In September 1989 Civil Engineering students from various European countries came together in Delft for the first Academic Congress of Civil Engineering StudentS or, in short, ACCESS. The final result was the establishment of the International Association of Civil Engineering Students (IACES). During its growth period the organization has established contacts in more than fifty Universities in and
outside Europe. The major aim of IACES was the development of contacts between civil engineering students in the world. Nowadays IACES is present at civil engineering faculties through whole Europe, in the form of a Local Committees (LC’s) or Contact Persons (CP’s). The students who are active in IACES organise a lot of different international activities. By taking part in IACES activities students can exchange opinions and experience, and discover new possibilities to understand and handle engineering problems or situations. Most important however is the opportunity to get known to and share different cultures, having interesting excursions and establishing personal friendships, also useful in future working life. The structure of IACES consists of all independent Local Committees together, with their own members. Several activities a year are organised by LC’s, and they can be joined by the members. During an activity, which mostly takes a week, there can be lectures, excursions and in the evening great parties. In this way it’s very interesting to participate and a nice way to get known to other cultures. Looking at the continuous worlwide development with increasing mobility of workers and students, one understands the importance of international contacts between students. IACES is heading for the future!
