses which aim at broadening the knowledge on a specific field and providing the opportunity of applying the skills.

Testimonials “The Group on Energy, Economy and System Dynamics of the University of Valladolid, in the results of their latest research (published in high impact international journals), show that, if present paths of energy consumption and technological development are maintained, a strong energy-supply scarcity is found in the next two decades, especially in the transportation sector before 2020.

“The celebration of the course organized

by BEST - UC3M has been an excellent opportunity for the attendees to learn about some of the most relevant advances in Telecommunication Technologies: wearable devices, big data analysis, etc. Students have participated in the proposed tasks with enthusiasm and have been very proactive in the interaction with the lecturers by asking questions and solving some small projects.

The group considers that these results are of extreme importance and that the future of energy and, in general, the sustainability of our society, should be in the first place of the political agenda. That is the reason why the group combines its research activity with the divulgation in courses and conferences.

As the organizer of one of the technical sessions, I must also say that I am fully satisfied with the help of the organizers both before and during the celebration of the sessions: they have dedicated a great amount of time to make everything run smoothly at the right time, and they have succeeded.”

We have to thank the organization who has left BEST Valladolid to present the results of our research to participants of different nationalities”

[Jerónimo Arenas - Academic Teacher, “Madrix: Big Data Revolution”, Madrid Carlos III]

[Margarita Mediavilla - Academic Teacher, “Ready to Develop your Imagination”, Valladolid]

“Hey, guys! First of all, Thanks for all of you! This trip was one of the best in my life! I really enjoyed by every minute with you! Especial thanks for the organizers! You did a great job! I hope see you in the future somewhere in the Earth!”

[Nikita Lazarev, “Step into the future”, Stockholm]

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Courses

One of the complementary education activities BEST provides to students are BEST Courses.

The courses, organised by 96 LBGs all over Europe, give students an opportunity to combine traditional lectures with alternative forms of education. Participating in the courses, students can experience a multicultural environment and gain new international friends and mindset. Every year, more than 2.000 students are experiencing BEST courses and living unique moments with students from all over Europe.

of which their motivational letter and cultural background are most important ones. Then, for a minimal fee, students can take part in a 1-2 week course that has both an academic and social part. At the end of the course, participants are evaluated on their knowledge or skills acquired during it and the ones who successfully pass the evaluation obtain a BEST Course certificate and a Course Information Form (CIF). The CIF gives the students a possibility to receive ECTS points at their home university.

Along with the academical part of the course, an organised program of social activities is provided to participants, which helps them to know better the country and the city of the hosting Local BEST Group and therefore, to broadening their horizons in a matter of knowing Europe. Courses provide many benefits such as enriching the knowledge or enhancing the career related skills, while being in a multicultural environment with internationallyminded students.

With over 20 years of experience, BEST has developed course standards which are followed by the LBGs in order to sustain and constantly improve the quality of the process. If needed, the LBGs can ask for a mentor in order to improve some aspects of their course and to receive the appropriate knowledge and support for offering high-quality events to students. After every course, participants are asked to fill an evaluation form which gives BEST the possibility of monitoring the development and content of the courses and working on maintaining the quality standards of the courses. These aspects make BEST courses widely recognized by students, universities, companies and partner associations across Europe.

There are three types of BEST courses: “BEST Courses on Technology”, “BEST Courses on Career Related Skills” and “BEST Courses on Applied Engineering”. Each of them has its own academic program and emphasizes the specific knowledge that the participants can gain.

All students of technology that belong to an university that is a part of BEST network can easily register an application online, on the public BEST website, and through the selection process be chosen to participate in a BEST Course.

Participants are chosen based on various criterias

BEST Courses are an excellent opportunity for European students of technology to experience a new way of development. They bring diversity to the student life and build relationships between people with different backgrounds, cultures and traditions while learning and developing themselves.

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Competitions European students of technology are expected to be skillful, applying their knowledge in order to solve real problems and to communicate on a technological level about their innovative solutions. Furthermore, they are also expected to be able to adapt to changing environments, to have an international mindset and to work together with people from different fields of activity, developing projects and working under pressure to fulfill defined goals with limited time.

Engineering competitions have been part of the services offered by BEST since 2003. Through this competitions, BEST is able to challenge students and give them an opportunity to challenge themselves, by using their abilities and knowledge. This will enrich their skills such as creativity, teamwork and communication.

Currently several local BEST groups organise different competitions around Europe with the purpose to encourage universities and companies to support these events that complement traditional education.

More than 6500 Participants from all over the Europe

87 Technical universities National and 15 regional rounds

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EBEC Project European BEST Engineering Competition (EBEC) celebrates this year its 7th edition. Being one of the biggest European engineering competition for students, organised by students, it has its main focus in providing complementary education.

EBEC challenges students of technology to test their competences in two different categories: Case Study and Team Design. The competition welcomes fourmembered teams of students who are currently rolled in an university where a EBEC local round happens.

This competition starts at a local level with EBEC local rounds developed by the local groups of BEST. The number of local rounds has been increasing and this year we count with 88 local rounds all over Europe. Subsequently National or Regional Rounds take place, at this stage winners of local rounds compete to have a place in the Final round. In 2015 we count with 15 national and regional rounds and the winners will have the opportunity to be present in Porto, Portugal for the Final event.

Last year’s edition involved 87 Technical Universities in Europe and 15 national and regional rounds ending with EBEC Final in Riga, Latvia. Final stage counted with 116 participants competing for the “BEST Engineer in Europe” title.

At international level the coordination body of EBEC Project is doing all the best to make this edition as good as the previous ones. The main goals set this year for the project are the general improvement of all the rounds and thus keep the development and sustainability of this competition.

