Frequently asked questions

The organising Local BEST Group (LBG) is trying to get as much money as possibly by co-operating with several organisations. The university is interested in hosting foreign students and in becoming more internationally minded. Companies wish to get access to European-minded students, which is done during the event by company presentations, guest lectures or company visits. In some countries, the student union also provides some financial aid.

The fee depends mainly on the situation in the Local BEST Group, how much support they get from university, student union, etc.

The maximum fee is 4 Euro per day (but no more than 45 Euro). Whether a student pays full or reduced fee depends on his country of studies as follows.

• For season autumn08 division is
  • 100% of the fee: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway.
  • 67% of the fee: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • 33% of the fee: Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia.
  • 0% of the fee: Bulgaria, Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of, Moldova, Republic Of, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
• For season winter08 division is
  • 100% of the fee: Austria, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway.
  • 67% of the fee: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • 33% of the fee: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia.
  • 0% of the fee: Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of, Moldova, Republic Of, Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.

There is no fee for attending an event on education.

As said above LBGs fund the events by support from various organisations, like the university, companies and the student union. Most of these organisations are interested in an academical course. Therefore, raising money for leisure events is much more difficult. Moreover these events are more like a holiday and they include some activities like sailing, skiing or wine-tasting - usually you pay more for a holiday like this...

The organising LBG gets all the applications entered by the students and then will decide on regional aspects (they try to get people from all over Europe, so they in general won't take more than one student from each city/country), on your Motivation Letter (they have to read many of them, so try to be creative!), and maybe on your educational background (only if you need some previous knowledge for a specific course). The organisers also aim at having equal number of male and female participants.

Yes! You can apply for every course, but it might not be reasonable in some cases. It is possible that one course requires some previous knowledge and if you don't have that you might not be taken. On the other hand, there might be beginner's level courses in the field of your study and then the course will get too boring!

You can apply for maximum three BEST Courses or Engineering Competitions and three other (education, leisure) events per season. You can be accepted to at most one BEST Course or Engineering Competition per season (but any number of other events).

You can find more information by reading the Never Alone Guide!

Well the BEST answer to that is to experience it... so go and apply now!

It's likely that you're going to go on more events, and maybe join your local BEST group and organise events yourself.

You can try again the next seasons. There are four seasons for BEST Courses: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. You might also join BEST and go to internal BEST events.

After the final examination you will get a BEST Certificate to attest your participation and to describe the content of the course. The BEST Certificate has the University stamp and teacher's signature. It is up to your home University if they will get this course recognised by giving you credits.