| International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS) | |
| Size: | 300px |
| Abbreviation: | IAAS |
| Headquarters: | Leuven, Belgium |
| Established: | 1957 in Tunis |
| Type: | Network for students in agricultural and related sciences |
| Location: | International |
| Languages: | English, Spanish, French |
| Leader Title2: | Executive Board |
| Leader Name2: | President : Thomas WesthoffVice President of External Relations: Aya Mounir Vice President of Communication: Florence Oberlin Vice President of Exchange: Sarai Vega Cueves Vice President of Finance: Marta Ciampechini |
| Leader Title3: | Control Board |
| Leader Name3: | Head of Control Board: Paula TrakoštanecMembership Officer: Basanta PandeyFinance Officer: Ian Salihbegović |
| Website: | http://www.iaasworld.org/ |
The International Association of students in Agricultural and related Sciences (IAAS) is an international non-profit and non-governmental student society headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. It was founded in 1957 in Tunis by 8 countries.[1] At the moment it is one of the world's biggest student organizations and one of the leading agricultural student associations.[2] IAAS gathers students studying, majoring or researching in agriculture and related areas like environmental sciences, forestry, food science, landscape architecture etc. Its committees are spread in universities in over 50 countries worldwide.[1]
The principal aim of IAAS is to promote the exchange of knowledge, information, and ideas among students, and to improve the mutual understanding between countries and cultures. To do this it organizes activities like seminars, working camps, international meetings, exchange weeks, an international exchange program, small-scale development projects.
Every year in July, a member country organizes the Annual Congress, which consists of sessions of the General Assembly and a seminar. During the General Assembly, all decisions affecting the association are discussed during working groups and subsequently voted upon. Furthermore, the participants take the chance of having such an international group to discuss in forums about (agricultural) hot topics together with their fellow students from all over the world. The seminar usually deals with a specific (agricultural) topic and includes excursions, visits, lectures, social activities, and a tour of an area in the organizing country.
The main element of IAAS is the National Committees (NC) and Local Committees (LC), groups, and associations of students in universities all over the world working for the association. They organize and run activities like Seminars, Working Camps, Village Concept Projects.
The General Assembly (GA) is the supreme governing authority of the association. It gathers once a year during the Annual Congress and consists of delegates from all the member countries, which are appointed by the National Committees (a). Decisions are taken by voting, with each member country having one vote.
The task of the President is to represent the Association to its external partners and to ensure that the whole EB functions properly.
The VP of Finances takes care of the finances, grant application and bookkeeping.
The VP of Communication keeps in contact with the members and takes care of communication matters within the association.
VP of Finances and VP of External Relations work closely together.
The VP of Exchange is responsible for the coordination of the IAAS Exchange Program. Since 2006 the Exchange Quality Board helps with the task of improving this important activity.
There are currently members of IAAS in the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cote d' Ivoire, Croatia, DRC, Ecuador, Finland France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, United States, India, Zimbabwe and Panama.
In the frame of the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations (IFISO), IAAS cooperates with other student organizations in the field of project development, fundraising, and strategic planning.
IAAS was established in a decade in which nations all over the world were still recovering from the harsh devastation and suffering resulting from the Second World War. However, young people strongly fostered hope for progress, peace and stability. Students in the field of agriculture decided to come together and create a new international student platform by establishing IAAS more than half a century ago 1957 in Tunis, the same year when the Treaty of Rome has been signed to establish the European Community.
In this decade, students from all disciplines started to acknowledge their role as agents of change in society and decided to come together to share values. They realized that only by sharing diversity, they could really cooperate to build a better world, a world in peace, harmony, and freedom. Thus AIESEC, IAESTE, IFMSA, IVSA and IAAS have been established in less than one decade.
1957 was the real beginning of the IAAS, which was then called AIEA (Association Internationale des Etudiants en Agriculture) and had French as the working language.
Independent from the decisions made during the international meeting in Paris, the Students council from the Netherlands (NSR) also planned to organize an international seminar on agriculture from 22 till 29 June 1957. Around December 1956, NSR (Netherlands) and UGET (Tunis) got to know about each other's plans and this caused a conflict. UGET did not like the idea of having two international seminars so close to each other. However, several careful and diplomatic dialogues per mail, and a meeting in Leiden (the Netherlands) on 15–16 March 1957, resulted in cooperation and a tight friendship between Tahar Belkhodja (president of UGET) and R. van den Berg (president of NSR). The NSR decided to cancel its congress in Wageningen in favor of the one in Tunis and to cooperate intensively with UGET. It seems to be just an anecdote, but there are reasons to believe that this cooperation between The Netherlands and Tunisia was crucial for the continuity of IAAS in the first years. When the Dutch canceled their seminar, they asked all participants to come to the seminar in Tunis instead. This seminar turned out to be the founding World Congress of IAAS and Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and of course Tunisia were the participating countries. A few other countries attended the congress as observers. Mr. Tahar Belkhodge (Tunisia) was elected as President and Mr. Fehr (France) was elected as Secretary General.
Also, the Dutch students were well prepared to organize a seminar in the Netherlands in 1958, which became the second world congress of IAAS.
New members: Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden
Special event: The exchange did exist in two parts: The exchange weeks and training that were organized by IAESTE.
New member country: Israel
New member countries: Austria, Great Britain, Nigeria, Portugal
New member country: Yugoslavia
Special event: Executive committee of the association formed by the president, vice president and secretary general, working in headquarters in Leuven (Belgium), also Control Committee formed by four members and national representatives elected
New member countries: Italy and Spain
Special event: the first issue of the JOINT, an IAAS Magazine edited by the Secretary General and a board; few issues every year
New member country: Ireland
Special Event: first time a Responsible Meeting held at half term in Wageningen
New members: Hungary and Poland
New country: India
Special event: Development fund created to assist member with fewer opportunities to attend our meetings, originally with support of the FAO
New member: Uganda
New member: Sudan
New members: Kenya and Togo
New member countries: Liberia
New member country: Zambia
New members: Ghana and Tanzania
New member country: Egypt
Special event: First time to mention the formation of permanent working groups
New member: Benin
New Member: Thailand
Special event: WOCAs created as Working Camps aiming at linking the theoretical aspect of our academic education with more practical experience
New member: Indonesia (Candidate Member).Special event: first WOCAs took place in Hungary and Portugal
New member: Indonesia (Full member)
New members: Guatemala, Armenia, Latvia, Croatia, Sri Lanka
New Members: Angola and Sierra Leone (Candidate Members)
New Members: Uruguay, Benin, United States, Ukraine, Belarus (Candidate members), Bulgaria, Paraguay, Yugoslavia (Full Members)
New Members: Zimbabwe, Senegal (Candidate members), Benin, Liberia, Mexico, Zambia (full members)
New members: Belarus, Zimbabwe, Senegal (full members)
New members: Russia, Algeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka (Candidate Members)