EUROAVIA

The European Association of Aerospace Students is a student initiatiative that acts European-wide and has its roots in the studies of aerospace, space engineering and related subjects. EUROAVIA was founded in 1959 and is nowadays an association under Dutch law. At present the association consists of 33 local groups in 17 European countries - counting around 1300 members in total.

Aims of all actions of EUROAVIA are to strengthen the bonds between students and the aerospace industry as well as to stimulate the exchange between the different cultures the members come from. Furthermore the association wants to create a greater awareness of the potential of aerospace students and therefore represents this society on an international level.

Constantly the members of the association organise international gatherings, workshops and symposia. Furthermore the members of EUROAVIA also meet regularly on their two general meetings and an annual workshop. The most recognized event of the association however is the Design Workshop

History

Structure

The structure of EUROAVIA features three main columns: The International Board, Affiliated Societies and Working Groups. The International Board (IB) represents EUROAVIA on European level. The IB is nominated during the yearly EMEAC (Electoral Meeting of the EUROAVIA Congress), which is usually held in April or May. The nominees form the Designated International Board (DIB) preparing a Business and Financial Plan before they take over their predecessors' job at the AMEAC (Annual Meeting of the EUROAVIA Congress) in October. Local Groups' students participate to form these two congresses. For specific Long term projects, several Working Groups have been established. They have financial and decisional autonomy and report to the EUROAVIA Congress. Some of them are founded on a permanent basis.

International Board

The International Board is the leading part of the association on the European level. It supervises the international activities of the associations, coordinates the working groups, controls the budget and is responsible for all external relations of the association on the international level. The International Board usually consists of 5 members. It is led by the President, who is supported by a Secretary, the Treasurer and two Executive Members.

Affiliated Societies

The 33 local groups in 17 European countries are acting independently on their local affairs and are mostly connected to their University.

The local groups exist in Aachen, Ankara, Athens, Belgrade, Braunschweig, Bremen, Bucharest, Budapest, Delft, Dresden, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kiev, Leuven, Lisboa, Madrid, Milano, Munich, Napoli, Palermo, Paris, Patras, Pisa, Rzeszów, Stuttgart, Terrassa, Torino, Toulouse, Zagreb

The local groups in Cluj-Napoca, Covilha and Sevilla currently carry the status of Prospected Affliated Society, which means that they are in the process of joining the association.

Former local groups include Berlin, London, Southampton, Haarlem, Stockholm, Vienna, Haifa and Warsaw.

Workings Groups

To assure the functions within this large association the Working Groups of EUROAVIA serve in different areas.

EUROAVIA News

The official, quarterly published, magazine of the association is called EUROAVIA News. It is published by a Permanent Working Group acting at the local group Delft. Containing local reports, industrial news and technical articles it has to be seen as the official outward mean of communication and a valuable source for both technical news and internal event reports. Each member as well as the supporting companies get the issues regularly.

Newsletter

This internal communication instrument is published monthly and provides all the members with ongoing internal topics and news on the status of the local groups, Working Groups and the association in general. It is distriubuted digitally and gives also room for every member to express themselves individually.

EUROAVIA Young Engineers (EYE)

With EYE the association has a Working Group that permanently collects internships and educational possibilities and prepares them in a database accessible for visitors of the webpage. Furthermore it is expanding to give a full possibility in presenting CV and applications so companies can see it as a source of recruiting with benefit for both sides - the users have a concentrated pool of aerospace related education and working-possibilities and the companies get a focussed peer group of well educated and interested engineers.

EUROAVIA Alumni Network (EAN)

This formed Network assembled by proactive former members of EUROAVIA is in contact with the association via the Alumni Working Group who creates and stays in contact with the graduated and former members of the association. Different concepts on how the alumni can contribute and the association can offer are in evaluation and are going to be set in near future to assure that the 50 year capacity of members creates fruitful networks further to the time of study.

Public Relations (PR)

Public Relation Working Groups task is to maintain a corporate communication within the association as well as with third parties e.g. associated and supporting companies, institutions, universities, other NGOs and the entire media. PRWG is the youngest Working Group of EUROAVIA, only being founded during EMEAC 2008 in Rzeszow.

Air Show

With EUROAVIA being traditionally present at both leading European Air Shows, Paris Air Show in Le Bourget and ILA in Berlin, the Air Show Working Groups task is to organize the organizations appearance at those events including aspects such as the stand and the coordinations of all present members.