EBEC Project is organised by about 500 volunteer students from Europe. It aims to bring together BEST stakeholders - students, universities and companies - throughout the year providing further interactions from which future engineers will benefit the most.

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EBEC Final - Riga 2014

The sixth edition of EBEC Final was held from the 1st to the 9th of August in Riga, Latvia. EBEC Final reached its peak point with 116 finalists from 25 universities from 19 countries. The event received patronage from Latvian National Commision for UNESCO, The International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), and Riga Technical university as well project was recognized by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Riga City council and other leading institutions and European embassies in Latvia. EBEC Final was supported by 11 well known universities from all over Europe. Škoda was promo partner and Mathworks also supported the event.

During 9 days of competition participants had four working days, official opening day, official closing day and a free day when they could explore Riga and Latvian culture. Tasks for Team Design were prepared by Fima and EBEC Topic Group (BEST) and each was 2 days long. In Case Study four tasks were delivered by Deutsche Bahn, European Patent Office and EBEC Topic Group (BEST). The winners of EBEC Final 2014 were announced in the closing ceremony - Riga Technical university (Team Design) and Kaunas University of Technology (Case study).

Local and international media covered the event to ensure the visibility of competition. Social media presence increased in the weeks before the event, and peaked at the start of EBEC 2014 Final in Riga, delivering constant updates and

rich multimedia content (photography, video production, interactive web content) on a daily basis. During the EBEC Final, content posted on our Facebook page reached 120.190 people. As the stories were liked and shared, they generated 436.784 unique impressions across the social network.

With every year more technical students and EBEC partners appreciate the unique opportunity to gain new knowledge and implement it by solving real life problems. Every year we strive to improve EBEC, develop new ideas and expand cooperation with companies who are passionate to improve education and prepare future professionals for technical industry.

Thanks to these values, on March 2015 the local BEST group of Riga has been announced as the national winner of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, for having organized EBEC Final 2014. The European Charlemagne Youth Prize aims to encourage the development of European consciousness among young people as well as their participation in European integration projects.

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BEST Career Events BEST Career Day

7th. The Official Opening Day of the event is an international In order to bring together career day to fulfill BEST Career our stakeholders (students, Support service. universities, companies) BEST Career Day (BCD) takes place Almost 200 members of BEST before BEST General Assembly. from all over Europe together Following the success of BCD in with the top 100 students from Bucharest, last year, we made it Gdansk Technical University happen again before GA Chania. participated on this special Students in their final years day to meet multinational and recent graduates from 96 companies and universities, top engineering universities network with each other and can apply to this event. After seize an international career pre-selection, a list of the most o p p o r t u n i t y.

Throughout promising applicants is delivered the day, Opening Ceremony, to our partners, who can select presentations from partners, the participants they want networking cocktail, jobfair, to meet during BCD. In BCD, workshops and interviews were students have the opportunity organised with a very fancy to meet and personally discuss closing banquet. with representatives from top companies and universities. P&G, Google, Vodafone, Avery That way, students’ awareness Dennison, Skoda Auto and Cisco, about latest industry needs as industrial partners, and IE increases and they can explore Business School, European new international career School of Management and opportunities.

Technology (ESMT), Bocconi University and EIT ICT Labs as BCD is divided in two parts: university partners joined us on First part includes presentations Presidents’ Meeting. and workshops for students designed by partners. Second Official Closing Day of part of the day contains EBEC Final personal interviews and job fair, where partners can interact On August 9th, our partners directly and personally with Deutsche Bahn, European over 400 future engineers Patent Office, FIMA and Skoda with international mindset. had the opportunity to represent BEST Career Day finishes with themselves at Riga Technical a cocktail party that allows University. networking among students and partners.

Afterwards, a Job Fair took place where our partners and more than 120 of the best engineering Official Opening Day of students from all around Presidents’ Meeting Europe had the opportunity to One of the general meetings interact. That way, students of BEST, Presidents’ Meeting got informed about the latest (PM) was held successfully in technological trends and Gdansk, Poland, on November explored their international

career opportunities. There was even time for private interviews. The day ended with the Closing Ceremony and the announcement of winners.

Supporting European students’ career leads us to more and more career events among our organisation. Apart from BEST Career Day, Local BEST Groups also succeed in organising local career support events with local and national companies.

Paris International Air Show with Airbus Group Between 15 and 21 June, 51st edition of Paris International Air Show was held in Paris Le Bourget airport. BEST was specially invited by Airbus Group to this great event, where 13 BEST members got opportunity to experience an outstanding environment and advanced technology of the aviation industry.

On the 18th of June, Airbus Group managers and employees met our members for a Globalisation Talk.

Furthermore, our members took advantage of the interaction with Airbus Group HR representatives for career purposes during their visit, networked with professionals and followed the shows of the latest aviation technology.

We would like to thank Airbus Group for providing BEST this unique opportunity to be present at Paris Air Show 2015.

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“Supporting european students’ career leads us to more and more career events among our organisation. Apart from BEST Career Day, Local BEST Groups also succeed in organising local career support events with local and national companies.”

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BEST Career Day BEST Career Day Chania took place on 24th April 2015, in the Cultural Centre of Chania where companies and universities had the chance to get in personal contact with about 300 students and recent graduates. After official opening speeches from organisers and local entities, there was a coffee break where students had the opportunity to network with partners and discuss possibilities with them.

The day started with presentations from three of our partners: • Booking.com • Vodafone • SkolTech After lunch, the Job Fair block began, giving place to the start of our activities. In parallel, we had workshops and interviews happening in the same building. The workshops and case studies were delivered by: • Booking.com • Whirlpool

Afterwards, the following partners conducted interviews with pre-selected students: • Booking.com • Whirlpool • Vodafone • London Business School • Veolia After all the official activities, there was a chance to network with all the representatives during cocktail reception which took place during sunset on the outside of the building. Company representatives and students were satisfied with the event, as BEST has shown great willingness to help and paid close attention to detail in order to fulfill their needs.

