2. AIESEC in Switzerland thanks its partners for their support:
Our partners in the National Support Group:
AIESEC Champions | Credit Suisse, Ernst & Young, PwC, UBS
AIESEC Gold Partner | Deloitte
AIESEC Silver Partners | Citi, KPMG, Nestlé, Syngenta
AIESEC Supporters | BSI, Novartis, Roche, SNB, Unilever
3. Table of Contents
• Conferences
• Outgoing Exchange
• Incoming Exchange
• Basel
• Bern
• Fribourg
• Geneva
• Lausanne
• Lugano
• St. Gallen
• Zurich
National Support Group Partners of AIESEC in Switzerland
Words of Welcome
The National Team
60 years of AIESEC in Switzerland
Membership (Talent Management)
Exchange Reports
Communications and Business Development
Career Days
Financial Report
Local Committee Reports
Partners of AIESEC in Switzerland
Credits
4. Being part of AIESEC’s 2011/12 gene-
ration of was an honour. It was a year
of great changes and significance for
the organisation. Looking at the big-
ger context it was the time to start
making AIESEC 2015, AIESEC’s glo-
bal midterm ambition, come true.
Aiming on becoming a global youth
voice and first-choice partner and
creating a cross-generational impact
has its demands on many levels of
an organisation’s. Living up to these
demands as part of a global network
but mostly also seeking to improve
AIESEC in Switzerland’s current state
– fostering a stronger connection to
our core work, creating more pow-
erful experiences for members and
increasing our relevance – placed
great responsibility on our generati-
on. It also demanded for finding the
right balance between developing
for the future and building on the
past, creating the new and apprecia-
ting the existing, transformation and
sustainability. This is what the term
2011/12 was about.
The term was about new starts, in-
cluding the implementation of se-
veral projects that were initiated by
our predecessor and that we happily
took over. It was the first time that
local executive boards started their
operations together with the natio-
nal board and that a national plan-
ning conference was held to kick off
the term and ensure a unified direc-
tion. The first time that we worked
split up in two departments – inco-
ming and outgoing students – for
the internship programmes, both,
on national and local level. The first
time to work with an extended exe-
cutive board structure on national
level – integrating business deve-
lopment and communications, in-
cluding the implementation of the
latter one on local level.
At the same time AIESEC in Switzer-
land was the manifestation of diver-
sity, living one of the core values of
our organisation to the fullest and
being probably the most diverse
entity in the whole network. 8 local
committees in 3 different language
zones, all subject to very individual
realities, led by a 100% international
board consisting of 7 people from 6
countries in 3 continents. An asset
and a challenge. Looking back at the
achievements of the term, however,
it seems AIESEC in Switzerland capi-
talized on this asset and challenge
quite well.
Our core product, exchange, was
the absolute focus, and after years
of (sometimes partially, sometimes
fully) loosing sight of it, it wasn‘t
doubted on any level that facilita-
ting international experiences and
developing socially responsible lea-
ders, is what AIESEC stands for, also
in Switzerland. Even though it re-
quired sacrifices in other areas this
focus reflected in the term’s results
(32% growth in delivered intern-
ships), which were by far the best
in the last 7 years. Much of this
achievement was attributed to a
Words of Welcome
5. Only building up on each other’s
work an organisation that is as dy-
namic as AIESEC can be successful.
Building on the past and developing
for the future. Sustainability and
transformation.
This is what I wish all following ge-
nerations of AIESEC in Switzerland.
And that they all may have such po-
werful, life-shaping and memorable
experiences in this great organisati-
on, as my team and me, and hope-
fully all other 400+ members, were
lucky to have. Thank you for your
efforts and passion. Thank you for a
memorable term.
AIESECly yours,
Birgit Haberl
President
AIESEC in Switzerland 2011/12
membership focused on perfor-
mance and learning, whereas the
two recruitments which were a
major success, greatly contributed
to ensure the members were the
right ones for the organisation and
vice versa. Also member education
(Swiss conferences are still known
throughout the whole AIESEC net-
work for their high standards) and
putting in place the right structures
were crucial initiatives.
We proudly celebrated our history
- AIESEC in Switzerland’s 60th an-
niversary - and set some stepping-
stones for the future. We reached a
financial surplus to support the next
generation’s operations and rene-
wed the partnership concept for our
National Support Group. To ensu-
re stability and growth in the long-
term and increase the organisation’s
sustainability a 3-year plan and new
financial model were designed and
put into the hands of the next gene-
ration to approve and implement.
Birgit Haberl, President
6. The member committee team 2O11-
2O12 consisted of seven indiviuals
and had a cultural diversity of six
nationalities from three continents.
Birgit Haberl and Stephan Kropf
from Austria, Iuliia Palamarchuk
from Ukraine, Daniela Zatloukalo-
va from Czech Republic, Annamaria
Jacso from Hungary, Ofonime Ita
from Nigeria and Gustavo Santama-
ria from Colombia.
The National TeamPicture:
f.l.t.r.: Daniela Zatloukalova,
Stephan Kropf, Annamaria
Jacso, Ofonime Ita, Gustavo
Santamaria, Iuliia
Palamarchuk,
Birgit Haberl
Picture: Teamstand
7. Established in 1951 it was a pleasure
for AIESEC in Switzerland to celebrate
60 years of its existence in the term
2011/12. A highlight of the celebrations
was the Gala Dinner held in the res-
taurant “Zum Äusseren Stand” in Bern
30.9.2011. Carlos Duran, Alumni of
AIESEC in Mexico and AIESEC in Aust-
ria, who graduated from ETH Zürich
and now works in the city of Lucerne
was leading through a program spiced
with reminiscences out of this sixty
years. Highlights of the evening were
the presentation of the regards sent
by Victor Loewenstein, president of
AIESEC Alumni International and the
founder of AIESEC in Switzerland
“Unfortunately my current health
state doesn´t allow me to be with
you tonight. Therefore I would
like to let you know in this way,
that since we founded AIESEC in
Switzerland in 1951, I felt always
connected to the organization
and to the people who were dri-
ving the international exchanges
through-out the years. Please ac-
cept my apologies for not being
with you.
