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BEST engages in partnerships with the companies <ref>http://www.best.eu.org/student/career/companyProfileList.jsp</ref> in all engineering fields to give them access to the students in the BEST CV database which gathers 37 000 students and graduates. Since BEST is active all over Europe, all engineering disciplines are easily reached. Another important advantage of the diversity of students in the database is that it includes both BEST members and external students.
BEST engages in partnerships with the companies <ref>http://www.best.eu.org/student/career/companyProfileList.jsp</ref> in all engineering fields to give them access to the students in the BEST CV database which gathers 37 000 students and graduates. Since BEST is active all over Europe, all engineering disciplines are easily reached. Another important advantage of the diversity of students in the database is that it includes both BEST members and external students.

==History of BEST==
The idea of BEST was born in May 1987 in Stockholm (Sweden) during a European conference for students of physics and mathematics.<ref>http://www.best.eu.org/aboutBEST/history.jsp</ref> The outcome of the conference was a decision to organise an International Week every six months in a different country during which the interaction between European students would be developed.

The second International Week was held in Grenoble (France, March 1988). This meeting involved students not only from physics and mathematics but also from other areas of competence. The meeting in Grenoble was followed by an International Week held in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). However, the first meeting held exclusively for BEST was in Berlin (Germany) in April 1989. There it was decided that BEST would consist of a Board, a General Assembly and members. Taking part in this meeting were delegates from all over Europe: Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Eindhoven, Grenoble, Helsinki, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Louvain-la-Neuve, Paris, Stockholm, Trondheim, Turin, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.

At this meeting BEST was officially founded with the aim to promote exchanges and communication between European Students of Technology. In November 1990, in the meeting in Budapest, the Summer Programme appeared: a set of two week courses all over Europe. In the summer of 1991, 13 summer courses were launched. In the first three years the Summer Programme was supported by the TEMPUS programme of the European Union.

The association kept growing, new members joined and new projects arose. During the XIV General Assembly in Tallinn (Estonia) it was decided that BEST should apply, together with CESAER and SEFI, to set up the H3E Thematic Network under the European Community's SOCRATES-programme. This Thematic Network was officially established in September 1996 to work upon the future of Engineering Education. This made H3E the first Thematic Network where students participate as equal partners.

During the XV General Assembly in Belgium, BEST started a partnership with the German student-association bonding Studenteninitiative e.V,<ref>http://www.bonding.de/web/web.nsf/web/studenten_best_en</ref> thus recognising each other's activities and setting up a framework for co-operation. Since 2002 BEST also cooperates with the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES).<ref name="cfes.ca">http://www.cfes.ca/content/official-partners</ref> And starting with 2010, Association des États Généraux des Étudiants de l'Europe (AEGEE) is also a partner organisation of BEST.<ref>http://best.eu.org/aboutBEST/studentAssociations/index.jsp</ref>

Cooperation with bonding and CFES blossomed and facilitated the building of two important parts of BEST: along with bonding the organisation developed the internal training system, and with CFES it developed the concept of Engineering Competitions.

In 2005, after a long process, the international structure of BEST was completely changed in order to bring more efficiency and to better serve the organisation and the Local BEST Groups. A lot of work was done since then to ensure the sustainability of the association: internally (IT platform, training system, common promotion strategy), externally (applications to BEST events, educational involvement), and financially (partnerships with companies). Finally in 2007, in Presidents' Meeting Valladolid, Local BEST Groups decided to have a common Corporate Image for BEST.

In 2009, BEST celebrated its 20th anniversary and on this occasion a history book of BEST was written.<ref>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12328605-history-of-best-20-years-in-europe</ref>

In April 2013, BEST started a year full of celebrations. In August 2013, the 5th edition of European BEST Engineering Competitions Final Round will be organised in Warsaw, Poland and at the same time, this date will mark the 10th anniversary of competitions in BEST. In April 2014, on the other hand, BEST will celebrate its 25th anniversary. In order to mark all these special occasions, BEST has started a project called "BEST Anniversaries Project". This project includes a variety of activities such as preparing special booklets on Competitions, Courses and Career Support, an exhibition of photographs that present the important milestones of the organisation.


