Our student members facilitate international traineeship exchanges and supporting activities that provide practical learning experiences for thousands of young people as trainees, and which also provides an incredible learning experience for our members and involved stakeholders. The power and impact of AIESEC comes in the diversity of our activities. To help link those different activities into our global network, a number of global focus areas have been identified. These are common themes which each activity will often address. These are areas that AIESEC believes are most relevant for societal change and are:

Corporate Social Responsibility
Cultural Understanding
Entrepreneurship
Higher Education and Learning
Information and Society

What is common across all of our activities is the exchange process (or learning process) through which we facilitate the development of people. We realize that a series of different experiences when put together can lead to powerful change within an individual. The greatest of all the experiences we offer is the international exchange opportunity we give to over 5,000 young people every year, placing bright students into a position lasting up to eighteen months in every sector - business, public or civil society. To enrich that experience further we create opportunities for them to interact with their local environment and its challenges, supported by the members of each of our local offices. Our Global Results help us understand some of the leadership characteristics - skills, attitudes and values - that our activities develop in young people. In addition to stronger management capabilities these activities:

Develop socially minded leaders who are able to perform responsibly with all sectors of the community.
Facilitate interaction and appreciation of diversity between individuals of different cultures.
Create opportunities for individuals to be creative and to act in a proactive manner.
Develop individuals who practice active learning. We define active learning as experience-based and life-long.
Create a learning environment through the open sharing of information and ideas.