IMPORTANT THESE PRESENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM POLICIES (“XPP”) WERE ADOPTED BY THE GLOBAL ASSOCIATION AT IPM 2011 IN MEXICO, AND REPLACE THE FORMER INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE POLICIES AND QUALITY STANDARDS (“IXPQS”). AS THIS MAJOR REVISION IS BOUND TO HAVE CAUSED MINOR ERRORS AND OMISSIONS, IT IS LIKELY THAT SMALL CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO THE POLICIES AT THE FOLLOWING INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATIVE MEETING. PLEASE SEND ANY FEEDBACK TO ICB@AI.AIESEC.ORG
EXCHANGE PROGRAM POLICIES v1.6 – Adopted at International President’s Meeting 2011 in Mexico
MC and AI Document 1. Definitions 1.1. An AIESEC internship is a practical working and learning experience for the intern to develop academic knowledge and professional skills in a foreign cultural environment.! An internship shall have a minimum duration of six (6) weeks to be spent working and maximum duration of seventy-eight (78) weeks. 1.2. An internship must aim to provide the intern with: a) A positive learning experience; b) Practical skills and knowledge in a foreign environment to complement the intern’s higher educational background or field of career aspirations; c) Interaction with a different social and cultural environment with a view to gaining intercultural competencies; d) Development of theoretical and practical leadership skills; e) Opportunity to apply personal and professional skills, knowledge, attitudes and values to work for the organization as well as the host communities; f) Develop awareness and knowledge of social issues and different practices of the sending and hosting country; g) Opportunity to contribute to personal and professional life goals. 1.3. The internship cannot aim to: a) Solely provide an opportunity for the intern to earn money; b) Provide a holiday; c) Act as a permanent career placement or recruitment opportunity. If the organization decides to extend the internship on a permanent basis, AIESEC will have no role in facilitating this; d) Provide permanent residence in the country of internship; e) Be an internal AIESEC leadership position (such as MC opportunities and AIESEC CEEDs). 1.4. All internships facilitated by AIESEC should fulfill the conditions set in the national and local labor regulations that are in force in the country and in the local area where the internship has place. In case of any difference or contradiction between the referred rules, it shall prevail the regulation which offers more benefits to the Intern. 1.5. For the purpose of this document we understand: Intern or Exchange Participant (EP) – AIESEC members participating in the internship (exchange) program and going through all stages of the internship process. Organization (TN Taker) – A corporate, non-governmental or governmental entity hosting an intern during internship program. Local Committee (LC) – Any local headquarter formally recognized as such by AIESEC International. A LC can send its members abroad or receive interns.
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Sending AIESEC Entity – official local chapter of AIESEC which carried out the selection process of an intern, uploaded its form to MyAIESEC.net, and is or was responsible for its preparation, matching, and reintegration. Hosting AIESEC Entity – The official local committee or national body of AIESEC that carries out the internship (Exchange) Program with an Organization by uploading the internship exchange form to MyAIESEC.net, matching the internship, and organizing the intern’s reception and integration. Member Committee (MC) – Any national headquarter formally recognized as such by AIESEC International. The Member Committee is the final responsible regarding the activities of any of its Local Committees. Sponsor Member or Sponsoring Country - A sponsor member is the Member Committee which is supporting the extension of AIESEC to a new country or territory AIESEC International (AI) – Foundation administered by the Management Board of Stichting AIESEC International, having it’s official office located at 126 Teilingerstraat, NL-3032 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Internship Pools Definition 1.6. Internships (TNs) should be classified into pools based on the job description they offer and not the Organization type or Salary size. Interns (EPs) should be classified into pools based on the job descriptions they have the highest interest in and on their ability to fulfill the academic and working backgrounds required by those job descriptions. 1.7. The definition of the internship pools are as follows: a) A Development internship (also known as DT: Development Traineeship) is based on areas related to community development issues. Community development seeks to empower individuals or groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to affect change in their own communities or creating direct impact on community (E.g.: cultural education for students to increase cross cultural awareness and understanding). A DT Intern must be motivated and prepared to work in the field of development and cannot be matched just on the basis of fulfilling the academic and working background requirements of the organization. b) Education Internships An Education internship (a.k.a. ET: Education Traineeship) is one in which the job description involves the majority of time being spent teaching certain language or subject with objective of transferring knowledge for academic purpose. The Intern must have the academic and working backgrounds in the field of education or training. (E.g. cultural education for students who are in the field of studying cultures, teaching management subjects ) c) Management Internships A Management internship (a.k.a. MT: Management Traineeship) is one in which the Intern spends the majority of their time working in areas related to management. These areas may include business, administration, finance, accounting, marketing, project management, organizational management or human resources, life or medial sciences, law etc. d) Technical Internships A Technical internship (a.k.a. TT: Technical Traineeship) must be based on work in areas related to
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information technology or engineering. The Intern spends majority of his/her time in one or more of these areas: web development and management, software development and programming, system analysis and design, network management, database management and engineering.