I wish all of the participants of
the gala dinner a memorable
evening and to AIESEC in Switzer-
land many successful years in the
future.
Best regards,
Heinz Allenspach.”
Mr. Heinz Allenspach.
Among the guests of the evening
was the event sponsor and AIESEC in
Switzerland’slong-term partner Cre-
dit Suisse, who´s representative Mr.
Werner Gygax was highlighting today´s
importance of an international organi-
zation like AIESEC for large internatio-
nal companies as Credit Suisse itself.
From Alumni side, former members
of AIESEC Switzerland from almost
every decade were present and enjo-
yed this evening. After the official part
the active AIESEC invited to an after
party at the club Silo where the celeb-
ration continued till the early morning.
“I deeply regret that I will not be
able to join the festivities and ac-
cept your kind invitation as I had
wanted to public acknowledge
the role which AIESEC Switzerland
and AIESEC Geneva played in the
establishment and financing of
what became the AI. With-out
that generosity and vision I would
not have come to Switzerland in
1961 nor would I have met the
one who has been my Swiss wife
for more than 47 years!
Please express my appreciation
to all participants and accept my
apologies for this late and painful
cancellation.
Best regards,
Victor Loewenstein.“
8. There were four main initiatives
in Talent Management in the term
2011-2012:
1. Members’ efficiency: Local time-
lines and the structures of Local
Committees were modified to
support the core activity of the
organization
2. Motivation and Rewards & Re-
cognition (R&R): all AIESEC Pro-
grams were packaged as pro-
ducts to ensure that people are
applying with right expectations
and motivation; a new transpa-
rent National R&R system was
launched
3. Education: A national educa-
tion cycle was created; Local
inductions were aligned; Natio-
nal education of Vice Presidents
was boosted; Local transition of
Executive Boards was aligned
4. Processes: National guidelines
and tools for various Talent Ma-
nagement processes were crea-
ted and supported the develop-
ment of Local Committees
Let’s look more into some nume-
rical results of the term. Following
the AIESEC’s global vision for 2015,
AIESEC in Switzerland strived to give
more people an opportunity to have
a high quality AIESEC experience. As
an outcome, the number of partici-
pants of Team Member and Team
Leader programs increased by 160%
and 47% respectively. This ensured
that, on average, each team leader
was leading three team members,
which means that more members
could gain a valuable leadership ex-
perience.
Membership
Iuliia Palamarchuk, Vice President
of Talent Management
9. One of the objectives of the year
was to improve recruitment proces-
ses, in particular the promotion of
the organization and the selection
of members. Learning from our ex-
perience, we increased the number
of applicants for AIESEC’s programs
by 50% (from autumn to spring) that
allowed us to have a better selec-
tion. The number of applicants for
each position increased from 1.2 in
autumn 2010 to 1.9 in spring 2012.
Despite specific local challenges,
all Local Committees had more ap-
plicants than needed members ac-
cording to HR planning (from 27%
to 114% more) and 5 out of 8 Local
Committees over-performed their
own plans.
Driven by the value of diversity, Local
committees diversified their mem-
bership: there were 40% students of
economics, 17% of business, 17% of
other social sciences, 7% of law, 6%
of languages, 4% of natural sciences
and engineering.
As a proof of members’ satisfaction
with their experience, the retention
rate of participants of the Team Lea-
der program was close to 90% and
of the Team Member program 65%.
Overall, 75% of members of AIESEC
in Switzerland stayed in the organi-
zation from October 2011 till June
2012. 61% of members attended na-
tional conferences.
Being aware that one of the key fac-
tors of growth in core activities is
the local structure we focused on
changing the mindset and priorities
of Local Committees. In the end of
the term 52% of members worked
directly in the core activity of or-
ganization (outgoing and incoming
exchange), 28% were in supporti-
ve functions (talent management,
communications, finances), and 20%
were involved in projects. For com-
parison, one year earlier only 30%
of members worked connected to
core activities. Furthermore, 90% of
members had a clear job description
in 2012 comparing to 60% one year
earlier.
To conclude, the main achievements
of the term were the improvement
of recruitment processes, achieve-
ment of a result oriented attitude of
members and a national unity.
the year was to
cess, in particular
anization and the
arning from our
ed number of
ms by 50 % (from
owed us to have a
organization. In
1.2 applicants for
012 this number
e specific local
mittees had more
mbers (from 27 %
out of 8 Local
med their own
diversity, Local
eir membership:
f economics, 17 %
social sciences, 7
s, 4 % of natural
satisfaction with
tention rate of
der program was
mber program 65
bers of AIESEC in
organization from
rowth in the core
s been the local
he change of the
mindset and priorities of Local Committees.
In the end of the term 52 % of members
worked directly in the core activity of the
organization (outgoing and incoming
exchange), 28 % were in supportive functions
(talent management, communications,
finances), and 20 % were involved in
projects.
In comparison, only 30 % of members
worked connected to the core activity the
year before. Furthermore, 90 % of members
had a clear Job Description in 2012
comparing to 60 % to the previous term.
To conclude, the main achievements of the
term have been the improvement of the
recruitment process, achievement of a result
oriented attitude of members and national
unity of all entities of AIESEC in Switzerland.
52%
28%
20%
Core Functions
Supporting Functions
Projects
10. AfteraligningtheyearcycleoftheLo-
cal Committees to the national year
cycle starting with July 1st during
the term 2010/11 it was necessary
to adapt the national conference
cycle as well. The term 2011/12
therefore started with “Plan-IT” the
first conference in the term, taking
place in Lenk (BE) from 8th July till
11th of July 2011. Main purpose of
the conference was to create a com-
mon direction with focus areas for
the whole country and to set goals
for each entity of AIESEC in Switzer-
land. The conference was chaired
by XX and the Facilitators team con-
sisted of the new MC team plus the
outgoing MCP Corinne Binkert.
As usual “Do It” Conference took
place in Fiesch/Alpendorf (BE) from
October 27th till October 30th and
the national team was very hap-
py to present Nour el din Hussein
from the current AIESEC Internatio-
nal team as chair of the conference.
