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In the coming years more and more countries joined the network and
AIESEC became global in a very short period by being present on all the
continents.
The number of students and organizations involved in the exchange program grew rapidly and
constantly, reaching
2467 exchanges by the end of 1960 and 4232 by the end of 1970.
Seminars were first introduced as part of trainees' reception experiences, in a proposal
from AIESEC in Germany in 1961. It was well received by other countries, and a general set of
seminar topics to be addressed was proposed and accepted. They were mainly economic in nature, and
for the first time AIESEC was addressing specific issues in its activities-stated clearly in a
non-political way.
At the 1974 International Congress in Bordeaux, an important motion was passed: the minimum
length of an Exchange traineeship had to be 6 weeks. This measure improved the quality of our
Exchanges.
In 1976 an International Theme Programme was established that focused all international,
regional, and local seminars on specific topics. This idea continued and grew through various
stages.
After this the focus of the organization was on addressing global themes besides the
traditional Exchange Program. Themes like International Trade, Management Education, Sustainable
development, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsability were discussed at local, national and
global seminars.
In the late 90's the discussion about the relevance of the organization brought the Exchange
Program on the main agenda and more and more effort was put in ensuring growth in this area.
Information systems were developed to make the process faster and easier. Insight I was
launched in 1997 and Insight II in 2001. As the focus of the organization was the eXchange program
again, the number of exchanges started to grow.
Looking for more relevance,
nowadays 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 5,000 leadership opportunities, 3,500 work abroad opportunities, 350
conferences, and virtual tools to build networks.
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