==Local BEST Groups==
==Local BEST Groups==

Revision as of 13:51, 6 July 2013

Board of European Students of Technology (BEST)
Formation1989
TypeINGO
PurposeEmpowered Diversity
Region served
Europe
Official language
English
BEST International President
Mihai Tociu
Websitewww.BEST.eu.org
RemarksInternational student organisation targeting over 1 million technology students across Europe.

Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is an international, non-governmental, non-political, non-profit student organisation comprising 95 Local BEST Groups (LBGs) in 33 countries around Europe with more than 4800 active members. [1]

BEST strives for empowered diversity by developing students of technology through complementary education,[2] career support and involvement of the European learning system. By creating the opportunities for students to meet and learn from one another through academic or non-academic events and educational symposia, BEST endeavours the development of a more internationally open minded conscience, encouraging their mobility and intercultural relationship and communication.

Structure

BEST is structured in three layers: local level, regional level and international level. [3]

  • The basis of BEST is formed by the 95 Local BEST Groups (further called LBGs) spread in technical universities from 33 European countries. Each of these groups has their own local boards and organises local and international BEST activities.
  • On the second level, the organisation is divided into 11 regions, the goal of the regional division being to ensure a better communication between the LBGs and the international level.
  • On the top-most level, we find the international structure, with an International Board and International committees/teams which are coordinating particular fields, tasks and projects of BEST.

Board

The International Board of BEST is composed of 6 members: President, Treasurer, Secretary and 3 Vice-Presidents: for External Services, for Internal Support and for Local Group Support. [4] The Board is elected each year, at one of the two annual General Meetings where representatives from each LBG gather. The main tasks of the International Board are global co-ordination of BEST and its bodies and programs, execution of General Meeting decisions, promotion of aims and purpose of BEST and support for quality assurance of all BEST activities.

The Board includes the following positions:

  • President
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary
  • Vice-president for external services
  • Vice-president for internal support
  • Vice-president for Local Group support

International Committees

Besides the International Board, BEST has six committees that take care of specific tasks and projects in the organisation: [5]

  • Marketing Committee - handles marketing and public relations, develops and implements marketing strategies in the organisation.
  • External Events Committee - oversees the Complementary Education Programme of BEST.
  • Educational Committee - carries out the activities related to the involvement of BEST in educational matters (including relations with institutions regarding education in Europe), and is responsible for BEST Educational Programme.
  • Information Technology Committee - handles the Information Technology (IT) needs of the organisation, developing concepts of IT applications, implementing the systems and providing technical resources and services for BEST.
  • Corporate Relations Committee - keeps the good cooperation with companies and other organisations.
  • Training Group - manages and coordinates the internal education of the organisation by providing training for BEST members.

Activities

Complementary Education

BEST strives to provide complementary education by bringing a significant added value to the education provided by the universities. In order to do so, BEST organises BEST Courses, BEST Events on Education, BEST Leisure Events and BEST Engineering Competitions. [6]

BEST Courses on Technology

BEST Courses on Technology are aimed at increasing and widening the professional knowledge in a certain field of technology, especially concerning modern technical applications of technology and the latest research achievements. These events are organised by Local BEST Groups each season and last one to two weeks. Any student from a university where a Local BEST Group exists can apply to any BEST Seasonal Event, without having to become a BEST member. In an event, expenses of participants (food, lodging, travel during the event, cultural activities, academic program) are covered by the host Local BEST Group.

BEST Courses on Career Related Skills are about non-technological subjects in order to develop personal skills in topics related to working methods, communication techniques, marketing, economics, project and organisation management and other soft skills stressing practical work. These events are organised by Local BEST Groups each season and last one to two weeks. Any student from a university where a Local BEST Group exists can apply to any BEST Seasonal Event, without having to become a BEST member. In an event, expenses of participants (food, lodging, travel during the event, cultural activities, academic program) are covered by the host Local BEST Group.

