IAESTE

The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) is an independent, non-profit and non-political student exchange organisation. It provides students in technical degrees (primarily Science, Engineering and the applied arts) with paid, course-related, training abroad and employers with highly skilled, highly motivated trainees, for long or short term projects. With over 80 countries involved and exchanging over 4000 traineeships each year worldwide, it is the largest organisation of its kind in the world.

The Association was founded in January 1948 at Imperial College, London, where representatives from ten European countries agreed on the initiative. The geographical coverage soon spread to include exchange in over 80 countries on all continents, and IAESTE became a registered body according to Luxembourg law in 2005. Since its inception, IAESTE has exchanged more than 350,000 students worldwide, playing a key role in the development of young engineers and scientists.