In 2009, EUROAVIA for the first time participated in the AERO in Friedrichshafen.

Central Archive (CA)

All printed and digitally published documents of the association get stored by the Permanent Working Group in an archive. This archive is both on paper base, stored in Aachen and digitally on a server hosted in Delft. The accessibility of the digital hosted version of the archive gives all the members the possibility to exchange and use all files vital for their work on local, international and private level.

Information Technology (IT)

A group of motivated and expertised members assure that the website of the association is always up to date and the digital communication means (forum, mailing-lists) are working properly.

Activities

Constantly the members of the association organise international gatherings, workshops and symposia. Furthermore the members of EUROAVIA also meet regularly on their two general meetings and an annual workshop. The most recognized event of the association however is the Design Workshop.

Congresses (EMEAC and AMEAC)

Twice a year the association assembles on internal general meetings. Those usually take place within a one week event offering four days of plain business meetings.

The EMEAC (Electoral Meeting of the EUROAVIA Congress) is held in spring by one hosting Affiliated Society. Next to current topics and decisions within the association the agenda also contains the discussion and election of the Designated International Board (DIB) that will work on the top of the association from autumn on.

The AMEAC (Annual Meeting of the EUROAVIA Congress) in autuum builds the hand-over of the International Board and also gives the opportunity to discuss and vote about all open issues within the association's work.

Both Congresses are set points during the business year of EUROAVIA and it is the task of the International Board to find hosting AS and to preapre and lead all the business meetings and discussions.

Design Workshop (DeWo)

On a biannual basis a team of members from the association creates, together with a supporting company and optionally an universitary host create a three-week workshop that aims on a preliminary design. A few months prior to the event that usually takes place in summer a Design Contest is opened for all interested students - whether they are members or not. In this contest a short paper on a given subject needs to be handed in that will be evaluated by a jury related to the subject of the workshop - both university professors and professionals from the company). After the contest closed the successful members are invited to participate in the workshop and get guided by experticed lecturers to be prepared for practical design work on the topic given. In the end one or more preliminary designs are presented and build the base for further proceeding of the company host. In addition to the technical expertise the participating students also get to know each other as well as the surrounding of their city. Normally this event, organised by a Working Group (WG) of the association is able to offer its participants not only the workshop and a scheduled three-week programme but also a financial vocering of most of the expenses (except journey).

Fly-In

The gatherings of around 30 members of the association at one local group are called Fly-In. They take place several times a year and usually last one week. The responsible Affiliated Society (AS) uses such an event to show the participants what their city can offer and what industrial sights in the surrounding are worth visiting. In addition to field trips the intercultural exchange and the teambuilding among the students are of core focus.

Symposium

Compared to a Fly-In a symposium which also lasts one week with around 30 participants, focusses more on a technical subject. On this topic lectures will be given and hand-on workshops help the students to widen their experience. Also cultural trips and field visits fill the schedule.

Air Cargo Challenge

Air Cargo Challenge is a competition aimed at university students doing Engineering and Science courses or Engineers and was created to stimulate the interest in the fields of aeronautics and as a means to test their skills. To participate in the Air Cargo Challenge Competition, a team with 3 to 6 members, a pilot and a professor in charge should design, document, build and fly a radio controlled aircraft with the maximum payload possible. The Air Cargo Challenge offers higher education students the unique opportunity to develop a multidisciplinary and challenging project from its beginning to the end, to test their knowledge and, at the same time, it involves a wide range of challenges that students will find in their future professional career: technical, interpersonal, financial and strict deadlines.

Cultural Exchange (CE)

A Cultural Exchange wants to give a small number of members (10-20) from one local group the opportunity to visit another Affiliated Society that is in near reach. A program focussed on mainly cultural events fills a time of not more than 4 days.

Partner Organisations

In the frame of the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations (IFISO) EUROAVIA cooperates with other students organizations in various fields concerning the management and development of students associations.

Links

• Official Homepage of the European Association of Aerospace Students
• The EUROAVIA Young Engineers network for internships, jobs, education

External References

• University of Sheffield - report on DeWo 2007
• ESA News 2006 - EUROAVIA DeWo 2006 - participants design a UAV
• EADS career partners
• ILA CareerCenter

Social Networks

• Official EUROAVIA-YouTube-Channel
• Official EUROAVIA-Twitter
• Official EUROAVIA-Facebook-Group

ca:EUROAVIA de:EUROAVIA nl:EUROAVIA es:Euroavia tr:EUROAVIA