Association of Luxembourg Student Unions

The Association of Luxemburgish Student Unions, (French: Association des cercles d'étudiants luxembourgeois) abr. ACEL, founded in 1984 is the roofing bond of Luxemburgish student unions and represents more than 40 student unions, all spread across Europe. Therefore, ACEL is representing more than 10000 Luxemburgish students. It is hence considered as the most important student representative in Luxemburg. ACEL is politically non-committed, it represents no party opinion. Claiming to be the representative of all Luxemburgish students, this is particularly important to function properly.

Description

The major part of Luxemburgish students study abroad, as the studies offered in Luxemburg are limited and do not cover all academic fields of study. This situation is unique and has several benefits, including the foundation of Luxemburgish Student Unions across various European cities. The student unions constitute the active members of ACEL, covering 8 European countries; Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. These student unions receive and unite fellow Luxemburgish students during their academic studies. Besides ACEL counts 8 specific student unions among its members ( Medecine, Economy, Law, Psychology, Library, Engineering, History and Communication students ).

Since its foundation, ACEL has defined its own purposes:

The Information of the Luxemburgish students and the future students
The Pooling of Luxemburgish Students, abroad or in Luxemburg
The Representation of the Luxemburgish students and defense of their rights on national as well as on international political stage

Student Unions

Specific

ALEM Medical students
ALEP Psycholgy students
ANEIL Engineering students
ANELD Association nationale des Etudiants luxembourgeois en Droit
ANESEC Association nationale des Etudiants en Sciences Econmiques
elSiC Etudiants luxembourgeois en Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication
Historic.ul Association des Etudiants en Histoire de l’Université du Luxembourg
Jonk BAD Librarianship students

Countries

Austria

LSI Innsbruck
LSW Vienna

Belgium

CELB Brussels
CELBas Bastogen
CELWo Woluwe Saint-Lambert
LESTLE Liège
Nei-Leiwener Louvain-la-Neuve

France

AELP Paris
ALUS Strasbourg
CELG Grenobel
CELM Montpellier
ELAN Nancy
Letz’Aix Aix-en-Provence

Germany

AELK Karlsruhe
ALESONTIA Bonn
AVL Aachen
LSB Bingen
LSC Cologne
LSD Düsseldorf
LSH Heidelberg
LSK Kaiserslautern
LSM Munich
LSRM Rhein-Main
LSS Saarbrücken
LST Treves
SLUF Freiburg
VLIB Berlin

Great-Britain

SLSB Students in Great-Britain

Luxemburg

CEFT Belval
CEST Science-, Technology- and Communication- Students
LSU Differdange

Netherlands

LSNL Students in the Netherlands

Switzerland

AELL Lausanne
Friblëtz Fribourg
LSBe Bern
LSSG St. Gallen
LSZ Zurich

Others

aAcel Alumni of ACEL
REEL Organisational committee of the REEL

Information

One of the main goals of ACEL is to inform the students. In order to do so, ACEL publishes yearly its Guide of the future Graduate, which aims to facilitate student’s entry onto the job market. Furthermore ACEL also tries to inform the future students and this via its Guide of the future Student. Published first in 1987, it appears yearly in September and delivers practical information on the different cities and their universities. It is realized together with ACEL’s different member unions and tries to answer questions related to housing, registration and what to look out for in general as a student. The Guide of the future Graduate, published first in 1999, pools all the necessary information for a successful entry upon the job market. It yearly appears in autumn together with the Guide of the future student. Both guides are free and retrievable from ACEL itself and the CEDIES.

Besides the 2 Guides, ACEL also publishes its Zoom, which is published yearly for the Student fair. This publication consists of a review of the ongoing academic year and the activities of ACEL. Within one encounters the experiences and the different projects of the member student unions, as well as information concerning the latter.

ACEL presents itself is an informational booklet on the different activities of ACEL and its main goals.

Besides its publications, ACEL participates in the different study fairs organized by the Luxemburgish secondary schools and tries to answer the pupils’ questions regarding their future academic studies.

Furthermore ACEL also organizes yearly it’s Student for one day. During these day trips to different cities and their universities, which are organized together with ACEL’s member unions, pupils get the chance to have a first hands on experience of the different cities, the universities, the student unions as well as the various fields of studies. The choices taken by the pupils during their last year of secondary school may define their future and ACEL tries to give them a deep insight into the life as a student during the Student for one day.

Pooling

The information and the political representation of the Luxemburgish students are ACEL’s defining goals, but those two wouldn’t be achievable without the aid of its member unions. In order to maintain the positive relation between ACEL and its members, the pooling pillar tries to regroup Luxemburgish students as well in Luxemburg as abroad. This goal is achieved via different events throughout the academic year

De Studentebal

The Students’ Ball is unique in its nature. Thanks to its organizational form, it has established itself as the biggest open air student ball in Luxemburg. Together with ACEL, more than 20 of its member unions are present and propose the different typical drinks of their cities of study in a creatively designed environment. The event enables the Luxemburgish student, who throughout the academic year are spread across Europe, to get together. The different member unions participate in the raising and the truing of the site and the benefice is fairly divided among the participating student unions. With the generated profit the different student unions are able to propose different activities to their members in the following year.

Tournoi de Noël / Christmas Tournament

During the Christmas holidays, the different member unions of ACEL compete each other in a sports tournament, which includes football, basketball and volleyball. The ranks on the campus ‘’ Geesseknäppchen’’ in Luxemburg-city are always filled. Even if the competing teams always give their fullest, amusement and sportsmanship are the most important traits of the tournament. ACEL takes care of the organizational aspects of the championship and the LASEL ( the Luxemburgish secondary school sports federation ) organizes the athletic aspects of the tournament. The generated profit is contributed as donation to a good cause.

Intercercles and balls

Throughout the academic year, the student unions organize various events with different activities. During an event, a so called intercercle, the organizing student union offers for example a cultural activity or a culinary one for which it invites the other student unions of ACEL to join. The background idea is to create get-togethers for students. ACEL offers sponsoring to the organizing student unions.

Representation

As important as the information and the pooling of the students is their political representation and the defense of their rights on the national as well as on an international level. Within this political context, ACEL fosters a constant dialogue with the responsible Ministries, as for example the Ministry of higher education. ACEL also represents its members among the Council on higher education and the Financial Aid Committee.

For several years ACEL invests itself into a constructive dialogue with the Luxemburgish political powers to discuss the themes most mattering for students. It is in this context that ACEL has been able to achieve in 2016 an increase of the financial aid accorded to the Luxemburgish students by the government.

Furthermore, ACEL has managed to achieve that Luxemburgish students pursuing their studies in France or Germany are freed of paying fees such as the GEZ in Germany or the ‘’taxe d’habitation ‘’ in France.

Notable links