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 Tunisia by 8 countries.iaasworld.org, About IAAS. Consulted on January 17, 2009. At the moment it is one of the world's biggest student organizations and one of the leading agricultural student associations.CULS Prague web site, General Information for Students Student Associations. Consulted on January 17, 2009. 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 55 countries worldwide.
Activities 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.
Leadership 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.
Major positions President The task of the President is to represent the Association to its external partners and to ensure that the whole EB functions properly.
Vice President of Finance The VP of Finances takes care of the finances, grant application and bookkeeping.
Vice President of Communication The VP of Communication keeps in contact with the members and takes care of communication matters within the association.
Vice President of External Relations VP of Finances and VP of External Relations work closely together.
Vice President of Exchange 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.
Membership There are currently members of IAAS in the following countries per regions:
Africa: 1-Benin 2-Cameroon 3-DRC 4-Gambia 5-Ghana 6-Malawi 7-Mali 8-Niger 9-Nigeria 10-Senegal 11-Togo 12-Uganda
America: 13-Argentina 14-Brazil 15-Chile 16-Colombia 17-Costa Rica 18-Ecuador 19-Guatemala 20-Mexico 21-Panama 22-Paraguay 23-Peru 24-USA
Asia Pacific: 25-Afghanistan 26-Bangladesh 27-India 28-Indonesia 29-Japan 30-Nepal 31-South Korea 32-Sri Lanka 33-Taiwan 34-Austria 35-Azerbaijan 36-Belgium 37-Croatia 38-France 39-Germany 40-Greece 41-Hungary 42-Italy 43-Montenegro 44-Netherlands 45-Portugal 46-Serbia 47-Slovenia 48-Spain 49-Sweden 50-Switzerland 51-Turkey 52-UK
Middle East and North Africa: 53-Iran 54-Iraq 55-Morocco 56-Tunisia
Partner organizations
Professional partners Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA), PartnerAssociation of European Life Science Universities last reference on January 15, 2009 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Liaison StatusFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations last reference on January 15, 2009 UNESCO, Consultative StatusUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization last reference on January 15, 2009 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Operational StatusUNEP December 2008 List of accredited organizations with full status to the UNEP Governing Council
Student organization partners 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.
History
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.
The early beginning 1954 The International Union of Students and the Romania Union sent invitations to students in agriculture all over the world for a meeting in Bucharest. It is the first attempt known of international cooperation between students in agriculture. 1956 In Paris an international week of study on agriculture took place. Students decided that UGET, the Tunis student union, would organize an international seminar on agriculture in summer 1957. The same year an international seminar for agricultural students was held in Norway.
Year of establishment 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.
Chronology of the annual World Congresses 1957 First International Congress in Tunis (Tunisia), foundation of IAAS (then AIEA) by Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Tunisia 1958 2nd Congress in Wageningen (The Netherlands), First to mention the exchange program. 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. 1959 3rd Congress in Vollebek (Norway) 1960 4th Congress in Rehovot (Israel); Topic: Intensive Agriculture New member country: Israel 1961 5th Congress in Bern (Switzerland) New member countries: Austria, Great Britain, Nigeria, Portugal 1962 6th Congress in Uppsala (Sweden); Topic: Agriculture and Cooperation 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 1963 7th Congress in Brussels (Belgium); Topic: Belgian Agriculture
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 1964 8th Congress in Italy; didn't take place due to difficulties in the Italian Student Union 1965 9th Congress in Leeds (England) 1966 10th Congress in Vienna (Austria); Topic: Austrian Agriculture 1967 11th Congress in Rehovot (Israel); Topic: Agriculture in Israel 1968 12th Congress in Helsinki (Finland); Topic: Farming and Forestry in cooperation in Finland New member country: Ireland 1969 13th Congress in Zurich (Switzerland); Topic: Special Problems in Swiss Agriculture Special Event: first time a Responsible Meeting held at half term in Wageningen
1970 14th Congress in Denmark; Topic: Pollution Problems 1971 15th Congress in Stuttgart and Kiel (Germany); Topic: Higher Education in Agriculture 1972 16th Congress Oxford (Great Britain); Topic: The changing role of Agriculture in the developed countries New members: Hungary and Poland 1973 17th Congress in Ghent (Belgium); Theme: Social aspects of Agriculture New country: India 1974 18th Congress in Uppsala (Sweden); Topic: Underemployment - The Challenge for Rural development 1975 19th Congress in Langnau (Switzerland); Topic: Langnau in the Emmental Switzerland 1976 20th Congress in Rehovot (Israel); Topic: Agriculture in the Desert Special event: Development fund created to assist member with fewer opportunities to attend our meetings, originally with support of the FAO 1977 21st Congress in Norway; Topic: Agriculture and Pollution New member: Uganda 1978 22nd Congress in Helsinki (Finland); Topic: The Changing role of Rural Population New member: Sudan 1979 23rd Congress in Nairobi (Kenya); Topic: The Role of Agricultural Institutes in adapting education for Rural Development New members: Kenya and Togo 1980 24th Congress in Galicia (Spain); Topic: The Agrarian Extension and Training in Rural Development New member countries: Liberia 1981 25th Congress in Warsaw (Poland); Theme: Agriculture and Food Production Today and Tomorrow New member country: Zambia 1982 26th Congress in Copenhagen (Denmark); Topic: Farming as a way of living 1983 27th Congress in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg; Topic: Intensifying Agriculture meets National and International Responsibilities 1984 28th Congress in Wageningen (The Netherlands); Topic: Wageningen, an International Centre of Agricultural Research and Education New members: Ghana and Tanzania 1985 29th Congress in Austria and Switzerland; Topic: The agriculture in two Alpine countries and their International Relations New member country: Egypt 1986 Congress in Egypt; was cancelled by Egypt 1987 30th Congress in Lille (France); Topic: French Agriculture