This was the last year in which BCD was part of the Official Opening of BEST’s General Assembly.

From now on, BEST Career Day will happen every year, in Brussels, as a stand alone event. The purpose is to provide a better environment for students and companies to take part and to help making BEST Career Day a recognisable brand.

• Vlerick • SkolTech

Booking.com - world’s leading online hotel & accommodation reservation company Vodafone - telecommunications company SkolTech

- the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology which is a private graduate research university

Whirlpool

- an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances

Vlerick

- private management school from Belgium which offers special programmes for BEST members

London Business School of the University of London

Veolia

- graduate business school and a constituent college

- a French transnational company involved in water management, waste management and energy services

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BEST Career Centre BEST continuously strives to provide quality services to its partners and to the technology and engineering students of Europe. In order to straighten the relationships between our stakeholders and provide the necessary career support students seek, we constantly work on the development of BEST Career Support (BCS) and its features.

BEST Career Support is divided in two main areas: live events and BEST Career Centre (BCC). Live events are organised throughout the year with the purpose of bringing together students, companies and universities, providing a more direct and closer interaction. Our partners participate in our events in several different ways: by delivering workshops, presentations, handling interviews and meeting students in job fairs. These events are: BEST Career Day, Official Opening Day of Presidents’ Meeting and Official Closing Day of EBEC Final.

The online tools BEST provides are all gathered under the name of BEST Career Centre. The platform allows interested students to have easy access to international career opportunities delivered by our partners. By creating an account on BEST website, students can fill their online CV, which is the very first step to fully take advantage of the potential of our career support service. All the information is collected in a database and is shared with our partners, benefiting both students and companies.

Through the BEST account, students can also subscribe to the Career and Study Newsletters in order to receive up to date information about international job/internship offers, graduate programmes and special career and study related programmes. Annually, around 40 newsletters are sent by our partners, which all include careerrelated opportunities that are relevant to students’ field of study and interests. Together with our stakeholders, we use targeted access to ensure the efficiency of the newsletters. The amount of followers is constantly growing and now reaches over 40 000 students and graduates.

We also take advantage of our Public Website and several social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to promote international career and study opportunities provided by our partners, thus reaching a wider and more diverse public. Furthermore, our website gathers all the information related to our stakeholders, their opportunities and career-related news. Lately, BEST Career Support promotion strategy has been finalised and being implemented by the organisation. All the aforementioned features are contributing to BCS continuous development, which is necessary in order to meet frequently changing needs of the market.

Innovation meets BEST Career Webinar. More recently, we introduced a very new concept of BEST Career Webinars into BEST Career Support services. The main purpose is to provide direct online interaction between students and our stakeholders representatives. The topic and the content of the webinar activity cover different aspects, such as promotion of current career offers, introduction of work/study environments and the benefits students would get by the opportunity. Furthermore, participants can ask questions to representatives, get insights and network with each other.

BEST Corporate Relations has been working on the development of this new tool and its concept with partners of BEST. There is still room for improvement so, in the nearest future, we can expect more activities and interaction opportunities for students through BEST Career Webinar.

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EoEs & Local Events on Education What are EoEs? The Events on Education (EoE) are events where students discuss, gather and distribute knowledge on specific themes of concern for engineering students in the field of education. There are two types of such events: BEST Symposium on Education (Symposium) and BEST Academics and Companies Forum (BACo). The sum of these events and all the related activities constitutes the so-called Educational Programme.

Through the Educational Programme, BEST is involved in facilitating discussions in educational matters and transferring the results to other interested parties. BEST is therefore organising Symposia and BACos with the participation of the main stakeholders in education: students, teachers and companies.

EoEs increase technological field students’ awareness of educational issues by letting them discuss those topics among themselves and above all, with their natural counterparts in the educational. And in the case of BACo, the industrial world, teachers and company representatives, respectively.

This year in 2015 we have 3 EoEs with following dates and topics: • EoE BACo Riga: (23rd - 31st of July) Gap between teaching profile and professional skills & learning objectives & continuous professional development.

• EoE BACo Bratislava: (28 June - 5th July) Teaching with technology & learning styles.

• EoE Ankara: (13th - 20th of September) Principles of Effective teaching and learning + Class and Course Organization.

LEoEs Local Events on Education (LEoEs) are local BEST events where local students discuss, gather and distribute knowledge on specific themes of concern for engineering students in the field of education.

The general description, purpose and the character of LEoEs is almost identical with and derived from the Events on Education (EoEs), with the difference that the initiative of these events is from a Local BEST Group and thus, they are more focused on a local level. That generates very specifically defined topics and related to local issues, with outcomes which transfer the vision of the University’s students to educational bodies, companies, etc.

During this year, we had 4 LEoEs held in Thessaloniki, Tallinn, Moscow and Brasov, and their outcomes helped to push forward education on their respective Universities.

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Scientific Work and Publications The Educational Committee of BEST gathers European students’ opinion regarding educational matters through Events on Education, organised together with Local BEST Groups. This year, the Scientific Working Group of the Educational Committee has contributed to 4 different international conferences and 1 international journal, with five papers. This allowed BEST to get the students’ opinions across to relevant company and university representatives as well as to raise awareness of its proactive role in the development of European Engineering Education. The papers created this year are, as follows: • Marta Cortesão, Giovanna Campogiani, Patrycja Ksiazek and Yury Smirnov, “Virtual internships development in Engineering Education - a fruitful cooperation between students, academia and companies”, World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) 2014, Dubai.

