Our History
What began in 1948 as an organisation to help develop "friendly relations" between member countries is now a global association with activities in 107 different countries and territories.
The founding members of AIESEC, mainly students from France and Germany, started to build the organization in 1946, to answer the need they saw for cross-cultural communication after World War II. A clear identity was defined in 1948. In 1949, 89 students participated in the Exchange Program, and exchange was defined as the core activity of the organization. In the coming years more and more countries joined the network and AIESEC was soon present on every continent (except Antarctica). The number of students and organisations involved in the exchange program grew rapidly and constantly, reaching 2467 exchanges by the end of 1960 and 4232 by the end of 1970.
Although AIESEC started with the sole aim of using exchange to develop leaders and increase communication, it soon became obvious that the organization could benefit from focusing on specific global issues. Starting in 1976, an International Theme program was established that focused all international, regional, and local seminars on specific topics. The idea soon followed to create exchange programs focused on specific and relevant issues. Some topics that AIESEC has addressed in the past include: international trade; sustainable development; entrepreneurship; corporate responsibility; HIV/AIDS; sustainable energy use; and youth empowerment.
AIESEC is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential. Our innovative approach to developing young people focuses on taking a proactive role, developing self-awareness and a personal vision, building networks, and developing capacity to drive change. We do this through an international platform of opportunities that provides over 7,700 leadership opportunities, 8,000 work abroad opportunities, 470 conferences, and virtual tools to build networks.