Besides a track for new members
– now named after the adapted
AIESEC experience Team Member
track – the conference was open for
Team Leaders and offered as well a
separate track for current Executive
Board members. For the first time
ever the new established AIESEC
Alumni Switzerland Association hos-
ted a Young Alumni track for those
who were about to end their AIESEC
experience. The conference besides
the Member Committee was faci-
litated by facilitators from 12 diffe-
rent countries. Several corporate
partners and Alumni followed the
invitation of the national team and
enriched the conference by sharing
their knowledge. The workshops
they delivered were one on Project
Management delivered by Booz&Co,
another Project Management work-
shop by UBS, Dealing with Change
by IBM, “Pleasure – the essence
of communication” by Giancarlo
Schwendener, “How to succeed on
the labour market“ by Anina Ca-
menzind and “Feel your heart - Self
employment or working for a multi-
national company?” by Gaudenz Bi-
veroni. In total “Do It”- conference
reached 251 members of AIESEC
Switzerland and a small number (19)
of international delegates who were
impressed by the beautiful nature
and panoramic view on the Swiss
Alps in the canton of Bern.
January is the exciting month when
the new national team gets elected,
same happened in January 19th till
21st LEAD conference was taking
place in the University of Bern.
Two Member Committee President
Candidates took the challenge and
stood up for the application pro-
cess (application – review board –
Speech and Q&A). Theresia Schnei-
der (LCP Basel) received more votes
than Annamaria Jacso (MCVPOGX)
and got elected as MCP for the term
2012/13. Besides electing Resi for
MCP, several candidates received
the vote of confidence for becoming
Conferences
above: LEAD MCP Candidates
11. “Leading change in Social Media “
by EF Education AG, “The successful
Use of Networks” by Business Net-
work International, “Brainstorming
ideas for a better world” by Refil-
ler, “My piece in world peace” by
Initiatives of Change, “Value based
leadership for sustainability” and
“Values-based Innovation aka why
do we innovate?” by EBBF, “Turning
ideas into action – why thinking big
doesn’t do the job!” by Gudrun Og-
nania and Fabian Tschan and finally
“Emotional Intelligence for leaders”
by Juraj Ondrejkovic. In total 265 de-
legates arrived to Leysin and enjo-
yed the conference in the beautiful
setting of southern Switzerland, can-
ton Vaud with the first rays of spring
sunshine.
Discovery, the annual Train the Trai-
ners conference of AIESEC in Swit-
zerland was extended by a track for
the new elected Executive Boards to
enable them to starting their term
better prepared for the challen-
ges ahead. Taking place from April
27th till 30th in Eichholz, what was
a second innovation since the con-
ference was not held in Switzerland
but in the black forest of southeast
Germany. The faci team was com-
prised of Regina Moll (AIESEC Aus-
tria) and our dear Fabian Tschan
in the Train the Trainers track and
the MC current team supported by
Michaela Gabrisova and Theresia
Schneider for the EB track.
For all of our conferences it was a fo-
cus of the national team to motivate
Swiss AIESEC members to become
facilitators and support the learning
experience of our members. The na-
tional team says thank you to Alex-
andra Kalinina (BE), Michael Kraus
(ZH), Rafael Cabrera (LA), Vanessa
Lopez Pereira (LA), A huge thank
you to Szabolcs Mihalyi for taking
excellent pictures at our conferen-
ces “Do It” and “Kick Off”.
MCVP in AIESEC Switzerland and
proceeded in the selection process.
The spring conference “Kick Off”
was once more held in Leysin (VD)
starting on March 29th till April 1st.
Chaired by former AIESEC Internati-
onal member Orsolya Kovacs (Hun-
gary), again the facilitator team was
comprised of AIESECers from several
different countries. “Kick Off” con-
ference was offering a Team Mem-
ber, Team Leader and an Executive
Board member track. The later fo-
cused already on transition to the
new generation of Leaders in AIESEC
in Switzerland. On the second day
of the conference AIESEC in Swit-
zerland opened the agenda for its
partners at the partners day opened
by a keynote speech of Peter Vogel,
Founder and CEO of Jobzippers on
the topic “Entrepreneurship as a Ca-
reer Choice“. Throughout our part-
ners delivered workshops four our
members on the topics of “Sales”
(Sales Academy powered by Hays),
Kick Off Delegates
13. Focus and Strategies
To drive the growth of our organization, in
the term 2011-‐12 we set three national
priorities to enable more Swiss students to
go for more internships. These were the
following: Quality Management, Country
Specific Recruitment, and Student Marketing.
We were successful in creating new student
contracts,in which we specified the services
that we provide to our exchange participants.
We initiated this year an experience based
local preparation seminar in local chapter
that enabled students to specifically prepare
for their volunteering or professional
expreience already in Switzerland.
We have started to create national
partnership in South-‐America and South-‐East
Asia to ensure long term relationships and to
source easier internship opportunities.
Furthermore, a brand new leaflet with a
fresh design was created in collaboration
with the Communication department
The internship programmes in AIESEC in
Switzerland
Over the period of July 2011 June 2012,
117 Swiss students took up the opportunity
of venturing for an AIESEC internship abroad.
As a result of the outstanding performance of
each local chapter, and constant promotion
of South-‐America and South-‐East Asia
enabled 46 more students compared to the
previous year. This result was the highest
over the last 5 years.
Outgoing
Exchanges
22
48
83
31
23
35
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2009-‐10 2010-‐11 2011-‐12
GCDP
GIP
Outgoing Exchanges
a fresh design was created in colla-
boration with the Communication
department.
The internship programmes in AIE-
SEC in Switzerland
Over the period of July 2011 – June
2012, 117 Swiss students took up
the opportunity of venturing for an
AIESEC internship abroad.
As a result of the outstanding per-
formance of each local chapter, and
constant promotion of South-Ame-
rica and South-East Asia 46 more
students compared to the previous
year chose to go on an internship
with AIESEC. This result was the
highest over the last 5 years.