• Ana Rita Medeiros, Deniz Ìcen, Elia Alessandro Morciano and Marta Cortesão, “Using Virtual Internships as an Innovative learning technique”, IEEE EDUCON 2015, Tallinn • Alexia Spyridonidou, Marija Stanojevic and Tiago Monteiro “Engineering students´ choices influencing their skills and career path”, European Journal of Engineering Education 2015.

• George Kladis, Marta Cortesão, Ou Yan Zhou, Sander Claeys and Tiago Monteiro, “Project-based Learning as an Effective Developer of Young Engineers’ Curriculum”, SEFI Annual Conference 2015, Orléans.

• Andreea Militaru, Cristian Alonso García, George Kladis, Marta Cortesão and Monika Tolgo, “17 year evolution of the students’ perspective on innovative teaching, curricular development and e-learning in Europe”, WEEF 2015, Florence.

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Educational Conferences and Partner Meetings BEST works actively in the field of education, in order to achieve changes that promote a better future for technology students. In order to disseminate the opinions of students, collected from speciallydesigned events and surveys, BEST publishes reports and papers to be shared among the academia.

Through our participation in conferences about education, and by actively working in partner networks with other institutions, we bring students opinions to the relevant decision-making bodies for european education in the technology fields.

During this past year, the overview of our efforts is summarized in the following list: • PROVIP Partner Meeting in Odense, 28-29 August 2014, represented by: Tiago Monteiro, LBG Porto; Ana Rita Gomes de Medeiros, LBG Lisbon; Marta Filipa Cortesao, LBG Porto.

• SEFI-BEST meeting in pre-SEFI Annual Conference, 15th of September 2014, represented by: Alexia Spyridonidou, LBG Thessaloniki; Mathieu Vandenberghe, LBG Ghent; Pieter Coppens, LBG Leuven.

• SEFI Annual Conference in Birmingham, 15-19 of September 2014, represented by: Alexia Spyridonidou, LBG Thessaloniki; Mathieu Vandenberghe, LBG Ghent; Pieter Coppens, LBG Leuven; Radek Czahajda, LBG Gliwice; Triin Tartes, LBG Tallinn.

• European Engineering Deans Council meeting during SEFI AC, 16 of September 2014, represented by: Alexia Spyridonidou, LBG Thessaloniki • Global Student Forum & World Engineering Education Forum Dubai, December 2014, represented by: Ana Rita Medeiros, LBG Lisbon; Gonçalo Guerreiro, LBG Lisbon • SEFI-BEST meeting in Brussels, 5th February 2015, represented by: Mathieu Vandenberghe, LBG Ghent; Triin Tartes, LBG Tallinn • IEEE EDUCON Conference in Tallinn, 18-20 March 2015, represented by: Elia Alessandro Morciano, LBG Rome

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Training System BEST is an organisation inspired by change, yet always driven by the same unquenched element: BEST members. These are unique individuals who strive to acquire and develop useful skills in order to be effective in the organisation and later on in their future endeavours.

The body of BEST responsible for such development of skills is the Training Group.

Being one of the six committees of BEST, the Training Group’s mission is to provide adequate coordination between the needs of Local BEST Groups for training and the trainers who are able to satisfy those needs and deliver the required sessions. The structure of Trainers’ Community comprises two elements: Trainers’ Community is represented by an impressive number of more than 400 trainers, who are also BEST members. The primary role of trainers is to deliver training. Apart from this, they continuously share knowledge and materials amongst each other, support, give feedback and advice to each other. This knowledge management guarantees that BEST trainers never stop their professional growth and continually improve themselves through cooperation.

Training Group members provide the coordination of training to BEST members in order to ensure they can contribute to the organisation in an effective way. The Training Group’s daily activities business revolves exclusively around BEST members, as its mission is to ensure coordination of training in BEST.

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ACTIVE TRAINERS

3657 TRAINING HOURS

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Quality Assurance in Training Since the establishment of the Training System in 1999, quality assurance has always been a hot topic. Over the years, a few methods have been established that assure the quality of training as a service to all BEST members on all levels. The following methods have proven the most successful and long lasting:

Train the Trainer Meetings Second level trainer education is an integral part of a trainer’s life cycle. These three to four days events are organised to prepare trainers for delivering topics requiring more refined delivery techniques (e.g. communication models with a deeper psychological background).

Trainers Meetings on Trainer Camp - TRAP The education of trainers starts at Trainer Camp, therefore the quality assurance process starts already at this level. In intervals of 3 to 5 event editions (between 1,5 to 2,5 years), the event is evaluated in all its aspects during a gathering of competent trainers (who either already delivered training at the event or have relevant expertise). This ensures that the knowledge and methodology used and transmitted during this crucial event stays up to date.

Quality Content Project This project evaluates the relevance and factual validity of knowledge that has been gathered throughout the years since the establishment of the Training System.

The working methods include literature research, sharing and live, as well as online meetings. The desired outcome is to have up-to-date and professionally correct content in our training material, thus ensuring that the knowledge delivered to BEST members adheres to high quality standards.

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Virtual International Plenary

Due to the constant growth of BEST, the organisation needed an improvement in its decision-making process. With two times during General Meetings, the workload of the organisation was not distributed evenly and valuable time was lost. During these General Meetings, we spent time discussing about proposals that could be discussed elsewhere: bureaucratic corrections, confirmations, administrative changes...

Because of that, we needed a non-presential international decision-making body, working virtually. From a Workshop in Ankara during 2007, the concept of Virtual International Plenary (VIP) was born. VIP is the place where we get the chance to meet and take decisions online. It is also meant for gathering feedback from LBG delegates on the work of the international teams or any other “hot” topics. VIP was approved in GA Budapest 2009 and since now it is an official decision body of BEST.

