IAESTE UK Team Win First Prize

More delegates than ever before attended the 58th Annual IAESTE Conference in Marsascala, Malta from 20 to 27 January. Despite storms, torrential downpours, and crashing waves pounding the rocky shore outside, 269 people from 77 nations gathered in the Jerma Palace Hotel for an intensive schedule of exchange and plenary sessions. The conference is the pivotal point in the IAESTE Calendar where the placements and exchanges for the upcoming year are negotiated.

The UK team had raised 197 placement offers for science, engineering and architecture students to come to the UK for work experience in 2006, and were able to exchange these with IAESTE organisations in 61 other countries. New employers participating in the programme this year include Kodak European Research in Cambridge, which has offered nine placements. Poland, Switzerland and Canada remain IAESTE UK 's principal exchange partners but next summer for the first time British IAESTE trainees will be taking up placements in Bulgaria, Panama and Uzbekistan.

A surprise and highlight of the conference came at the closing banquet when the UK team was awarded first place and the title 'Administrators of the Year'. The title was awarded as a result of replies to a quality assurance questionnaire completed by 79 of the national organisations in the IAESTE association. In this exercise each member country's national organisation was assessed on communication, administration, quality of placements and service, and the ability to meet all the international deadlines. The UK team were delighted to have their hard work recognised by all their peers in this way. Now the challenge will be to keep that standing in years to come.