Malta is endowed with a rich history that dates back more than 7,000 years. Thus these islands have been the theatre of various people. The European dimension was always felt in Malta and it was no amusement that sooner or later such would land in our University.

Indeed, Autumn AGORA 1997 saw the dawn of AEGEE-Valletta. The city of Ankara gave birth to our antenna. The founding President Roger Bugeja had come across AEGEE by co-incidence while attending an ESIB seminar. 6 months of preparation and ground work led him to sign the Convention d`Adhesion (in Ankara). From that moment onwards, AEGEE-Valletta has hijacked and controlled the lives of many. The following is a short chronological description of the major events.

The first European event is always the hardest, it serves to break the ice and set a trend. And this is what precisely the Summer University of 1998 did. Moreover in Autumn AGORA Hamburg 1998 AEGEE-Valletta was also officially recognised as an Antenna. The group of the founding fathers apart from the initial and all important ground work of setting up an organisation, organised very successful conferences such as ‘Removing Borders in Education – Facilitating Mobility’ in 1999 and ‘Peace in the Mediterranean Region - Can We Find a Solution ?’ in 2000 which contributed not only to enrol more new members but also to build an image to our antenna. In 2000 AEGEE-Valletta was already awarded ‘Gharfien Nazzjonali Zghazagh fis-Socjeta Award’ (The National Recognition for Youth Work in Society Award) by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth and Sport in the Ministry of Education.

However, AEGEE-Valletta was to go a step further in September 2001. In fact, the first Spring Action Europe Planning Meeting took place in Malta. It was the biggest event our antenna had organised which further galvanized the international reputation of AEGEE-Valletta.

Time paled out the main actors but not the spirit. The more time passed the higher the level of professionalism of our events grew. Indeed our Summer Universities have been greatly sought and year after year they are voted as one of the best around Europe. 2002 saw also the birth of the Winter Event to celebrate the antenna’s 5th Anniversary entitled ‘5tarring Malta 2002’. The event was of great success and was re-organised also in 2003. The organisation of ‘Unidebate’ also gave AEGEE-Valletta the best event award in Europe related to the year plan project.

In March 2005 AEGEE-Valletta reached another milestone when we organised the first ever European Boards’ Meeting in AEGEE History entitled ‘The beginning…’. Needless to say, the event went down in AEGEE-Europe’s history since, in AGORA Izmir, it was voted Best Event 2005 and took the EGEE XX Award. This award was rightly celebrated with the successful organisation of the 3rd Winter Event.

Moreover, in the past years AEGEE-Valletta has grown drastically. The number of local members is always on the increase and events multiplied. AEGEE-Valletta also took a leading role as the host organisation for Erasmus students. Parties, cultural tours, debates and sports tournaments are only a few events of the numerous events that are organised. Such hard work paid off since AEGEE-Valletta was judged as the 2nd best organisation on University of Malta Campus and the 2nd Best European Antenna in AGORA Enschede. Indeed, in the space of 6 months AEGEE-Valletta was rewarded with 3 prestigious rankings and awards.

All these successes had faces which in 2006 decided to unite and form ONE team, with ONE objective - that of organising the AGORA in Malta in April 2007 entitled ‘A Vision for our Future’. This also coincided with AEGEE-Valletta 10th Anniversary. Needless to say that the AGORA held in April 2007 followed by a 3-day cultural post event was a huge success and for the 2nd time in 3 years AEGEE-Valletta won the award best event of the year 2007.

Following the success of the AGORA, AEGEE-Valletta also celebrated officially its 10th anniversary with a great gathering of all AEGEE-Valletta board and active members from 1997 till that date. This was followed by the 4th Winter Event. In AGORA Aachen 2008 AEGEE-Valletta and AEGEE-Kyiv were the 1st in signing a twinning agreement between the two antennae. In February 2009 the 1st leg of the twinning exchange took place in Kyiv.

In March 2009, AEGEE-Valletta’s continuous commitment in contributing towards the development of our Network led it to host for the 1st time in its history a Network Meeting entitled ‘Meet me where the rainbow ends’. As at to date NWM –Valletta 09, still remains the only NWM to be funded by European Commission YiA Programme. The 10th AEGEE-Valletta Summer University followed.

Finally it is now our turn to organise ‘KyiValletta 09/10’ and host for the 2nd leg of the exchange our twins in Malta. The exchange will take place between 29th December 2009 and 5th January 2010 and a committee has been setup to host and organise a rich programme that will enable AEGEE-Valletta and AEGEE-Kyiv members to reinforce friendship and mutual co-operation.

For more information about AEGEE-Valletta click here.