It consists of a mailing list, an email archive, a wiki page, a document archive, and a voting system. So, when a topic appears, it gets discussed, clarified, an official proposal is made and then voting takes place. Their members are LBG delegates, representatives of international bodies, a speaker and a deputy speaker.

This way, the time for reaching a decision can be reduced from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It gives us a chance to implement changes faster and win a lot of time. Also, the workload of General Meetings is reduced, giving more room for decisions about identity, statutes and internal regulations, as well as the elections. It also saves time when gathering opinions for a presentation in the next General Meeting.

It also works as a constant sharing platform, where international bodies have a solution for constant two ways communication with LBGs. Board can ask advice for management issues and decisions, committees can give explanations of their work, and LBGs can give direct input.

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Private Area and Makumba update

BEST relies on relatively complex IT systems to provide its services and fulfill its needs. These services range from our own mail servers to the application system, which allows thousands of applications to be sent and received to seasonal courses, career events etc. Additionally, BEST also has access to a very extensive intranet, called Private Area (PA), which even further supports internal communication and knowledge management inside the organisation. Private Area is in its essence the link between all online tools of the organisation.

When it comes down to documentation for knowledge management, Private Area contains the Document Archives and the Wiki, among many other things. With these two tools, all the written knowledge of the organisation is properly stored and available for the generations to come.

HR Management on the other hand is facilitated by an integrated HR Tool and Task Manager.

Bodies of BEST can easily overview and update the progress and skills of their members, as well as assign appropriate tasks to them and keep track of the work progress.

The development of this intranet dates back to the mid-90s and was developed exclusively by members of BEST. Truly remarkable is that this intranet is built using a framework called “Makumba”, which was developed for this cause only: software development in amateur communities. This was done right after the millennium change and its development was led by the founder of ITC, named Cristian Bogdan, who is currently a professor at the KTH university in Stockholm and even now continuously supports the development of Makumba and its usage in BEST.

Private Area has undergone many development and design phases culminating in its current version. Its usability is constantly being improved and new features and tools are systematically planned and designed, implemented and launched.

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Internal Events Over the previous pages, we have been talking about the mission and vision of BEST. About how BEST’s activities and services aim to develop students to empower diversity in the future. But how is all of this managed?

The internal structure of BEST exists to manage and support every service that BEST provides to our stakeholders and internal events play a key role in this. As an international organisation, much of our work is done on-line. Nevertheless, live events are an inherent part of the working culture of our organisation in order to function properly.

Internal events fulfil this need by providing the foundation for developing our projects and facilitating the discussion among the members of our organisation.

Last year, 67 internal events contributed to the achievement of BEST’s goals for the year.

Having one of the most developed internal training systems among student NGOs in the world represents not only a great asset for our organisation, but also a great example of what internal events are. BEST Train-Shops gather selected members of our local groups in a week-long internal event during which they get trained on a specific topic related to their current and future responsibilities inside the organisation, such as leadership, fundraising, graphic design, human resources management or marketing.

Over the next few pages we will introduce other major internal events needed for the proper functioning of our organisation, such as General Meetings, which gather members from every local group of BEST or International Project’s Forum, which is a clear example of BEST’s working culture.

Annual Report 2014/15

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Financial Overview BEST, as a Europe-wide organisation for technical students, striving to empower diversity through developing students, require many resources.

The most important resource will always be our members. Another resource, more countable and easier to analyse is its finances. In order to achieve what BEST aim for, the available financial resources must be allocated properly to achieve these aims. This happens with input from the entire organisation, to ensure that the focus is where BEST wants it to be.

The money is spent on supporting our activities in order to better provide services to the technical students of Europe. Our IT systems must be operated, marketing materials must be designed and printed, and various meetings and conferences must be organised. The largest part of our budget is still spent on reimbursing our members for travelling, enabling them to take part and make a difference.

BEST has for many years cooperated with industrial partners, and the cooperation has been refined over the last 25 years. Our industrial and university partners now take part in BEST Career Support, providing opportunities to students.

This is also our main income, and everything we do would not be possible without this cooperation.

The list of our partners can be found in the end of the report.

The other significant source of income, is institutional support. The European Commision has been supporting our operations for several years, and for 2014-15 we received an Operating Grant through the ERASMUS+ Programme. Their support is invaluable to BEST. Numbers show that BEST is still in a healthy position, and can continue to grow and expand its presence in Europe.

Supporters

Career Support Partners

Incomes [%]

University Partners Bank account interests BAS debts Project Partners Corporate Partners

Internal Training

International Teams

Company Trips Educational Events’ Coordination

Administration External Relations

Internatiolan Management

Expenses [%]

Competitions Coordination Marketing Materials Internal Events Support Unexpected Expenses

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Internal Activities

Annual Report 2014/15

Presidents’ Meeting Gdansk 2014

Between the 6th and the 12th of November 2014, the XX President’s Meeting brought together members from all over Europe driven by the will to shape the future of BEST. Local BEST Group Gdansk took the challenge to host more than 190 ambitious students from all over Europe, gathered to discuss and take decisions concerning the development of our organisation.

Delegates from all Local BEST Groups were joined by the XXVII Management of BEST, delegates of international teams, project coordinators, invited members and partner NGO representatives.

During this event, the participants attended workshops, training sessions, discussion groups and four full days of plenary sessions.

Presidents’ Meeting Gdansk was kicked off with the Official Opening ceremony held at Gdansk University of Technology on the 7th of November.

It included welcome speeches from Przemyslaw Knas, the main organiser of the event, Mathieu Vandenberghe, President of BEST, Paweł Adamowicz, mayor of Gdansk and representatives of Gdansk University of Technology. The day continued with presentations, workshops and interview sessions held by partner companies or institutions: Avery Dennison, P&G, IE Business School, EIT ICT Labs, ESMT Business School, Bocconi University Milan, Vodafone, Google and Cisco.