The top most popular destinations
of our professional programmes
were: India, China, Indonesia, Rus-
sian Federation and other European
countries such as Czech Republic,
Germany and Japan.
Our volunteers participated in va-
rious social projects and explored
new cities mostly in Brazil, India, Chi-
na and Mauritius. This year the Afri-
can countries such as Tanzania and
Nigeria became very appealing too.
The majority of internships partici-
pants left over summer and for no
longer than 6 weeks.
Focus and Strategies
To drive the growth of our organiza-
tion, in the term 2011-12 AIESEC in
Switzerland set three national prio-
rities to enable more Swiss students
to go for more internships: Quality
Management, Country Specific Rec-
ruitment, and Student Marketing.
We were successful in creating new
student contracts, in which we spe-
cified the services that we provide to
our exchange participants to incre-
ase customer satisfaction through
clear expectation setting. We initi-
ated experience based local prepa-
ration seminars in the local chapters
that enabled students to specifi-
cally prepare for their upcoming
volunteering or professional expe-
rience already in Switzerland. We
have started to establish national
partnerships in South-America and
South-East Asia to ensure long-term
relationships and easier sourcing of
internship opportunities. Further-
more, focusing on specific product
packaging, a brand new leaflet with
Annamaria Jacso, VIce President
of Outgoing Exchange
GIP = Gobal
Internship
Programme
GCDP =
Global
Community
Development
Programme
15. Incoming Exchanges
In this term AIESEC in Switzerland
facilitated 48 internships between
Swiss companies and international
students.
As it can be seen from the second
graph, we have succeeded in over-
achieving previous term’s results in
Q1 by 18 %.
Despite putting a strong focus on
strengthening local sales activities,
these year’s results were by 11% lo-
wer than achievements of previous
team in the term 2010/11.
This department is absolutely vital in
order to keep realizing AIESEC’s visi-
on of bringing different nationalities
together through enabling students
and recent graduates to live and
work in a foreign country and thus
gain valuable life experience. This is
only possible thanks to established
cooperation between AIESEC and
different types of enterprises across
various industries. This cooperation
is of high importance to us hence it
is a proof of AIESEC’s relevance to
external environment. From this re-
ason we aim to build only win-win
partnerships, which bring added va-
lue to both sides.
These graphs depict internships,
which started in 2011/12 as well as
their distribution over quarters in
which the interns took up their em-
ployment.
Daniela Zatloukalova, Vice
President of Incoming Exchange
These graphs depict internships, which
started in 2011/12 as well as distribution
over quarters in which the interns took up
their employment.
In the term 2011/12 AIESEC in Switzerland
facilitated 48 internships of international
students in Swiss companies. Despite putting
a strong focus on strengthening local sales
activities, these results ended in a
decline of 11% in comparison to year
2010/11. (Graph 1: # of internships.
As you can see from the second graph on
quarterly development, despite facing
difficulties during most of the quarters, in
quarter three we experienced growth of 57%
in comparison to previous year.
As we witnessed in our term, building up a
Incoming
Exchanges
54
48
50
60
0
5
10
15
20
25
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
16. As we witnessed in our term, buil-
ding up a strong local sales depart-
ments is an ambitious, long-term
goal, which requires more than one
year to be accomplished. By provi-
ding intense national coaching to
local entities and advanced trainings
supported by our key partners, we
believe that we made the first im-
portant step to accomplish long-
term growth of local sales depart-
ments.
Thanks to easier visa and work per-
mit processes with members of the
EU, it is not surprising that 67% of
our interns come from the EU. Most
of our interns come from Eastern
Europe, which is 31% from total, out
of which 47% are Polish and 27% are
Hungarian.
As you can see from the graph
below, 21% of our interns are em-
ployed in the FMCG sector, 22% in IT
and 17% in the banking sector.
17. Career Days
average of 300 students visited the
Career Fair in each location. Even
though it was very challenging be-
cause of the increasing amount of
competitors and the decreasing in-
vestment from companies’ side, the
overall results of the 2012 edition
were very similar to the ones of the
previous year.
The 2011-2012 term was a turning
point for the AIESEC Career Days, the
future of the project and its meaning
within the organization.
A new vision for Career Days was de-
veloped, with integration between
AIESEC and Career Days. This term
Career Days was aligned to the goals
of AIESEC as never before, connec-
ting the project with our BHAG (Big
Hairy Audacious Goal), with Outgoing
Exchanges and Incoming Exchanges.
Additionally, the value proposition
of Career Days was developed. With
this development, every stakeholder
will have clear since the beginning
AIESEC Career Days is the biggest
project that AIESEC in Switzerland
develops, allowing the organization
to enable project management and
project execution experiences to its
members. Additionally, it is one of
the main ways in which AIESEC in
Switzerland interacts with the corpo-
rate sector, and the biggest opportu-
nity to showcase our activities and
impact tothe different stakeholders.
The 2012 edition of AIESEC Career
Days took place in 6 of the 8 univer-
sities where AIESEC is present (Basel,
Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne,
and Zurich) and had the participa-
tion of over 60 partners, with the
members of the National Support
Group like PwC, Credit Suisse, Ernst &
Young, Deloitte, UBS, KPMG, the Bun-
desverwaltung, and the Swiss Natio-
nal Bank being the major partners of
the events. In total, more than 2500
students registered for the events
and created their personal profile on
the careeerdays.ch website, and an
18. the added value it will receive with
its participation.Another relevant
change that Career Days achieved
during this term was the develop-
ment of a new website, and a new
communications and social media
strategy. With these tools, the im-
pact that the project can have may
increase dramatically, as the reach
that it will gain will be much bigger
than it is
today.
The most important achievement of
the term was the development of 6
local managers who gained an inva-
luable project management expe-
rience while still in university, with
the corresponding leadership skills
learned during the development of
the project. Each one of them led
teams of between 5 and 10 mem-
bers, generating impact in the lives
of over 40 AIESEC members who gai-
ned experience in project planning
and execution. This is at the end of
the day, the reason for which AIESEC
does this kind of projects, to change
in a relevant way the lives of people,
starting by our own members.
