* THINGS are hectic at the moment for John Irvine and his organisation
AIESEC. He is putting the finishing touches to a seminar on ''Educate to
Export'' which Tennent Caledonian Breweries is supporting.
At the same time he has just found a Korean graduate for a
Glasgow-based textile company which is planning an export drive in that
part of the world, and he is searching for an Icelandic graduate for a
menswear company.
And all this is while studying for an honours degree in accountancy at
Strathclyde University, where he is a third-year student.
John takes his position as Placement Manager of AIESEC at Strathclyde
seriously, as do a number of companies in the West of Scotland.
AIESEC might be a student organisation but it is run on professional
lines and is supported by local sponsors such as Price Waterhouse, KPMG,
Touche Ross, and Ernst & Young.
An indication of the respect shown to the student body is that Paul
Gordon, European sales director with Bass Export, will join John Downie
of Strathclyde Business Development at the forthcoming seminar on
Educate to Export.
John Irvine admits it can be a struggle to be taken seriously by the
business world when people learn that AIESEC is student-run. ''But we
are as professional as any other organisation or business, perhaps even
more so,'' he says.
AIESEC has 60,000 members worldwide in 700 university and college
branches in 81 countries. Its core activity is an international work
placement scheme in which the organisation locates a qualified graduate
from the member countries who fits the description and requirements of
the company or organisation for a period of up to 18 months.
Recently, in addition to the Korean graduate, John has found a German
masters graduate for the National Savings Bank. He has a Scottish
student working in Prague and a Czech student is currently employed in
Glasgow.
''We take care of work permits, visas, and accommodation,'' he says.
''The company pays us a fee of between #200 and #300 to cover our
administration costs and the student is paid #135 a week.''
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