The following four days were dedicated to discussions related to the evaluation of our main services dedicated to youth, as well as internal matters and the work done by the international bodies of BEST in the first half of the mandate.

This was done in discussion groups and plenary sessions, and every delegate had the opportunity to present work done by their local group and share their ideas with the whole organisation.

Participants were invited to attend teambuilding activities and training sessions delivered by BEST trainers on topics like leadership, non-violent communication and strategic networking.

Presidents’ Meeting Gdansk was an important decision-making milestone for the year 2014/2015, raising matters that needed to be addressed paving the way for upcoming developments.

The event would not have been possible without the tremendous hard work of Local BEST Group Gdansk that supported our work in an European environment, while delighting every participants with Polish culture and traditions.

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General Assembly Chania 2015

Year after year, the whole organisation reunites in spring to discuss and decide the future of BEST. The XXXIV General Assembly of BEST took place between 23rd of April and 2nd of May 2015 in Chania, Greece. The event gathered delegates from Local BEST Groups and different international bodies, reaching 260 people. The passion and efforts the Local BEST Group Chania dedicated to this event made the days spent on the beautiful island of Crete an unforgettable experience for every participant.

The event began with the third edition of BEST Career Day, an activity designed to support students all around Europe in finding their career path. The General Assembly delegates were accompanied by top students from BEST universities all across Europe and local students from the Technical University of Crete as they were welcomed by the President of BEST, General Assembly Main Organisers, University of Crete and SEFI representatives and officials from the Region of Chania and Municipality of Platanias.

The participants could attend workshops, interviews, presentations and training sessions offered by the partners present on the event: booking.com, Vodafone, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, EIT ICT Labs, Whirlpool, Vlerick Business School, Veolia, London Business School, Total, OTE and Viahalco.

During the plenary days that followed, hot topics of interest for the whole organisation were discussed, decisions were taken and the XXVIII Board was elected. Important outcomes of GA Chania 2015 were the approval of the structure changes, BEST deciding to move towards a matrix structure, adjusting the composition of the Board to support the new structure by adding another position, the approval of strategic plan for the period 2015-2018 and the beginning of a Memorandum of Understanding with SEFI, a long-time institutional partner.

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Annual Report 2014/15

International Projects’ Forum Istanbul 2015

The international scope of work in BEST is based on projects managed by international teams and the Board. Regardless of their nature or leader, this is how the ongoing development in BEST is arranged; clustered in small chunks, each with their own goal, human resources and usually a deadline. Most importantly, sooner or later, some project will cross paths with others, influence them and cause a snowball effect that will push BEST forward. Due to the geographical spread, collaboration in projects is usually done through virtual communication channels. Nevertheless, some projects require in-person meetings of the team working on it. Once per year a very special event takes place to gather all of international BEST in one place to create a platform for them to discuss and work: the International Projects’ Forum (IPF).

During the last IPF which took place in February in Istanbul, Turkey, more than 60 participants, including Board members, committee members, regional advisors and project leaders met to work on high-priority issues that concerned the whole organisation. Important issues, such as the new structure of BEST, the Strategic Plan 2015-2018, Knowledge Management, Market Research, the Public Website and the BEST budget for 2015/16 were tackled during the 50 sessions that happened over the four days of the event. From a planning and performance point of view, IPF is more than an important milestone in the BEST calendar. It is the personification of BEST’s vision and mission, where people from all corners of Europe meet to work voluntarily on developing students, share their passion and grow a better tomorrow for the engineering education world.

BEST

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Relationship with Alumni

The Alumni Network of BEST is aimed at maintaining and developing connections between former members. This network serves as a platform for professional networking for the thousands of alumni based around the world.

Moreover, Through the Alumni Network, former members can provide support to current members and keep in contact with them.

The Alumni of BEST use several online channels to keep in touch, such as mailing lists and dedicated groups on social networks. Additionally, multiple events are organised throughout the year where former members meet to discuss and network.

Alumni Meetings took place in parallel to the General Meetings in November 2014 in Gdansk, Poland (20 participants) and April 2015 in Chania, Greece (130 participants). These events

provided an opportunity for alumni to interact with active members and exchange experiences in an informal setting. In October 2014, the 4th edition of the Alumni Business Camp was held in Budapest, Hungary as an initiative of several prominent alumni members.

During this year, several projects proposed by Alumni coordinator Pierre Rondou have been worked on, including improving the communication with local alumni communities, supporting alumni courses, and giving opportunities to alumni startups. Further, an initiative to give the alumni network a legal framework as an international non-profit association is currently underway and supported by BEST.

External Relations

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Annual Report 2014/15

Erasmus + The new Erasmus+ programme created by the European Commission aims to support projects and activities in the fields of Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period 2014-2020.

This new programme replaces seven existing programmes, including the Youth in Action programme (2007-2013) from which BEST has received support in previous years. The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) is entrusted with the implementation of the programme and the management of actions at European level.

In the first year of implementation of this new European Union programme, BEST was recognised by the EACEA as a European NGO with relevant activity in the field of youth by being awarded with an annual operating grant from the Erasmus+ programme of 45.000€.

Specifically, BEST was considered to contribute for the employability of young people through the

development of competences and skills by means of non-formal education, promoting intercultural learning and respecting diversity/equality, as well as contributing to their personal, socioeducational and professional development. This grant provided structural support to implement activities during 2014-2015 covering meeting, travel, marketing and administrative expenses of the organisation.

The support received through the Erasmus+ programme constituted a strong pillar for the internal structure of BEST as well as its projects and activities. BEST recognises this new programme as an invaluable support for the development of actions at European level aiming to increase and improve the impact of the services provided by the organisation towards the stakeholders, namely the European students of Technology.

