The International Association of students in Agricultural and related Sciences (IAAS) is an international non-profit and non-governmentalstudent society headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. It was founded in 1957 in Tunisia by 8 countries.[1] At the moment it is one of the world's biggest student organizations and one of the leading agricultural student associations.[2] IAAS gathers students studying, majoring or researching in agriculture and related areas like environmental sciences, forestry, food science, landscape architecture etc. Its committees are spread in universities in over 55 countries worldwide.[1]
The principal aim of IAAS is to promote the exchange of knowledge, information, and ideas among students, and to improve the mutual understanding between countries and cultures. To do this it organizes activities like seminars, working camps, international meetings, exchange weeks, an international exchange program, small-scale development projects.
Every year in July, a member country organizes the Annual Congress, which consists of sessions of the General Assembly and a seminar. During the General Assembly, all decisions affecting the association are discussed during working groups and subsequently voted upon. Furthermore, the participants take the chance of having such an international group to discuss in forums about (agricultural) hot topics together with their fellow students from all over the world. The seminar usually deals with a specific (agricultural) topic and includes excursions, visits, lectures, social activities, and a tour of an area in the organizing country.
Leadership
The main element of IAAS is the National Committees (NC) and Local Committees (LC), groups, and associations of students in universities all over the world working for the association. They organize and run activities like Seminars, Working Camps, Village Concept Projects.
The General Assembly (GA) is the supreme governing authority of the association. It gathers once a year during the Annual Congress and consists of delegates from all the member countries, which are appointed by the National Committees (a). Decisions are taken by voting, with each member country having one vote.
Major positions
President
The task of the President is to represent the Association to its external partners and to ensure that the whole EB functions properly.
Vice President of Finance
The VP of Finances takes care of the finances, grant application and bookkeeping.
Vice President of Communication
The VP of Communication keeps in contact with the members and takes care of communication matters within the association.
Vice President of External Relations
VP of Finances and VP of External Relations work closely together.
Vice President of Exchange
The VP of Exchange is responsible for the coordination of the IAAS Exchange Program. Since 2006 the Exchange Quality Board helps with the task of improving this important activity.
Membership
There are currently members of IAAS in the following countries per regions:
In the frame of the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations (IFISO), IAAS cooperates with other student organizations in the field of project development, fundraising, and strategic planning.
IAAS was established in a decade in which nations all over the world were still recovering from the harsh devastation and suffering resulting from the Second World War. However, young people strongly fostered hope for progress, peace and stability. Students in the field of agriculture decided to come together and create a new international student platform by establishing IAAS more than half a century ago 1957 in Tunis, the same year when the Treaty of Rome has been signed to establish the European Community.
In this decade, students from all disciplines started to acknowledge their role as agents of change in society and decided to come together to share values. They realized that only by sharing diversity, they could really cooperate to build a better world, a world in peace, harmony, and freedom. Thus AIESEC, IAESTE, IFMSA, IVSA and IAAS have been established in less than one decade.
The early beginning
1954 The International Union of Students and the Romania Union sent invitations to students in agriculture all over the world for a meeting in Bucharest. It is the first attempt known of international cooperation between students in agriculture.
1956 In Paris an international week of study on agriculture took place. Students decided that UGET, the Tunis student union, would organize an international seminar on agriculture in summer 1957. The same year an international seminar for agricultural students was held in Norway.
Year of establishment
1957 was the real beginning of the IAAS, which was then called AIEA (Association Internationale des Etudiants en Agriculture) and had French as the working language.
Independent from the decisions made during the international meeting in Paris, the Students council from the Netherlands (NSR) also planned to organize an international seminar on agriculture from 22 till 29 June 1957. Around December 1956, NSR (Netherlands) and UGET (Tunis) got to know about each other's plans and this caused a conflict. UGET did not like the idea of having two international seminars so close to each other. However, several careful and diplomatic dialogues per mail, and a meeting in Leiden (the Netherlands) on 15–16 March 1957, resulted in cooperation and a tight friendship between Tahar Belkhodja (president of UGET) and R. van den Berg (president of NSR). The NSR decided to cancel its congress in Wageningen in favor of the one in Tunis and to cooperate intensively with UGET. It seems to be just an anecdote, but there are reasons to believe that this cooperation between The Netherlands and Tunisia was crucial for the continuity of IAAS in the first years. When the Dutch canceled their seminar, they asked all participants to come to the seminar in Tunis instead. This seminar turned out to be the founding World Congress of IAAS and Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and of course Tunisia were the participating countries. A few other countries attended the congress as observers. Mr. Tahar Belkhodge (Tunisia) was elected as President and Mr. Fehr (France) was elected as Secretary General.
Also, the Dutch students were well prepared to organize a seminar in the Netherlands in 1958, which became the second world congress of IAAS.
2003 46th Congress in Belgium; Topic: Food Quality, a Challenge for North and South, in cooperation with the FAO
2004 47th Congress in Croatia and Italy; Topic: Culture, Tradition and Typical food: The Journey Through Mediterranean Agriculture, in cooperation with the FAO
2005 48th Congress in Togo and Ghana; Topic: Combating Hunger in developing countries: the role of Agricultural Research
2006 49th Congress in Malaysia (organized by IAAS Denmark); Topic: Sustainable Development – Environmental Protection and Agricultural Innovation
2007 50th Congress in Germany and Switzerland; Topic: Food Quality and Food Security – the challenge is ours!
2008 51st Congress in Belarus; Topic: Rural tourism as solution for employment, local development and environment: principles to practices
2009 52nd Congress in Mexico; Topic: Biodiversity now, Food for tomorrow
2010 53rd Congress in Indonesia; Topic: "The power of local resources to support food, energy and trade:food security, renewable resources, free trade"
2011 54th Congress in Macedonia; Topic: "Food identity"
2012 55th Congress in Belgium and Germany; Topic: "Face the Future! Agriculture from a Different Point of View"
2013 56th Congress in Chile; Topic: "Producing Food for the World"
2014 57th Congress in United States; Topic: "Farming for the Future"
2015 58th Congress in The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy; Topic: "How to feed the planet?"
2016 59th Congress in Indonesia; Topic: "Plant your future"
2017 60th Congress in Mexico; Topic: "Mexico 360"
2018 61st Congress in Croatia (Zagreb, Istria and Dalmatia); Topic: "Croatia, a Tale of Land and Water"
2019 62nd Congress in Côte d'Ivoire; Topic: "Flying towards Agricultural Transformation"
2020 63rd Congress ONLINE; Topic: "Evolving in times of crisis: Stepping up our IAAS community"
2021 64th Congress Hybrid in Turkey; Topic: "From Soils to the Spoon"
2022 65th Congress in Morocco; Topic: "Water Scarcity and its Effects on Food Security"
2023 66th Congress in Mexico; Topic: "Technology transfer and sustainability in food systems"
2024 67th Congress in Bangladesh; Topic: "Youth in Action: Challenges and Smart Solutions for Resilient Agro-food System"
2025 68th Congress in Switzerland/Italy; Topic: "From Switzerland to Italy: How Ecosystems Shape the Agri-Food Landscape"
Former Executive Boards
Executive Board of 2024/25
President: Alperen Özturk
Vice President of Finance: Claudia Janampa
Vice President of External Relations: Sagar Paudel
Vice President of Communication: S. M. Riaz-us Saleheen
Vice President of Exchange: Marco Vinicio López Castillo
Executive Board of 2023/24
President: Rabi Raut
Vice President of Finance: Michele Tredeshini
Vice President of External Relations: Prem Prakash Budhathoki
