About us

The GEB was founded in 1989 under the name “Romanisches Büro” by students and teachers of the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2005 it was renamed to its current name. The aim of the founding members of the association was to provide people with opportunities to get to know each other across borders personally, to reduce prejudices and to work together on European unification.

Association for European Training is an association of friends and supporters of the European idea. Members are dedicated individuals as well as businesses, public institutions and NGOs.

The name is intended in ambiguity: the “society”, the members of the association, the promoter of the European idea, want to form Europe (definition in English “education”) and thereby at the same time form Europe (build, develop).

In line with this vision, we support both individuals and public and private educational institutions in establishing personal cross-border contacts. We use national and European (educational) programs and work together on projects to enable as many people as possible to take part in these programs.

Against the background of tolerance towards (foreign) cultures, the GEB works to open up perspectives to people and to enable them to lead a self-determined life.

In the last 10 years, the GEB has supported more than 3,000 persons from Germany who have completed a work-related stay abroad (usually during vocational training). At the same time, about 4,000 young people were accompanied and cared for in Berlin during their stay abroad (usually internship).

The direction of education and training programs has also changed at the introduction of the new Erasmus + program generation by the European Commission in 2014.

At the present time, the acquisition of personal, professional and social competences by individuals isn’t longer primarily with the focus on the support strategy, but the development (Europeanization, Internationalization) of the respective educational unit as a whole.

Following this change in the direction of the programs by the European Commission, the GEB has adapted its working methods and, since 2014, has been increasingly looking after schools and other educational institutions on their way towards Europeanization, which extends as broadly as possible to all areas of the school / educational institution and thus for a longer period.

There are currently about 30 cooperations with vocational schools (dual training system), but also with general education schools and other educational and training institutions throughout Germany.

Scholarship programs for apprentices, teachers and school staff are still designed and implemented in these cooperations. In addition, schools are supported in setting up and developing so-called “strategic partnerships” with relevant partner organizations at European level.

Currently, the GEB has 6 permanent staff, 3 European volunteers (European Voluntary Service) and a large number of part-time or voluntary supporters. By far the largest part of the employees weren’t born in Germany. In the management, two out of three persons are foreigners.

Since November 2015, GEB has been accompanied by a management consultancy. An essential result of this consultation is the decision of the executive board to strive for ISO 9001 certification and thereby become even more transparent, effective and targeted. The certification is scheduled for spring 2018.