Gustavo Santamaria, AIESEC
Swiss Career Days
Association President
19. Communication and
Business Development
Business development in order to
make communications an integra-
ted part of our external engagement
and align our activities on the corpo-
rate and the student market.
New promotion material for Out-
going Exchange programmes
As a common project of the Outgo-
ing Exchange and Communication
department new promotion ma-
terials were designed. Due to the
fact that the exchange programme
got split into two different ones on
global level within the framework
of the AIESEC 2015 midterm ambi-
tion AIESEC now is attracting diffe-
rent target groups for the different
programmes – professional intern-
ships and volunteering experiences.
Based on this change the focus on
product packaging was intensified,
what reflected in the development
of new marketing materials.
New promotional stand for events
As one of the most expensive in-
vestments in the term 2011/12 a
well-designed stand replaced the
one that was used until December
2011. A change in colour coding and
a more appealing design will help AI-
ESEC in Switzerland to be more visi-
ble on the own events such as Care-
er Days and during the recruitment
period.
Online visibility
A big project of the national team
was to adapt the homepage of AI-
ESEC in Switzerland to the chan-
ged needs. The reshaping of the
AIESEC experience made extensive
changes of our web appearance on
www.aiesec.ch necessary. Further-
more, a more transparent and logical
structure was applied what led to in-
creased time spent on our webpage.
The structure change also brought a
Communication asa
functional area
In the last years the competition of
AIESEC´s exchange programmes in-
creased. More and more organiza-
tions offer the opportunity to travel
or work abroad to the students mar-
ket. At the same time the reduced
time availability of Swiss students
made them more and more selecti-
ve in choosing the right organization
for their volunteering experience. To
stand out and to increase our visibili-
ty, AIESEC in Switzerland introduced
Communication as a functional area
in the term 2011/12. Six out of eight
Local Committees implemented this
functional area and were able to in-
crease their visibility and to therefo-
re create a better image of AIESEC at
Swiss universities.
On national level the communica-
tion department was allocated in
the portfolio of the Vice President
20. drastic reduction in sub pages what
makes it easier to navigate and to
bring down our bouncing rate. A
slight change in the language use
on our webpage contributes now as
well to attract both, students and
company representatives.
For our Facebook page the commu-
nication strategy changed dramati-
cally. While it used to be a channel
to interact with members and AIE-
SEC members all around the world,
it was transformed to a platform to
interact with students and inform
them about the programmes AIESEC
is offering to the student market.
This shift from internal to external
communication also made this com-
munication channel more appealing
for our partners what led to the fact
that our Facebook page got added
to our partners portfolio. Student
relevant content allowed us to rai-
se the number of likes from around
2200 to close to 5000.
Sales Academy powered by Hays
The Sales Academy got introduced
on “Do It” conference in October
2011. With Hays (Schweiz) AG, the
leading recruitment expert, we won
a partner with sales competence
who trained our members in the
Incoming Exchanges department.
The programme was comprised of
a series of workshops accompanied
with practical sales activities. AIE-
SEC in Switzerland reached 32 mem-
bers with this programme. The six
successful participants who went
through the whole programme re-
ceived a certificate after the final
workshop on “Kick Off” conference
in April.
Reshaping the National Support
Group (NSG)
Satisfaction of our partners has al-
ways been a key priority of AIESEC
in Switzerland. In order to make tho-
se partnerships within the NSG even
more valuable for both sides, the
national team developed a new mo-
del of partners´ engagement in the
activities of AIESEC. Key difference
of this model in comparison to the
previous one is the possibility for
our partners to choose one focus of
mutual cooperation, which enables
them to customize their involvement
according to their needs. Partners
can now choose from three diffe-
rent areas of cooperation: Internati-
onal Talents, Talent Interaction and
Employer Branding. Each focus area
provides access to young talents
(national and international) through
various events, activities and online
& social media. All in all, this engage-
ment is a perfect solution to attract
high potential talents from various
backgrounds and cultures.
Stephan Kropf, Vice President of
Communications & BD
21. Financial Report
Finance in AIESEC Switzerland was
relatively successful in the year 2011
– 2012. We recorded major succes-
ses and also experienced challenges
in the area of revenue generation.
We started the year focused on
enabling AIESEC Switzerland achie-
ve financial sustainability which was
going to be driven by developing a
new financially sustainable financi-
al model. In analyzing the 2011/12
term financial performance, AIESEC
Switzerland finished the term with
an unaudited surplus of CHF 36,
514.65 providing the organization
with a cushion and a launching pad
to achieving a level of financial sus-
tainability. We all agreed (MC and
LC’s) that the current model had to
be changed if we wanted to guaran-
tee a financially sustainable AIESEC
Switzerland; we were able to bring
all stakeholders together to work on
it and we achieved a huge amount
of success.
Revenue
The three biggest sources of revenue
for AIESEC Switzerland are LC fees,
NSG fees and contributions from Ca-
reer day. The membership fees are
paid in return for services provided
to the LC’s from the MC which to-
taled CHF 86,819.26 and NSG fees
which are sponsorships from corpo-
rate partners totaled CHF 58,500.
We lost 2 partners during the term
and worked hard to get new part-
ners signed achieving a promising
progress in negotiation with poten-
tial partners. We recorded a slight
increase in revenue generated from
LC fees, exchanges and Career day
contribution and lost revenue from
NSG, conference sales and the risk
of reduced contribution from care-
er days in the future. Careers day is
working hard to regain lost ground
by signing up new partners which
wouldhelpboosttheearningspower
of AIESEC Switzerland in the future.
Ofonime Ita, Vice Presi-
dent of Finances
22. achieve financial sustainability in the
next few years if implemented. The
final decision on its adoption and
implementation was yet to be ta-
ken by the LCP’s as at the end of the
term but became a priority for the
new team. We also recorded a 50%
increase in BSV (government grant)
thereby creating a huge income than
planned for the new team.