FEANI BEST and FEANI, the European Federation of National Engineering Associations, have been in contact since 2006. Given the synergy between our organisations and the potential to form a strong collaboration between present and future engineers, a strong cooperation soon emerged.

We have several projects and milestones to look back to in this 9-year cooperation. We have a frequent exchange of representatives to each other’s events, and through combining our expertise, several joint workshops on topics concerning the mobility of engineering have been organised. Furthermore, two years ago BEST moved into the FEANI headquarters in Brussels, strengthening the cooperation and our contacts.

This year we have started to pilot cooperation on other initiatives, such as FEANI support for EBEC Final.

FEANI is a federation of professional engineers that unites national engineering associations from 32 European countries. Thus, it represents the interests of over 3.500.000 million professional engineers in Europe.

Through its activities and services, FEANI aims at facilitating the mutual recognition of engineering qualifications in Europe and strengthening the position, role and responsibility of engineers in society.

FEANI is a founding member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) and collaborates with many other organisations dealing with engineering and technology issues, as well as engineering education. FEANI is officially recognised by the European Commission as representing the engineering profession in Europe. FEANI also has consultative status with UNESCO, UNIDO and the Council of Europe.

BEST

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Annual Report 2014/15

SEFI SEFI (Societe Europeenne pour la Formation des Ingenieurs) stands for European Society for Engineering Education and is one of our most valuable partners regarding engineering education.

Our cooperation and work towards our common goals takes place through our mutual attendance to events (Events on Education for SEFI & SEFI Conferences for BEST), online communication and access to both organisations’ channels.

After 5 years in a row BEST has the pleasure to attend one more SEFI Annual Conference. 43rd SEFI Annual Conference in Orleans in France has the topic “Diversity in engineering education: an opportunity to face the new trends of engineering” and it took place during 29th of June and 2nd of July 2015, hosted by Polytech Orléans, the engineering school of University of Orléans.

BEST received an official invitation in order to be represented and participate in the Conference.

This Conference was a great opportunity for the two organisations to meet, interact and exchange ideas. BEST attended sessions and presentations in order to get a better understanding on the niche topics about engineering education and met people with whom we will cooperate and work in the following year. Furthermore, BEST will share students’ insights gathered through various activities, and hold on the spot activities targeted to students who will be present. Last but not least, during SEFI Conference in Orleans, the Memorandum of Understanding between BEST and SEFI was signed from both sides, indicating our strong cooperation and our willingness to keep moving together towards improving engineering education.

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European Youth Forum The YFJ (Youth Forum Jeunesse; or European Since April 2013, BEST has been an observer Youth Forum in English) is an international member of the Youth Forum and through this organisation established by the joint efforts of platform, BEST aims to become further engaged national youth councils and international non- in European matters such as youth employment, governmental youth organisations in Europe. The mobility, non-formal education and much more.

Forum strives to be the voice of young people in This year BEST has been able to be present at the Europe, where young people are equal citizens YFJ Council of Members which took place in Clujand are encouraged and supported to achieve Napoca, Romania, the European Youth Capital their fullest potential as global citizens. They of 2015, as well as at the Council of Members further provide a support platform for its 99 in Brussels, Belgium. After a few years, BEST is member organisations and helps them develop becoming more aware of the opportunities within and become more recognised. YFJ works closely YFJ and better at involving ourselves in the with the Council of Europe, European Union and platform.

United Nations.

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Annual Report 2014/15

Partner NGOs Over the course of its existence, BEST has developed strong bonds with several other major student and youth organisations. BEST fosters communication and mutual exchange of best practices with these partner NGOs, enabling us to increase our organisational knowledge. In addition, a mutual exchange of members between our partners leads to new ideas and improvement.

This year’s emphasis was on working with the partners we have and disseminating the opportunities they bring with them. This year that process has resulted in over 130 delegates and participants being exchanged between BEST’s and our partner’s events and several events organised together. This has led to the sharing of a great deal of information and knowledge.

BEST has five official partners:

AEGEE (European Students’ Forum) is Europe’s

largest interdisciplinary student organisation.

It promotes cooperation, communication and integration among young people in Europe. It consists of 13 000 members active in more than 200 universities. AEGEE has been a partner of BEST since 2010. Over the years, communication on topics like the dissemination of educational achievements, grants, and quality assurance has been established. Additionally, a joint Youth in Action grant with AEGEE was submitted in September 2013 and accepted, leading to a series of joint training events over the previous years.

“Bonding” is a student association that bridges

the gap between students and employers. They offer German students a broad range of projects aimed at increasing student insight of companies to help their future careers. bonding has over 350 members and local groups in 11 cities in Germany. Bonding has been a partner of BEST since 1997. As a result, the exchange of members between our organisations is still strong: in the course of 2014-2015 over 60 participants were exchanged during various events and one event was organised together. bonding has also been supportive of our new BEST groups in Germany: Aachen and Erlangen.

CFES

(Canadian Federation of Engineering Students) is a national bilingual organisation, representing approximately 60 000 engineering students across Canada. CFES aims to provide opportunities for an all-encompassing education for engineering students in Canada to become unparalleled professionals in their field. CFES has been a partner of BEST since 2000. In the last year, cooperation has revolved around sharing on various topics like courses and engineering competitions. In 2014-2015 many CFES members participated in BEST Seasonal Courses as volunteers. This exchange was valuable to both sides and led to a better understanding of each other’s organisations.

ELSA

(European Law Students’ Association) is the world’s largest independent association for law students. ELSA offers law students a perfect platform to develop new and existing skills, and network. It has a membership of around 35 000 students, spread around 300 universities in Europe. ELSA has been a partner of BEST since 2011. In previous years, BEST and ELSA mainly exchanged legal and technical advice, though now cooperation revolves around sharing best practices on a variety of topics (such as organisational structure, alumni and grants).

