What began in 1948 as an organization to help develop "friendly relations" between member countries is now a global association with activities in 107 different countries and territories.

The founding members of AIESEC started to build the organization between 1946 and 1948, but a clear identity was defined in 1948 and later in 1949 at the Stockholm Congress.

89 students participated in the Exchange Program in 1949 and Exchange was defined as the core activity of the organization.
   
In the coming years more and more countries joined the network and AIESEC became global in a very short period by being present on all the continents.
 
The number of students and organizations involved in the exchange program grew rapidly and constantly, reaching 2467 exchanges by the end of 1960 and 4232 by the end of 1970.
 
Seminars were first introduced as part of trainees' reception experiences, in a proposal from AIESEC in Germany in 1961. It was well received by other countries, and a general set of seminar topics to be addressed was proposed and accepted. They were mainly economic in nature, and for the first time AIESEC was addressing specific issues in its activities-stated clearly in a non-political way.
 
At the 1974 International Congress in Bordeaux, an important motion was passed: the minimum length of an Exchange traineeship had to be 6 weeks. This measure improved the quality of our Exchanges.
 
In 1976 the International Theme Program was established that focused all international, regional, and local seminars on specific topics. This idea continued and grew through various stages.

After this, the focus of the organization was on addressing global themes besides the traditional Exchange Program. Themes like International Trade, Management, Education, Sustainable development, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsibility were discussed at local, national and global seminars.
 
In the late 90's the discussion about the relevance of the organization brought the Exchange Program on the main agenda and more and more effort was put in ensuring growth in this area.
 
Information systems were developed to make the process faster and easier. Insight I was launched in 1997 and Insight II in 2001. As the focus of the organization was the Exchange program again, the number of exchanges started to grow.
 
Looking for more relevance, nowadays AIESEC is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential. Our innovative approach to developing young people focuses on taking a proactive role, developing self-awareness and a personal vision, building networks, and developing capacity to drive change. We do this through an international platform of opportunities that provides 35,000 members with over 7,700 leadership opportunities, 5,500 work abroad opportunities, 470 conferences, and virtual tools to build networks.

AIESEC Algeria

AIESEC Official Extension to Algeria was approved during the International Congress of AIESEC in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August 2008, and joined a network composed of 107 countries.

Today, AIESEC Official Extension to Algeria is present in the capital city, Algiers, and is working to become one of the leading young international talent provider to several companies and NGO's in the country and global companies across the world.