Challenges
In the finance department, we were
unable to get the external audit of
previous years of LC Lausanne and
LC Lugano completed. The MC ex-
periences a lack of steady cash flow
which holds the risk of non-payment
of bills as at when due of which in
our opinion is unhealthy for AIS. We
highly recommend a quick build up
of the reserve of the MC to enab-
le her handle such risk or provide
a fund that is solely established for
the efficient management of all cash
flow challenges the MC currently
faces.
Expenditure
Expenditure during the term stood
fairly within planned figures. We
operated a very lean budget which
meant that some quality services
had to be cut back on to enable us
operate. Though we spent on what
was most needed, we recommend
that the services which we had to
cut back on which included invest-
ment in the middle tier management
of the organization are very impor-
tant in building a leadership pipeline
for the organization. Also, we would
have loved to invest a lot more on
conference delivery since we belie-
ve greatly contributes to developing
our members which is core to our
existence. We highly recommend a
higher investment in the core areas
of AIESEC in the future.
Successes
During the term, we successful-
ly created the financial model that
would enable AIESEC Switzerland
ASCDA (AIESEC Swiss
Career Days Association)
23. The major focuses of AIESEC Ba-
sel for the term 11/12 were to
strengthen our outgoing exchange
delivery in both quantity & quality,
to establish a strong sales culture
within our membership as well as
ensuring the continuity of our talent
management processes. In order to
provide our members with a better
experience & to connect them with
a more global environment of AIE-
SEC we hosted two CEED positions
during the first half of our term,
working as part of the Executive
Board managing the areas of talent
management & recruitment. Both
Liseth (Venezuela) and Nastea (Mol-
dova) were great additions to the Lo-
cal Committee, achieving one of the
strongest recruitments of the last
years in our LC as well as the high-
est member retention rate within
the country. One of the additional
highlights of the fall semester was
our Event“ Global View – The Future
in our Hands” including workshops,
a volunteer fair withover 20 organi-
zations, lectures & discussions with
24 speakers, a photo exhibition, a
concert, a film evening, several or-
ganic cocktails plus an international
evening with food from around the
world. All events were built around
the topics of sustainability, society &
consumption. Bringing together stu-
dents, governmental-, corporate- &
academic representatives to discuss,
educate and evaluate today’s social
problems and responsibilities was
one of the main successes of the
event. Although the first half of the
term seemed to have a lot more sig-
nificance in working with our mem-
bers and non-corporate sector, the
second half of the term became a lot
more externally focused.
Hosting second Career Days since
it has been re-established on local
level was the biggest project during
the spring semester. With many hel-
ping hands and lots
of support from the
WWZ we were able
to present 23 diffe-
rent companies and
organizations from
various sectors and their opportu-
nities to the students of the Uni-
versity of Basel. At the same time
we managed to build up a great
connection and partnership to-
gether with the Handelskammer
beider Basel (HKBB), which was
supporting us in our corporate
promotion, Invitations to their
events and hosted us for one of
our weekly LC Meetings at their
office.
The closing of the term happened
at the annual summer BBQ. To-
gether with alumni & members of
AIESEC in Switzerland we cheris-
hed the moments of the 11/12 ge-
neration, honored our most out-
standing members & handed over
our legacy to our successors who
will represent the 50th generation
of LC Basel.
“Leading the term 2011/12 of LC
Basel was one of the biggest chal-
lenges & at the same time greatest
honors we could have asked for. St-
arting the term with only half of the
EB team elected, acquiring our own
unique leadership style in all – girls
team & closing It with nine impactful
EB experiences delivered will always
be the most memorable moments of
this year. Throughout the term our LC
became a stronger entity. We were
able to integrate our members bet-
ter in to our activities, to grow our
visibility & to guarantee satisfaction
of ourcustomers & stake -holders. All
this was made possible due to the
hard work & dedication of every in-
dividual in our LC.”
Theresia Schneider, LCP
LC BASEL
24. As the EB of LC Bern we had three
goals for the term 2011/12.
Our guiding principle as the leading
body of our LC was to be an open,
transparent, sustainable and equal
team and which is perceived as such
by the LC.
Secondly, for our members we wanted
to create a platform to be proactive
and encourage others to be proactive.
And last but not least we had the fol-
lowing goal for the relationship with
our external environment. By the end
of the term we wanted to have estab-
lished a positive image at University in
all Faculties and make students aware
of their possibilities with/in AIESEC.
By leading through example, creating
new projects for our members to be-
come active in and by applying chan-
ges to our marketing campaigns and
showing more presence on campus
(for example with a Global Village)
we have in my opinion achieved those
three goals.
Oona
Gemsch
Local
Committee
President
2011/12
been neglected. We managed to create a team and there were
several internal and external workshops and trainings, which
equipped those members with important functional know-
ledge and skills. Furthermore, the relationship with the uni-
versity was improved and a new Local Support Group contract
was drawn up in order to better suit their different needs.
LC Bern furthermore, brought their financial situation in order
and passed the external audit in Summer 2011 and the one
in Summer 2012. Another improvement was the Alumni rela-
tions of LC Bern. A part of our Alumni attended our Christmas
Dinner and we as well had a weekly meeting dedicated to the
Alumni to bring them closer to the members of AIESEC in Bern.
The Outgoing Exchange numbers improved and the target
of sending 16 Exchange Participants on an internship was
reached. Also the promotion was improved by having a targe-
ted promotion (Global Internship Program and Global Commu-
nity Development Program separated) and the Global Village
as a promotion platform. Furthermore, the Exchange Prepa-
ration Seminar was greatly improved which prepared the Ex-
change Participants better for their internships abroad.
LC BERN
For the term 2011-2012 AIESEC in Bern had the
following three focus areas: Involvement and
Efficiency of Members; Image of the Local Com-
mittee of Bern (LC Bern) at the University and to
build up the Incoming Exchange Functional Area.
For the first focus area we set ourselves the
following goal: Create a platform for proactive
members and encourage others to be proacti-
ve. We created an atmosphere of proactivity and
motivation as well as more opportunities for our
members. In addition, the Talent Management
processes were also improved. For the recruit-
ment the interview guides were specialized to al-
ready aid the selection and allocation into teams.
