About AIESEC
By youth, for youth
AIESEC is a community of young people, passionately driven by one cause: peace and fulfilment of humankind’s potential.
Our Story
AIESEC’s story started in 1948,75 years ago.
-
1948
AIESEC was established
AIESEC was established in 1948 after World War II, where seven youth across seven countries had a dream of building cross-cultural understanding across nations. They hoped to change the world, one person and one internship at a time.
-
1977
Spread across 6 continents
By 1977, AIESEC was present in 50 countries across six continents! To this date, over 40,000 young people around the world had participated in a leadership development experience.
-
2010
Over 10,000 experiences that year
In 2010, AIESEC crosses 10,000 experiences delivered in one year alone for the first time. By now, over 230,000 experiences have been provided, all facilitated by youth for youth.
-
2015
Implementing the SDGs
In 2015, AIESEC’s youth leaders from 126 countries and territories in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth gathered at the United Nations Headquarters to promote and drive youth participation in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The relevance and contribution of AIESEC is clearer than ever.
-
2020
Youth leadership movement
In sum, AIESEC is a global network of people that simply believe that youth leadership is not an option, but our responsibility.
We create value-driven leaders
AIESEC enables you to develop the values we believe leaders should live by.
Demonstrating Integrity
By doing what’s right over what’s easy, you develop leadership that demonstrates integrity.
Striving for Excellence
By taking up challenging opportunities with AIESEC, you get to continuously grow through creativity and innovation.
Enjoying Participation
At AIESEC, you get to celebrate and enjoy the way we are and put your youthful energy and enthusiasm in everything you do.
Acting Sustainably
In various leadership roles at AIESEC, you get to make long-term decisions that build your mindset to also think of your future generations and live sustainably.
Activating Leadership
At AIESEC, you get to lead by example and with empathy by taking responsibility of inspiring others to lead as well.
Living Diversity
You get to work in inclusive spaces that allow you to truly be yourself and embrace each others’ differences as a strength.
FAQs
AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. We are a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion or national/social origin.
Since we were founded, we have engaged and developed over 1,000,000 young people who have been through an AIESEC experience. The impact of our organization can be seen through our alumni who represent business, NGO and world leaders, including one Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Martti Ahtisaari of Finland.
AIESEC (pronounced eye-sek) was originally an acronym for Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales.
AIESEC is no longer used as an acronym but simply as the name of the organization.
Members of AIESEC are known as “AIESECers.”
We are a global network of young leaders under the age of 30 who strive to better themselves and the communities around them. We are passionate about world issues, leadership development, cultural understanding and experiential learning.
The organization spans 100+ countries and territories and every aspect of AIESEC’s operations are managed by students and recent graduates.
We have operated in this way since our inception, making us uniquely “by young people, for young people”, for over 65 years. The global leadership teams are elected by the membership annually.
AIESEC does not have a pre-defined or officially accepted political tendency or subscription.
AIESEC is not a subsidiary or dependent entity of any other bodies in its work, sustainability or decisions.
We are in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), affiliated with the UN DPI, member of ICMYO, and is recognised by UNESCO.
AIESEC was founded in 1948 in 7 countries in Europe by Jean Choplin (France), Bengt Sjøstrand (Sweden), and Dr. Albert Kaltenthaler (Germany).
Over 65 years later we are present in 126 countries and territories.