Informal Forum of International Student Organisations

Emily Spry reports the conclusions of the meeting of European student organizations

From 30 to 31st January, in Leuven (Belgium), delegates from the largest European student associations met in Leuven at one of the most important meetings for the past years in terms of collaboration among the student organisations with an active participation in the field of volunteerism.

The meeting was organised in the frame of IFISO (Informal Forum of International Students Organisations) aimed at setting a common platform of collaboration amongst international student organizations in order to strengthen our capacities through knowledge sharing and identification of common areas of involvement. We believe in full co-operation among our organizations at all possible levels. All the people present at the meeting unanimously agreed with this principle of student NGO activity and highlighted the significant role of student NGOs within the European citizens' society. The meeting created a golden opportunity for the participants to discuss openly about the difficulties they have both in managing and co- ordinating international students networks, which are different from usual International NGOs, about how our networks are organised and how we can work together for creating input for the next generation of the YOUTH Programme that will better address our needs. We also discussed the current opportunities and difficulties with EU grants and how well our activities and goals reflect current reality and civic society needs. Participants in the IFISO activities are AEGEE, AIESEC, BEST, EFPSA, EMSA, EPSA, FISEC, IAAS, IFMSA, IFSA, IPSF, IPSO, IVSA and JADE. The meeting was hosted by The International Association of Students in Agriculture an Related Sciences (IAAS). The next one will be hosted by JADE in November 2004 in Brussels.

Emily Spry medical student, St George's Medical School,United Kingdom
IFMSA President 2003-2004,
president-at-ifmsa.org