2. General Policies
2.1(MC) The Member Committee is responsible: a) To ensure all internships facilitated by AIESEC should fulfil the conditions set in the national and local labor regulations that are in force in the host country and in the local area where the internship has place, and in the present Exchange Program Policies. In case of any difference or contradiction between the referred rules, the regulation which offers more benefits to the Intern shall prevail; b) To ensure that all Local Committees are running exchanges and provide all the necessary systems and tools for LCs to operate exchange; c) To ensure that all Local Committees are implementing and following the Exchange Program Policies and any other policies that the Member Committee has developed specifically for their country/territory; d) To follow all relevant policies if any MC plays the role of Sending or Hosting AIESEC entity;
3. Selection Policies 3.1(MC) The Member Committee is responsible: a) To develop EP and TN exchange contracts in agreement to these policies and local/national labor regulations; b) To implement a mechanism which ensures that all forms on ‘New’ status are reviewed for matchability and quality standards prior to putting the form on ‘Available’ status. The approving body/individual shall advise the MC, sending entity, and EP in cases where the form does not meet standards and provide specific recommendations for improvement; c) To ensure that each new EP or TN form is reviewed and put on available within one week if the country and territory has monitored access and if the member or organization internship offer meet all quality standards.
4. Matching policies
4.1(MC) A Member Committee has a right: a) To facilitate an exchange with a non-member AIESEC entity. In such cases, all forms and procedures must flow through the Sponsoring Country. The following two scenarios illustrate this: -
Turkey (being the TN country) and Azerbaijan (being the EP country but Turkey being the Sponsor country): in this case, AIESEC International would be assigning the match, as both the TN and EP IDs would be from the same country (Turkey).
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Poland (being the TN country) and Azerbaijan (being the EP country but Turkey being the Sponsor country): in this case, Turkey would be providing the EP ID, so it would be a normal match. The supporting MC must ensure that all the exchange policies are followed for both the member and nonmember in the facilitation of these exchanges. An exchange may not take place between two nonmembers.
b) To facilitate internships between countries within a merged entitity. Once Acceptance Notes have been exchanged, the Hosting Country must inform AIESEC International of the match and forward the Acceptance Notes as proof (via email or fax). AIESEC International will assign the match on behalf of the two parties. The TN and EP entities are responsible to follow all International Exchange Policies. In those cases the Acceptance Notes alone are proof enough of a match. Member Committees of merged entities may independently break realizations of exchanges that occur between countries within a their entity.
4.2(MC) All Member Committees must abide by the following: a) Once a Realization is assigned on MyAIESEC.net by the TN Manager or by any other qualified AIESEC member from the host Member Committee, it can only be broken (i.e., the status of the EP and TN form can only be changed) with mutual agreement of the Member Committee of the Sending Entity and the Organization. b) Broken realizations will be discounted from the official results of both countries for the matter of Membership Criteria. 4.3(MC) If there is any suspicion of falsely assigned realizations by any AIESEC entity, this entity in questions is responsible for investigating the true state of such realizations, and provide an official response to the reporting entity within two (2) days after receiving notification according to the procedure bellow: a) If this entity admits a false realization out of genuine error, AIESEC international should be informed immediately and this realization should be broken without any penalties for the entity. b) If the claim of falsified realizations is denied, and the reporting entity still insists that realizations are false, this case may be directed to International Control Board that will release an official case solution after investigation. (refer to Chapter 6 ICB). c) If the claim of false realizations is proven to be true, the entity that knowingly assigned this realization will automatically be excluded from AIESEC entities for 1 year. The MyAIESEC.net. profile of such entity should be removed from the system by the relevant party.
5. Integration and Reception Policies 5.1(MC) The Member Committee is responsible: a) To ensure that a reception wiki for the country exists and is regularly maintained according to global standards (A good reception wiki on myaiesec.net will include key contact information and addresses, estimate of monthly EP budget, a summary of laws and cultural standards, visa application information, travel and safety information, history of the LC and country, and any other key information. Reception Wikis must be named “ENTITY-NAME | Reception Wiki�)
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6. Complaint Procedure policies 6.1(MC) The Member Committee is responsible: a) To provide assistance on complaint procedures to its LCs, Interns and Organizations when quality issues or deviations from the present policies arise. Member Committees should attempt to resolve complaints with sending/hosting Member Committees privately and file claim with the International Control Board of AIESEC International according to chapter 6 of the Exchange Program Policies when such attempts cannot be resolved independently. b) To cover financial compensations in accordance with the law and these Exchange Program Policies, and remain the final responsible for any Exchange Program Policies violation made by its LCs. 6.2(MC) All AIESEC Exchange program stakeholders should also consider that: AIESEC International, and the AIESEC sending and hosting entities may only be held liable for their personal respective responsibilities as described in these policies. In particular, AIESEC International, AIESEC sending and hosting entities shall never be held liable: a) In case of refusal from the authorities to provide a visa, work permit or any other legal document or authorization needed by the individual to participate in the internship b) In case of false, inaccurate or incorrect information provided by the Intern or the Organization resulting in the match/internship c) In case of accident incurred by the Intern during the internship d) In case of damages caused by the Intern to the Organization or to any third party during the internship e) In case of damages or lose of any working material (as laptop, camera, cellphone, etc) provided to the Intern by the Organization for work purposes. f) For any consequential or indirect damages, including loss of income or profits. g) Where the failure to fulfill their obligations has been caused by circumstances beyond their control.
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