ESTIEM

(European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management) was founded in 1990, and was established in order to connect IEM students all over Europe and provide them a unique platform to support them in their personal and professional development. ESTIEM has been a partner of BEST since 2011. This year, our cooperation has strengthened significantly due to increased participant exchange in a variety of events. Contacts have been initiated on matters of educational involvement, marketing, alumni, competitions and knowledge management. As a further sign of good relationship, BEST and ESTIEM together with several other partners have applied to a grant together to organise a series of educational events.

Seeking additional opportunities, BEST is also a member of IFISO (Informal Forum of International Student Organisations): a platform of more than 20 international student organisations. It enables its members to easily collaborate, seek new opportunities and strengthen their capacities.

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Round Table

Every year, BEST strives to meet with current and potential partners with BEST Partners’ Round Table gathering organised by BEST with participant representatives from companies, institutions, technical universities and business schools. Participant stakeholders have opportunity to get to know BEST more and also network with other partners & BEST.

those expectations. This way, we are able to develop our Career Support service and provide a better value for our partners and students.

During this course, we organised two Round Tables in different cities of Europe. The first one was held in Gdansk, Poland, before our Presidents’ Meeting in November and the most recent one took place in Chania, Greece, before During this one day event, we present our our BEST Career Day & General Assembly in services, activities and ongoing projects of our April. Representatives from European School organisation and hold discussions about how to of Management & Technology (ESMT), Avery bring international companies and universities Dennison, Vlerick Business School, Skoltech closer to talented, creative and internationally- Institute of Science and Technology, Total, OTEminded students of technology from all over Cosmote, Whirlpool, Veolia and representatives Europe. This year we also hold discussions from our Corporate Partner Booking.com were about new possible events and also innovative together with us during these events. online services and we gathered feedback from participant representatives.

These events give us the opportunity to discover new ways of improving the cooperation & great Another important goal of our Round Table is chance for us to improve our communication with to talk about the needs and expectations of our our participant stakeholders and set the premise stakeholders, ask for their input to determine for long-term and successful collaborations. missing points in our services and then work together on finding ways in which BEST can meet

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Partners of BEST BEST promotes the constant interaction between students, universities and companies. During the year, several partnerships were established with the goal of offering our partners the opportunity of being in contact with students according to their needs. Our partners provide us the necessary funds in order to be possible for BEST to organize its activities and reach the level of excellence, consistency and, above all, the sustainability of our projects. Thus, our partnerships allow the straightening of the links between the three stakeholders of BEST. The participation of our partners in our events is it’s key point, allowing students to be in contact with the labor market and international study programmes, while our partners have the opportunity to promote and disclose its policies, offers and knowledge. Through various activities such as presentations, workshops or case studies, we focus on a dynamic and productive partnership for both parties.

Furthermore, we offer companies the opportunity to directly recruit students through our BEST Career Support service.

We thank all our partners for the cooperation maintained throughout the year and hope to continue surpassing their expectations in the future.

Annual Report 2014/15

BEST

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Working at booking.com I always imagined that once I would end my involvement in BEST, my life would become mundane again. I thought I would end up in this company where, as a graduate, I would end up not having any kind of real responsibility or saying. In a lot of ways BEST spoiled us: in our organisation you can always share your opinion and act on it, and from the first weeks you get responsibilities which are not only aimed at developing you, but actually have an impact on the organisation.

When I saw the presentation made by Booking.com at General Assembly Chania, they spoke a lot about how this 10 000 employees company empowers everybody to make business decisions right from the first day at the job. I was of course quite skeptical about it, but I figured it is worth a try so I decided to go for an interview with them. Even though the interview had some tricky questions, the interviewers were very reassuring during the whole duration of it. I think that this is very reflective of the booking spirit: you are not expected to know everything in advance, but rather to adapt and be creative when faced with difficult situations. After the interview finished I was invited to a more in-depth business interview in Amsterdam. The purpose of this visit was twofold: They wanted to get to know me better but I should also see whether I like Amsterdam as a city and Booking.com as a company in which I would work.

Not long after the interview finished I received a call from one of the Graduate Recruiters: I got the job! I was to move to Amsterdam within two months and join the company as a Graduate Software Developer. During the whole relocation process I was supported

by Booking.com through the relocation specialist assigned to me.

My only duty was to pack my things and say my goodbyes.

Once arrived there I understood exactly what they meant by empowering everybody to come up with business ideas. From day one I had the opportunity to give input on a new product which provides customers with trip suggestions based on what other people liked. Less than two months later, the product was launched for the customer. I also got full support from my co-workers: I was encouraged to go and ask questions whenever something was not clear to me and was constantly given feedback when my approach was a bit naive. But the collaboration doesn’t end with the end of office hours. Booking.com is a melting pot of different cultures and nationalities, which leads to very interesting discussions in after-hour social activities.

Right now it seems like I was quite wrong in the way I imagined my career to end up. The reason why Booking.com is such an amazing place to work at are the people. You are surrounded by very talented and passionate people who always give 100% in their work and you are supported by everybody to give 100% yourself.

But don’t trust me on this one, go to workingatbooking.com and check it out for yourself!

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Annual Report 2014/15

Public Relations We present the statistics of followers numbers for the period between 1st of July 2014 and 30th of June 2015. They may differ from the current.

Facebook 14997 11800 6479 5285

5496 4341

2014

2015

Twitter

LinkedIn 4500

1100

1304

748 577

BESTorg

EBEC

2702

BESTorg

Corporate Partner:

Career Support Partners:

University Partners: Knowledge & Innovation Community

EIT ICT Labs

Educational Partners: PRO

VIP

Partner NGOs: Canadian Federation of Engineering Students Fédération canadienne des étudiants en génie

Supporters: