Decoding AIESEC
At some point in school, college, or university, you’re definitely going to hear the name “AIESEC.” Someone will eventually drop it in conversation going: “Oh yeah, I’m in AIESEC.” Most people will nod like they get it, even though you can be sure they don’t. I was one of those oblivious people living in ignorance. Up until a few weeks ago, I also had zero clue whether it was a club, a company, or some secret society.
Turns out, it’s none of those but a little bit of them all at the same time.
AIESEC is a global, student-run organization that’s been up and running since 1948. It was founded after World War II when a group of ambitious, dedicated students decided the world needed a lot more cross-cultural understanding if it wanted to avoid another disaster of the sort that they had witnessed. The idea was simple: give youth around the world a chance to work and volunteer abroad, let them experience different perspectives and people outside of their own, and maybe they’d end up building a generation that handles differences between each other better than the ones before them.
Fast forward to modern day, AIESEC operates in 100+ countries, and it is still run entirely by students top to bottom. That’s the first big thing that sets it apart, there isn’t some professional hidden administration team pulling strings behind the curtains. Students are the only ones running the show. This means writing emails, negotiating partnerships and collaborations, organizing events (successfully), recruiting new members, and taking up confusing yet fancy-sounding roles like OCVPPS (Organizing Committee Vice President of Partner Servicing). And no, these roles aren’t just performative. They come with actual responsibilities and accountability: handling logistics and operations, setting budgets and ceilings, managing teams, and hitting targets of all sorts.
One of my friends Nabiha, custodian of the role mentioned earlier, explained this side to me pretty clearly. She said joining AIESEC feels like stepping into a company that just happens to be run by students. There’s real accountability, targets, and performance reviews. Indeed, it sounds like a lot, but that’s also the point: you grow and learn fast because you’re thrown into situations that push you beyond your comfort zone. From the outside it may seem like you’re planning a bake sale, but instead you’re running a project that partners with NGOs, small and large businesses, and oftentimes even international organizations.
Enough chitchat, so what does AIESEC actually do? You can think of it in two main categories:
- Exchange programs abroad: This is the part most people hear about. Students can apply for internships or volunteer projects abroad in areas like teaching, sustainability, startups, or marketing, etc. The base idea is that you grow personally and professionally while productively contributing to a community somewhere else in the world.
- Local committees and projects: Not everyone can fly off to another country immediately, but you can still be part of the engine at home. Local AIESEC chapters run events, manage the exchange programs that I just mentioned, recruit new members, and build long-lasting partnerships. This is where you get the behind-the-scenes leadership experience.
Now, who can join? Pretty much any university student or recent graduate up to 30 years old, although you can go on their exchange programs even if you’re in college, specifically if you’re from A levels Nixor or Cedar as they fall under AIESEC in IBA’s umbrella. You usually start by applying to your local AIESEC chapter, often through an online form or recruitment drive at your university. From there on, you can either participate in the exchange programs or dive into the adventurous organizational side by joining a local committee.
Here’s the thing though: AIESEC isn’t a laid back, chill club where you show up once a week, hang out, and leave. It’s intense. There are deadlines to meet, long meetings to attend, and responsibilities that can initially feel way above your pay grade (except there’s no pay). Nabiha admitted it can feel overwhelming at times, but it also pushes a person to learn skills they’d never pick up in class: managing so many people, communicating across cultures, staying calm under pressure, and yes, surviving without sleep(something you’re probably familiar with if you’ve made it this far).
The beauty of AIESEC is that its model is built on mutual success and growth between you and the organisation. When you volunteer, work, or intern abroad, you’ll be contributing to causes that matter, such as education projects, sustainable development goals, community service initiatives. At the same time, through those same causes, you’re learning how to lead, adapt, work and play with people very different from yourself. Yes, helping others is inherently drilled into the experience, but so is helping yourself grow.
They do admit it, it’s not all perfect. Some programs abroad are better organized than others, and the corporate coded structure isn’t for everyone’s palate. But that’s precisely what makes it closer to perfect, the fact that it’s a real slice of the world as we know it, with all of its imperfections.
So, if you’re looking for an ECA and come across AIESEC wondering if its worth your time, here’s the honest take: if you want a laid-back, minimal effort student organisation just for a pretty extra line on your CV, turn away and never look back. But if you’re curious about the world, you want to challenge yourself in new ways, you want to seek discomfort, and if you don’t mind being thrown into the deep end of the pool every once in a while, then being part of AIESEC can be one of those rare experiences that will actually change the way you see things, the way you do things. And hey, who knows? After enough time you might even end up like Nabiha, speaking fluently about acronyms of positions that once sounded like complete gibberish, but now feel like second nature.
Writer: Hussain Ismail
Contributor: Nabiha Arif (AIESEC)
