Fruitful first meeting.

so we had a meeting last tuesday with some people interested in participating in ESSEN. and all that it entails. 
not knowing how many people to except, it was good to see the 10/12 that came. 

during the course of the discussion it became quite obvious though that we might not have succeeded in explaining the idea of ESSEN. to everyone.
as said, it is supposed to be a student/alumni-based network predominantly for european studies students. justin gave us a great presentation of what he can make the website look like and all, so once that is done it should provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information about what to do after getting a degree in european studies (as a interdisciplinary study program). membership will have to be based on a small fee, although the implementation of that still is a cause for discussion and will have to be brought up at the next meeting.
for now, given the limited number of members/participants, we will have to keep the whole thing small. so the first step will be to create a good presentation of us and the network and go out to recruit members and sponsors with it.

at the meeting we set up some (preliminary) working groups. so far, they all only have a couple of members, but whoever feels that they have some time to spare and put into one (or more) of them, is very welcome to do so.
the working groups are:

1. sponsor group (obviously going to work on finding sponsors for the network. that entails creating a good presentation of ourselves/the network and looking at who would be a suitable sponsor.)
2. recruitment group (also meant to find a good way to present ourselves to possible future members and figure out who those members could be.)
3. creative group (this group will work in cooperation with justin to give input on the outlook of the website, create a logo for ESSEN. and up with ideas for posters/flyers.)
4. seminar group (will work on everything concerning the seminar in may, from finding lecturers to getting technical equipment.)

how independent these groups will be able to work should also be decided at the next meeting. so far, we have said it to be on 25.11. at 13.00 in gäddan. any changes to this date will be announced via facebook and it’s learning.
we really hope to see even more of you next time, because this is supposed to be a network by students for students and the more participants we have, the better.
emails with ideas/questions can still be sent to alumnipes@googlemail.com.

News, news, news.

We finally got our ‘organisationsnummer’ from Skatteverket. Now, ESSEN is an officially approved association. Our next step is to open a bank account so that we can start recruiting members.

Moreover, we have found a date for our first big  meeting. It’ll take place on tuesday, 27.10. at 15.30 in 386 in gäddan (floor 3b). It’s open to everyone who is interested in becoming a member of ESSEN. Don’t miss it!

Our first preparatory meetings

Report of preparatory meeting (24/09/09)

- We filled in the application form for the EYF grant.

Report of preparatory meeting (29/09/09)

-  We discussed the following steps that have to be taken and made a priority list:

1. Finding sponsors
2. Website
3. Recruiting members

-  The website should include a forum where discussions can be held, a calendar for events and activities and a section for links. Moreover, members should be able to create a profile.

-  We agreed on that we need a logo for our association, both for the website and for designing flyers and posters.

- We decided to split up in the following working groups as soon as we are enough participants:

1. Creative group (responsible for the logo, website, flyers and posters)
2. Sponsor group (responsible for finding sponsors)
3. Recruiting group ( responsible for finding new members)
4. Seminar group (responsible for planning the seminar and inviting guest lecturers)

-  We are trying to organize an IPES party on 30/10/2009 with the purpose of bringing together the first and third year of IPES.

The day when ESSEN was born.

That day was last week’s thursday in a conference room in Gäddan 8. Four eager IPES last yearers and Inge Eriksson came together to create the foundation for all that is to come. Such an official meeting might not be the most exciting thing to do, but it’s a necessary, and for me personally a big, step towards the final goal. As the title suggests, the association’s final name is ESSEN, which stands for European Studies Support and Exchange Network, and we’re hoping it’ll go far.
We have now sent an application to Skatteverket, the Swedish tax bureau, in order to be fully registered as an association and so we can get a bank account and all that jazz soon. Tomorrow is the big day … we’ll send out the application to the European Council, more specifically the European Youth Foundation. For funding purposes.
Malmö Högskola’s Arbetsmarknadsgruppen possibly wants to cooperate in setting up the event next May. Which is great, since we can make use of their expertise and possibly plan bigger.
EURES, the European employment agency, also wants to participate in some form. Which is a good start.

Now that we have the association created, our first partners and the applications virtually on the way, we can start turning to the “fun stuff”. Finding sponsors, getting a website etc.
As said before, any help/input is appreciated. So don’t hesitate. Even though the name doesn’t quite fit anymore, alumnipes@googlemail.com is the address to turn to. We’ll certainly keep you posted on all developments.

Moving on, moving forward.

we have brought a child into this world. we have named it alumnipes. and now it is growing and maturing. much has happened since we posted the first entry here.
we have found some more fellow campaigners in jirka from ipes 2, and ann and linda from ipes 3. since we don’t really know what we are doing yet, we have not been able to put them into useful positions. we appreciate their interest nonetheless and i’m sure they’ll do the project very good.

our next big step is to create an association in the name of alumnipes. right now we are setting up the formalities and will hopefully meet for our first annual meeting sometime next week. once we have overcome the bureaucratic hurdles, we are free to … approach the next hurdle and apply for the eu grant we have picked out. it’s a grant by the european youth foundation and if we qualify, we will be able to get support for both  the network and the seminar in may. now it is all a matter of selling ourselves.

unfortunately, we have not gotten too many positive responses to our requests for cooperation concerning the seminar yet. euris, the eu’s job agency, and the eu commission are willing to help. unfortunately though, all the researchers, we have approached so far, have not responded positively, if even at all.
once the first formal steps are taken, we will put more effort into this and hopefully achieve more positive results.

as a last note, i can only repeat our call out to all of you … if you have any questions or ideas, do not hesitate to write us at alumnipes@googlemail.com. additionally, if you have any thoughts on possible sponsors for or part-takers in the network and/or seminar, tell us. it’ll just make our work easier.

/the alumnipes crew.

First steps.

“So what do you study?”

“I am in the International Programme for European Studies.”

“Interesting. And what exactly can you do with that afterwards?”

Many former and current IPES students know this dialogue very well. They might also know that answering this question is not always easy. What can you do with it afterwards? Work with the EU? Do research work? Or become a taxi driver after all.

That is why we have decided to create a network that will hopefully make it easier for all of us to find orientation on the European labor market. It aims at connecting IPES alumni to current students and all of us to potential employers as well as other contact persons that might be helpful once any of us needs to find an internship or job. Also, it is our idea to include not only Malmö students, but also ones from our partner universities in Roskilde and Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. This way, we hope to create a network to share experiences in and enhance our ideas and possibilities of what to do with a degree from an interdisciplinary program such as IPES.

In order to celebrate the launch of our network and to give it a good start, we have planned a two-day seminar. It will take place on a Friday and Saturday in early May 2010 and will be entitled “The labor market in the EU and interdisciplinary study programs”. There will be lectures, workshops and discussions around the topic and we will invite experts in the field as guest lecturers as well as students and professors from our partner universities.

Since we are at an early stage in the planning process, we cannot provide many details yet. But we will be updating the network’s blog on www.alumnipes.wordpress.com regularly, so make sure to check it if you are interested.

Also, we are only four people working on the project right now and since there is a lot of work ahead of us, we are open to anyone who can spare some time and help us out or simply has ideas, suggestions or questions. Just send an email to alumnipes@googlemail.com and we’ll get in touch with you.

/ Jenni, Luise, Rebecca and Anne