To improve the working environment each mem-
ber received an improved job description and
member talks were offered to give the members
the opportunity to give feedback to their team
but also the Executive Board.
The second focus area had the goal: We have
established a positive image at University in all
Faculties and make students aware of their possi-
bilities with/in AIESEC. The Global Village, which
took place in May 2012, was implemented as a
project to improve the image of AIESEC in Bern
towards the students, as well as to use it as a
promotion platform for the Outgoing Exchange
recruitment. Furthermore several Movie Nights
were organized to show the students what AIE-
SEC is all about.
The third focus area was Incoming Exchange, be-
cause this Functional Area was newly created in
LC Bern and External Relations had previously
25. Before the beginning of the term
11/12, local committee (LC) Fribourg
was not one of the most performing
ones. So for the new elected exe-
cutive board (EB) 11/12 the most
important was to build up a perfor-
mance culture in this LC. The teams
as well as the whole LCs met weekly.
Short as well as long-term objecti-
ves were fixed with each and every
member. The introduction of a per-
formance tracking system helped to
change the member’s attitudes from
a party-performing LC to a perfor-
ming one.
Our efforts were first visible in the
member recruitment numbers but
as well in the rising numbers of ex-
change participants. The conduction
of several events during the running
semesters like Global Villages, work-
shops, a party and international din-
ners helped to present our new cul-
ture to non-AIESEC-members and to
gain their trust in our services back.
But not only this, these events made
the LC get even closer and our mem-
bers more committed.
The biggest project of LC Fribourg
11/12 were the Career Days. The
mix of workshops held by different
companies and the career fair were
a possibility for many students to ex-
plore the corporate world.
Looking back now, and seeing LC Fri-
bourg perform in the term 12/13,
we can say that our term 11/12
was very successful in changing our
member’s attitudes towards perfor-
mance. The current EB are the mem-
bers recruited and formed in this
transition period, but are part of a
new generation, which can be seen
in the LC’s current performances.
We, the EB 11/12, are proud to have
leaded such a potential LC and its
awesome members. We wish LC Fri-
bourg all the best for the next year
ahead.
At the beginning of our term we had
one big goal: To become a perfor-
ming LC.
Being at conferences as a member
and feeling sad that LC Fribourg is
never winning an award, made me
want to change some things. We
started with having LC meeting on
regular basis and weekly functional
meeting. We organized more events,
were planning more and made sure
that every member knew their tasks.
So more and more we grew into a
performance culture. For me, the
meaning of AIESEC has always been,
take and make the most out of it. We
did that! I am thankful and proud of
my EB team 2011/2012.
LC FRIBOURG
26. all of our members went to Fish and
Leysin to enjoy the incomparable ex-
perience of a NatCo and came back
highly motivated and enthusiastic.
Regarding projects, it was the first
year that we implemented Career
Days in November in order to avoid
competition. We had 3 days of fair,
with workshops, company presenta-
tions and company stands.
Our vice-president of external rela-
tions arranged 3 radio appearances
to promote our LC, our exchange
program and our upcoming projects.
We worked with 3 other associa-
tions on a project called “la semaine
de l’entrepreunariat” (Entrepreneur-
ship week). It was one of the high-
lights of the student life this year. It
was so successful that it was plan-
ned to be organized again it the next
During the term 11/12 we held
theusualactivitiesforourmem-
bers as LCMs, internal work-
shops, external workshops, ge-
neral assemblies, alumni visits,
social meet-ups, and of course
the possibility of going in the 2
national conferences. Almost
year. The collaboration we started
during this term helped get a stron-
ger visibility in the University and the
contact we created with those other
associations made us discover other
perceptions and conceptions of the
student life. This also encouraged us
on developing new projects with dif-
ferent student associations.
We also had our city tour, called
“Geneva on Fire”. For the first time
in year, it lasted 2 days and we raised
sponsors to support our event. It
was a great success, we had delega-
ted from almost every LC in Switzer-
land, which improved our bond with
the other chapters.
Our Global Village took place for the
2nd year in the hall of the University
of Geneva; we held stands display-
ing food, music and artifacts of cul-
tures all around the world. Our goal
was give the opportunity for stu-
dents to discover new cultures and
give them the possibility of getting
more acquainted with our exchange
program.
Overall, this term was eventful and
filled with abundant opportunity to
grow as a individual and as an
organization.
From my LCP point of view, LC Gene-
va has achieved a lot during the term
11/12. Our focus areas were princi-
pally talent management, commu-
nication and finances. We focused
also on structuring our LC and our
executive board by implementing
more detailed job descriptions, using
myaiesc.net more and by applying
the 2015 guidelines. We grew into a
well-structured LC composed of high-
ly motivated members. Our recruit-
ment strategy was to get the right
people in the right places so our LC
was a bit smaller but more efficient
and dynamic. We took pride in deve-
loping the potential of our members,
and taking them on a journey I hope
they will never forget.
LC GENEVA
27. The biggest challenges in this term
were castling within the Executive
Board (EB) and the resignation of
our VP for Talent Management. The
way how we managed to keep the
local committee at a high level was
that we had a passionate, commit-
ted and strong EB team. A forsightful
strategy kept the the team together
and the reallocation of responsibi-
lities led to a high performing term
and an inspiring generation.
Out of these circumstances at the
beginning of our term we learned
that a strong pipeline is really impor-
tant and we put a lot of our effort to
provide a good transition with a lot
of practical content with a focus on
the values of AIESEC . We can now
strongly confirm that the Executive
Board of AIESEC Lausanne this year
is well prepared to deliver our pro-
mises towards our stakeholders.
It is really important to have a good
plan of the budget which was not
our case due to lack of knowledge.
We still managed to finish our term
with a balanced budget, which was
really good taking into considerati-
on that nobody really looked deeply
into our expenses. We tried as well
to have a lot of innovative thinking
during this year with some great
ideas like EB newsletters coming up
nearly every week improving the in-
ternal communication a lot.
Every week we had a local commit-
tee (LC) activity and at least biweek-
ly LC Meetings with an attendance of
about 30 members each. The type
of activities were trainings, informa-
tion events, brainstorming, bonding
activities, presentations done by
members and the EB, BBQs, bowling
competitions, dinners, Apéros or
other events.