BEST Courses on Applied Engineering

BEST Courses on Applied Engineering are BEST courses where participants put theoretical knowledge into practice and have to work in different teams and solve specific time-bound tasks, with limited resources and make a presentation at the end about the solutions they came up with for the task. These events are organised by Local BEST Groups each season and last one to two weeks. Any student from a university where a Local BEST Group exists can apply to any BEST Seasonal Event, without having to become a BEST member. In an event, expenses of participants (food, lodging, travel during the event, cultural activities, academic program) are covered by the host Local BEST Group.

BEST Events on Education

BEST Events on Education [7] are seminars that last about 6 days. They gather students of technology, professors and experts from partner companies from all over Europe with the purpose of evaluating and finding new paths for higher engineering education in Europe. During these events, involving parties gather to discuss and distribute knowledge on specific topics of concern in the field of education.

This category includes BEST Academics and Companies Forum (BACo, an event where students, representatives of universities and companies gather to discuss current issues related to engineering education) and BEST Symposium on Education (BSoE, an event where students and  representatives of universities gather to discuss current issues related to engineering education).

BEST Leisure Events

BEST organises non-academic activities, as well. They emphasise the elements of fun and new experiences. BEST Leisure Events may include but are not limited to outdoor activities, sailing and skiing meetings, all kinds of sport events, cultural events and carnival parties.

The structure of European BEST Engineering Competition.
Structure of the EBEC.

European BEST Engineering Competitions

The BEST Engineering Competitions are events organised in collaboration with a number of important European companies in the field of technology. The companies propose a problem to be solved by teams made of participating students. The competition events include several rounds of competition [8] and thus give students the opportunity to consolidate their engineering capacities. The BEC concept has been conceived in order to complete the theoretical part of university studies with a practical one. Therefore, students can expand their knowledge and get used to constructive thinking as well as analysing a problem from a different perspective.

Since 2009, the local engineering competitions are brought together in a common project where winners from local rounds compete at the Regional and National level and then have the chance to go further to the European final which is called EBEC. [9] In the last EBEC edition more than 5000 students were part of the competition during the local rounds organised in their home universities. The last EBEC Final round was held in Zagreb, Croatia between August 1-8, 2012. This conclusive round with the participation of 96 finalists from 80 top technical universities all over Europe was awarded by the highest form of support from UNESCO patronage.

Next EBEC Final Round will be held in Warsaw, Poland between 1-9 August, 2013. This final will also mark both the 5th anniversary of EBEC and 10th anniversary of competitions in BEST.

Educational Involvement

BEST Educational Involvement [10] is a service that BEST offers to technical students all over Europe. It creates a platform in order to raise awareness of students on educational matters and to provide impartial input of students to the stakeholders of European engineering education. The demand for this service comes from the lack of unbiased student input in the field of engineering education and its rapid development in previous years.

European engineering education is comprised of many specific academic topics such as curricula development, e-learning, active learning, recognition and accreditation, lifelong learning, student mobility, research in European engineering education, women in engineering and so on. Information related to educational issues is conveyed to students and their input is provided to the related European institutions, networks and projects, such as the European Commission and European Society for Engineering Education. Student input is gathered during BEST Events on Education (mentioned in Activities -> Complementary Education -> BEST Events on Education) and via surveys in BEST.

Furthermore, BEST is involved in educational matters for the sake of delivering this input to the various stakeholders. This involvement includes participation and work within European thematic networks and projects and cooperation with associations involved in European engineering education. It also includes representation BEST in conferences and seminars related to engineering education.

Career Support

BEST is constantly trying to provide career support [11] for students, by connecting them with their future employers. BEST has a great advantage of having a vast network of different universities spread across Europe. This network ensures that BEST has a broad range of technical students with different backgrounds inside the organisation and even more external students are being reached through the promotion of the services. Since the main target group is internationally minded students, this puts BEST in the unique position to connect them with the companies who are looking for students all over Europe.The collection of all the different ways BEST employs in order to bring students and companies closer is called BEST Career Support.

BEST engages in partnerships with the companies [12] in all engineering fields to give them access to the students in the BEST CV database which gathers 37 000 students and graduates. Since BEST is active all over Europe, all engineering disciplines are easily reached. Another important advantage of the diversity of students in the database is that it includes both BEST members and external students.

