"ISWI"

"ISWI" is the abbreviation for "Initiative Solidarische Welt Ilmenau" (Initiative for World Solidarity, Ilmenau). We are a student-led association founded by the students of Ilmenau University of Technology in 1992 to foster tolerance, understanding among nations and an international attitude. Our biggest project is the “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (also abbreviated as “ISWI”). ISWI is the largest student conference of its kind in Germany. It takes place every second year on the campus of Ilmenau University of Technology. During the 10 days of ISWI, young people from around the world with different cultural, educational, and personal backgrounds have a platform to get-to-know each other and to share their view points. The purpose of the intercultural dialogue is to improve tolerance and open-mindedness among its participants as well as the locals of the city of Ilmenau. The participants of the student week will have the opportunity to exchange their experiences and views, to discuss current issues and to develop ideas and possible solutions for the discussed problems. In order to organise the student festival, which usually takes place in May, we are having several teams focusing on specific work areas. These also mainly determine our regular activities. The groups are: • Culture Team, organising the cultural programme of the festival including concerts, intercultural events, excursions and parties • Content Team, organising the content programme of the festival, including keynote lectures, panel discussions, a movie night, workshops, etc. • Public Relation Team, organising the external communication of our associations, • Design Team, preparing all design-related materials, including the logo, mascot, programme books, t-shirts, wristbands, programme books, etc. • People Team, being responsible for the inclusion of external • IT Team, being responsible for the internal IT infrastructure • Finance, Infrastructure, Food and more! As there are many ways of being active at ISWI, we see a lot of chances that volunteers can delve into different fields of expertise, try new things, learn and acquire new skills. For the European Solidary Corps volunteer it would be possible to engage in his or her preferred work areas where he*she might already have experience or wish to learn something completely new.