The AIESEC core activities Incoming
and Outgoing Exchange were stron-
gly focused on during our term. For
the first time in years we managed
to attract over 150 people to our
info events and a big part of them
subscribed on our platform atten-
ding at least the Exchange Prepara-
tion Seminar. On Incoming Exchange
side, we put our effort into making
contacts with companies through
networking events and it started
step by step to show its results.
As for our other activities we orga-
nized our annual events as Career
Days and Global Village. Those two
are the biggest of their kind in AI-
ESEC in Switzerland enabling each
year thousands of students interac-
ting with companies at the Career
Days Fair or learning about foreign
cultures at the Global Village. The
Global Village event was even re-
implemented in Lausanne and the
other committees started to do the
same at their universities.
Our investment into the opening of
AIESEC in Albania as an expansion
makes us proud since we can impact
more people indirectly.
All our effort was recognized during
the National Conferences where we
received two awards, the one for
“The most progressive LC” and the
“Inspiring Generation Recognition”.
To sum up, we are sure that AIESEC
Lausanne will continue to keep the
vision of one AIESEC in Switzerland
and will contribute to the growth of
the country, cooperating both with
the national level and other local
entities.
LC LAUSANNE
28. This was a very difficult term and
one that was not without its issues,
ranging from legal to financial and
operational concerns that almost
saw the closure of the local commit-
tee. I can say that we did not accom-
plish what we had hoped to create
for the organization, but that I admi-
re the hard work and dedication of
the Executive Board in staying the
course and working through very
grave scenarios. Ultimately we were
able to transition toward a more sus-
tainable period and one that a new
term and governing body could more
effectively lead.
Local Committee President 11|12
Jeffrey Sweeney
AIESEC Lugano’s 11|12 term marked
a large period of transition of the lo-
cal committee. The term began un-
der a new operating cycle from the
previous term, having adapted to a
new timeline to converge toward the
Member Committee. Its focus are-
as were in restarting the exchange
processes and increasing progress
in our core products, namely our
membership and exchange.
In terms of membership, AIESEC
Lugano struggled keeping a stable
membership body after having two
Executive Board members stepping
down from their positions and dif-
ficulty bringing members to confe-
rence with a different LC timeline
than the rest of Switzerland.
For exchange, our ICX saw the first
potential raise and results after a
previous term of no results and no
success, restarting the core proces-
ses from scratch. Despite having our
Vice President of Outgoing Exchange
step down from her position, AIE-
SEC Lugano restarted its exchange
program under the new branding
of AIESEC global initiative 2015 and
was able to send several students
abroad; however, results were much
lower than expected, citing issues
with HR management and a poor
recruitment at the Swiss-Italian uni-
versity (USI).
After several years of issues arriving,
this term did manage to effectively
consolidate its operations toward
focusing on the core university of
USI and closing operations at Frank-
lin College beyond passive recruit-
ment and OGX operations, effec-
tively allowing the future terms to
focus more intently and be natio-
nally aligned toward the rest of AIE-
SEC Switzerland.
LC LUGANO
29. Established in the year 1951, the Lo-
cal Committee St. Gallen celebrated
its 60th anniversary at the beginning
of the term 2011/2012. In the term
11/12, LC St. Gallen showed excep-
tional growth in our core business
sector with more than twenty Out-
going Exchange Participants and 2
Incoming students. For the first time
not only students from the universi-
ty but also from the College of Edu-
cation in St. Gallen were targeted to
be part of our exchange programs.
In the field of Talent Management
we had an average of 45 highly moti-
vated members over the whole year.
Beside the support with the promo-
tion of our membership and intern-
ship program, the Communication
department managed the alumni
relations, which included several
events like the Alumni Event at the
Hub Zurich. Thanks to the careful
and sustainable work of our Finance
department, the LC could show a
profit at the end of the term.
Over the year, LC St. Gallen offered
many folded and interesting pro-
jects. In autumn 2011, we organized
the public sector career fair GoBey-
ond, with partners such as WTO and
the Swiss Federation, and the con-
ference about emerging markets
Emerge with nearly 100 internatio-
nal and local participants. In the se-
cond half of the term, we organized
an amazing Global Village at our uni-
versity and we were part of the HSG
Talents Career Fair and the HSG Ban-
king Days.
Being a student organization in one
of the most competitive universities
of Switzerland we aspire to not only
sustain our present growth, but also
outclass every other student organi-
zation in the coming years. AIESEC
deems to enhance its universal and
multidimensional spirit and with the
present rate of growth, we are de-
termined to be one of the most pro-
gressive and innovative local chap-
ters in Switzerland.
Since the beginning of my term as
the Local Committee President in
summer 2011, AIESEC St. Gallen has
developed in so many great and un-
expected ways. While some of our
projects were struggling, others ex-
ceeded our expectations by far and
really contributed to an enduring
advancement of the image of our
organization among the students
of our university and the projects’
supporting partners. I’m very glad
to have been part of this experience
and I’m confident that our succes-
sors in the Executive Board will do
an even more amazing job at pro-
moting the AIESEC values and our
vision at University of St. Gallen.
Grateful for the experience,
Lisa Züger
LCP AIESEC St. Gallen 11/12
LC ST.GALLEN
30. The executive board 2011/12 is proudly looking back
on a majorly successful term.
While continuously being accountable for the largest
share of the national core product delivery, we not only
manifested our positioning as one of the operational
pillars of AIESEC in Switzerland; we also developed a
new ownership feeling regarding the education of and
knowledge exchange with our peers, further promo-
ting the idea of ‘One AIESEC in Switzerland!’
With a higher focus on sustainability management and
synergies, we look with enthusiasm into a bright future.
LC ZURICH
31. AIESEC in Switzerland thanks its partners for their support:
Our Exchange Partners:
Ebay, TalkTalkTalk, UBS, Novartis
Our Learning Partners:
Booz&Co., EF – Education First, Hays (Schweiz) AG