Local BEST Groups

Map of Europe with Local BEST groups

A Local BEST Group is an association of BEST members at the same university. These groups are responsible for promoting and organising the activities of BEST at their university.

BEST is present in 32 countries at the following universities:

Country Universities
Austria Graz University of Technology, Vienna University of Technology
Belgium Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Gent, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Université de Liège
Bosnia and Herzegovina University Džemal Bijedić of Mostar
Bulgaria Technical University of Sofia
Croatia University of Zagreb
Czech Republic Brno University of Technology Czech Technical University in Prague
Denmark University of Aalborg, Technical University of Denmark
Estonia Tallinn University of Technology
Finland Aalto University, Tampere University of Technology
France École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers (ENSAM), Grenoble Institute of Technology, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA), Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, École Centrale Paris, École Polytechnique, École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (ENSTA), Supélec
Germany University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Greece National Technical University of Athens, Technical University of Crete, University of Patras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Hungary Budapest,[13] University of Pannonia
Italy University of Messina, Politecnico di Milano, University of Naples Federico II, Sapienza University of Rome, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Polytechnic University of Turin, University of Trento
Iceland University of Iceland
Latvia Riga Technical University
Lithuania Kaunas University of Technology
Republic of Macedonia Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
Moldova Technical University of Moldova
Montenegro University of Montenegro
Netherlands Eindhoven University of Technology, Delft University of Technology
Norway Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Poland AGH University of Science and Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Technical University of Łódź, Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology
Portugal New University of Lisbon, University of Coimbra, Technical University of Lisbon, University of Porto, University of Aveiro, University of the Algarve
Romania Transylvania University of Braşov, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi, "Politehnica" University of Timişoara
Russia Ural Federal University, Ural State University of Railway Transport, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University
Serbia University of Belgrade, University of Novi Sad, University of Niš
Slovakia Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Technical University of Košice
Slovenia University of Ljubljana, University of Maribor
Spain Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Technical University of Madrid, University of Valladolid, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Polytechnic University of Valencia
Sweden Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University, Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University
Turkey Ege University, Istanbul Technical University, Middle East Technical University (METU), Yıldız Technical University
Ukraine Lviv Polytechnic, Zaporizhzhya National Technical University, National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Vinnytsia National Technical University

Partner organisations

BEST collaborates with five other student organisations:

BEST also represents its students in some thematic networks. For example:

BEST is member of the following organisations involved in Engineering education:

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/aboutBEST/welcome.jsp
  2. ^ http://www.unifi.it/tree/dl/Engaging%20students%20in%20their%20own%20education%20by%20J.%20Rei,%2009.09.05.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/aboutBEST/structure/index.jsp
  4. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/aboutBEST/structure/internationalBoard.jsp
  5. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/aboutBEST/structure/internationalTeams.jsp
  6. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/courses/index.jsp
  7. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/education/bestEventsOnEducation.jsp
  8. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/courses/listOfEbecEvents.jsp
  9. ^ http://www.EBEC.BEST.eu.org
  10. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/education/index.jsp
  11. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/career/index.jsp
  12. ^ http://www.best.eu.org/student/career/companyProfileList.jsp
  13. ^ BEST Budapest is still a respected full member in BEST even if the Student Union in Budapest University of Technology and Economics try to abuse it and annihilate it time to time. Here is a support letter from the XXIV International Board what proves these facts. The Student Union unfortunatelly has never answered to this letter.
  14. ^ http://www.bonding.de/web/web.nsf/web/studenten_bonding_en
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference cfes.ca was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ http://www.aegee.org/Pages/partners.html#organisations
  17. ^ https://www.estiem.org/default.aspx?PageId=708
  18. ^ http://www.elsa.org/partners/partnerorganisations.html
  19. ^ http://www.provip.info/pv/front-page/
  20. ^ http://www.euroeast.polito.it/partnership
  21. ^ http://www.ifees.net/members/ members of IFEES
  22. ^ http://www.feani.org/webfeani/ Members of FEANI
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