The following guidelines should answer all these questions and as a result give you a clear picture of the IACES organization as a whole. For further explanations and questions you can of Course always contact the General Board (GB) or the CC.

Local Committee Roles

Each Civil Engineering Faculty can establish a Local Committee. The most important thing is to have at least three motivated students who want to make serious effort to organize activities for other students and to announce all kinds of IACES activities at their Faculty in order to gain more interested students. The best way to become acquainted with the IACES family is to first participate in a certain activity and talk to "veteran IACES members"; then it will not be too difficult to organize an activity by yourself at your home Faculty.

To establish a strong LC basis, the following recommendations must be taken into account: There should be at least three students, who are enthusiastic about spending some time on IACES by organizing activities and annoucing all activities of other LCs at their home Faculty. They fulfill the specific functions of President, secretary and treasurer and they must be registered at the CC by name, address and private phone numbers. Besides these personal data, a permanent address and phonenumber(s) of the Faculty where the LC is settled must be known at the CC, as well as a FAX- and - if possible - an E-mail address. Only if these data are known at the CC, you can be assured to receive the IACES Newsletter four times a year: the magazine where all IACES activities are announced.

The main task of the LC President is to represent the Local Committee at the home Faculty and to coordinate the activities. The secretary is the contact person between LC and CC; he or she should keep a list of LC members and make sure that the LC is always easy to reach by letter, phone and FAX for the CC and every other LC or CP. The treasurer is responsible for the LC finances; a very important task is also the contact with the GB treasurer, concerning the IACES activity fee.

Organizing activities

One of the conditions for the "LC-status" is the organization of at least one international activity each year. This section presents some recommendations regarding activities which you could organize as an LC.

In general there are three types of international activities: Exchanges, summer/winter-Courses and summer/winter-holidays. These different activities have been developed during the last few years, but that does not at all mean that your LC should stick to only these activities! New ideas are always welcome, as IACES is a young and flexible Association!

First, there is the traditional Exchange between two (or more) Local Committees: one LC invites another to visit them and offers a (weekly) programme, containing a mixture of touristic and academic aspects. Visits to the Faculty of the hosting LC, some excursions and touristic trips, in combination with a lot of fun and happiness are parts of such Exchanges. It is usually very easy to find an interested LC as an Exchange partner for you. As preperation is less time-consuming than for summer/winterCourses, Exchanges are an appropriate option for the first IACES organizing experience. The yearly Academic Congress of Civil Engineering StudentS (ACCESS) is often a good place to arrange Exchanges.

The second kind of activity you can organize is a summer- or winterCourse. During an IACES Course, lectures and excursions are arranged around a specific civil engineering topic, usually characteristic for the Country or region where the organizing LC is situated. These symposiums usually last about one week. A Course is meant to be more academically challenging than an Exchange: you are expected to spend more time around the Faculty and other locations of academic interest, according to a rather scientific programme. The parallel social programme gives you the chance to work on the most important aim of IACES:

A third kind of activity is the summer/winter holiday. As the name already conveys, the touristic and recreational aspects are emphasized. This activity is meant to be a holiday for all interested civil engineering students. Both Courses and holidays are open to the big family of civil and environmental engineering students - for every IACES member interested in participating, while an Exchange generally is an activity between two LCs.
If you, as a young LC, want to organize an activity, don't hesitate to ask one of the existing Local Committees or the General Board to give you some advice, if you really need some. To be sure of a sufficient number of participants it is very important to announce your plans for organizing some activity well in advance by announcement in the IACES Newsletter or by sending invitations (faxes, E-mail) to other Local Committees.

Promotion of a new Local Committee

If you are enthusiastic about working on IACES at your Faculty, a very important step is to inform your fellow students about IACES activities going on. It is also quite useful to get known among the Professors of your Faculty and Companies of your region. This support is often indispensable to be assured of a succesful "IACES-background environment". This chapter deals with the questions of how to reach other civil engineering students and how to get Companies and Professors interested in IACES and use them for practical and financial support.

Informing students

To reach fellow students, a Local Committee should announce all IACES activities through posters around the Faculty, make annoucements in Faculty papers or even in local newspapers. To seek direct contact with the students it may also be effective to have a short IACES presentation in a lecture room (just before a well attended lecture). The use of a slide projector and pictures could illustrate your IACES presentation.

Some Local Committees hold a weekly IACES meeting at the Students' Board office or a certain popular pub or place, where interested students can join and be lobbied for an active role at your LC. Freshmen can be attracted by offering an IACES information stand in the first week or during welcoming days for new students. Think of an eye catcher or special attractions!

Getting known to Professors

Most of the Professors at your Faculty will be quite interested in an organization like IACES. Experience proves them to be very enthusiastic about the idea of sharing academic knowledge from different Countries. This offers you the possibility to ask them for a typical lecture or presentation to foreign students, who participate in an Exchange or summerCourse. They simply have to know about the existence of an IACES Local Committee at the Faculty, thus a matter of presentation. This can be achieved by "performing" a presentation of the Local Committee and its activities by two eloquent members or just through an introductory letter which may clarify your ideas and point out a possible cooperation with the Professor during Courses and other activities.

Establishing contacts with Companies

It is very beneficial to present your IACES ideas to some Companies in your region. You can arrange excursions at their building sites, either for the LC members or (later) for your foreign visitors. Generally Companies are quite proud to show students around. You should try to get some financial support for your international activities too. In this case it is adviseable to establish rather a few and serious contacts instead of several, but loose contacts. Companies will often ask for the publication of their name in activity reports etc., which is very easy to realize.

Local Committee Money

Except for levering the IAF and possibly receiving an Activity support, Local Committees are financially independent. The financial demand of an LC depends upon the number and size of activities it organizes.

What must be financed?

Means of communication, including phone, fax, letters (paper, envelopes, postage). These costs show up troughout the year, and are mainly independent of the activities. Organizing international activities like SummerCourses, Exchanges or local activities such as excursions, language Courses etc. requires a more detailed financial planning. The demand of money for these kind of activities depends heavily upon what you offer during such an activity. Companies and universities are normally very cooperative concerning excursions or offering lecturers. But expenses are often connected to food, accommodation, and transportation during the activity.
Also, it is necessary to cover the travelling expenses for people with a limited financial background.

How can a Local Committee finance itself?

Due to the constant shortage of money Global-IACES can only support a selected number of local activities. So it is mainly up to the LC itself to gain the money. Sources of financial support can be:

Membership fee

Every LC member could pay an annual fee in order to cover the basic costs.

Sponsors

Companies, contractor Associations, trade unions etc. may help with donations or an advertisement in a final report or something similar. It is advisable to stay in regular contact with your sponsors. Keep them informed about the IACES work by visiting them from time to time. Such a relationship can also be useful in other forms of support (e.g. organizing excursions).

Subsidies

There exist a number of programmes and funds from University level up to the international level (European Union: ERASMUS, TEMPUS). When searching for these sources you should contact the CC, other LCs from your Country, other student Associations at your University, the international office at your University or your Professors. At least one of these contacts may have experiences where it can be useful to ask for financial support. You may also find a fund supporting your own travelling.

Parties

How about Faculty parties? In many places an IACES party has proved to be a good "money-maker." Selling drinks and maybe taking a little entrance fee earns a lot of money while costs for D.J., room and promotion-posters are low. Drinks can be bought on commission to keep the risk low.

Participation fee

IACES activities give the participants a great time with lots of new experiences. A contribution from every participant, which also includes the International Activity Fee, should be obligatory.