Never alone guide
Never Alone Guide provides additional information for participants accepted to BEST events.
BEST quality standards
To assure the quality of the BEST events, we have established standards that should be fulfilled in all of them. Your Local BEST Group will ask you for a deposit, which has to be paid before the confirmation of your participation. The organisers may ask you for a fee that must be collected during the first three days of the event. Be sure that you get receipts when you pay deposit and fee.
- The maximum fee is 8 Euro per day (including arrival and departure day) but no more than 88 Euro.
- There is a division of deposit and fee amount, which can be asked from you as mentioned above and depends on the country where your Local BEST Group is. Current division of categories is as follows
- For season Autumn Season 2024 division is
- 100% of the fee and 60.0 euros deposit: Denmark, Netherlands.
- 100% of the fee and 60.0 euros deposit: Denmark, Netherlands.
- 80% of the fee and 50.0 euros deposit: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- 80% of the fee and 50.0 euros deposit: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- 60% of the fee and 40.0 euros deposit: Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Türkiye.
- 60% of the fee and 40.0 euros deposit: Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Türkiye.
- 40% of the fee and 30.0 euros deposit: Montenegro, Russian Federation.
- 40% of the fee and 30.0 euros deposit: Montenegro, Russian Federation.
- 20% of the fee and 20.0 euros deposit: Bosnia And Herzegovina, Moldova, Republic Of, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine.
- 20% of the fee and 20.0 euros deposit: Bosnia And Herzegovina, Moldova, Republic Of, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine.
- For season Winter Season 2024 division is
- 100% of the fee and 60.0 euros deposit: Denmark, Netherlands.
- 80% of the fee and 50.0 euros deposit: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- 60% of the fee and 40.0 euros deposit: Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Türkiye.
- 40% of the fee and 30.0 euros deposit: Montenegro, Russian Federation.
- 20% of the fee and 20.0 euros deposit: Bosnia And Herzegovina, Moldova, Republic Of, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine.
The organisers will provide you the following at no extra cost:
- A survival kit containing information about the event, at latest 3 weeks before the beginning of the event
- Approximately 20 academic hours per week (for BEST courses). Academic hours consist of lectures, factory and company visits, case studies, laboratory work, group work, training etc.
- Course materials written in English
- A course certificate and a Course Information Form, if you take an active part in the course and you pass the final exam
- Transportation to the lectures and all organised activities
- An organised social/cultural program
- Three meals / day - at least one cooked - during the whole event including the week-ends
- Proper sleeping facilities and an easy access to a shower
What is not included:
Although we are striving to offer you as much as possible to make the event an unforgettable experience, you should be aware that you may have extra expenses related to the event, such as:
- Travelling to and from the event
- Extra drinks and food
- Some of the evening activities (e.g. disco tickets)
- Travel and health insurance
What do we expect from you?
As you can see, we are trying to impose high quality standards in our work.
In return, there are students responsibilities, which you should remember about during the participation in the event:
Participant responsibilities:
Before the event, participants are expected to:
- Pay the deposit to the sending Local BEST Group, by the communicated deadline. The confirmation deadline is on the
- 06 November 2024 if you are attending an event of the winter24 season
- 18 December 2024 if you are attending an event of the spring25 season
- 09 April 2025 if you are attending an event of the summer25 season
- Provide the host Local BEST Group with the information of arrival at the location specified on the website of the event at least one week before Arrival Day.
- Communicate to the host Local BEST Group any medical issue or condition they may have.
- Have made arrangements to have a health care insurance, that will be valid for the entire duration of the BEST event and for the location where the event will take place.
- Arrive at the location specified on the website of the event at the latest on Arrival Day, at the time specified on the event's website, and depart from the event the soonest on Departure Day at the time specified on the event's website.
- Behave in a civilized manner, respecting people independently of their nationality, gender, sexual orientation or political and religious beliefs and in accordance with the laws of the country where the event is being held. If a participant misbehaves during an event, that participant may be expelled from the event and a note will be added to his/her account.
- [In events with an academic component] Attend all the academic part of the event and be on time at the start of all academic sessions.
- Attend all activities, take active part in them and not leave the group unless agreed upon with the organisers.
- Pay the event fee specified on BEST public website, according to the country category of their sending Local BEST Group.
- Not consume alcohol nor be visibly intoxicated during academic activities and other activities defined by the organisers in advance.
- Not consume or be visibly under the effects of drugs during academic activities and other activities defined by the organisers in advance (unless medical reasons apply).
- Not sleep during academic activities and other activities defined by the organisers in advance.
- Pay for any damaged property, if the damage was caused by himself/herself.
- Evaluate the event in BEST Application System after their attendance. This must be done before the correspondent deadline specified on BEST Application System.
During the event, participants are expected to:
After the event, participants are expected to:
The evaluation deadline is on the:
- 04 January 2025 if you are attending an event of the autumn24 season
- 28 March 2025 if you are attending an event of the winter24 season
- 28 June 2025 if you are attending an event of the spring25 season
- 28 September 2025 if you are attending an event of the summer25 season
Important: The deposit will be given back once the student has participated to the event if he/she respected his/her responsibilities and answered more than 70% of the questions of the evaluation form through his/her personal area on BEST website.
When to fill in the Evaluation Form?
The participants of every event must enter the evaluation of the event after it ends and before correspondent deadline specified on BEST website.
If a participant will not enter the evaluation of the event he/she will be denied to get half of the deposit back.
How to fill in the Evaluation Form?
Answer the questions based on your experience with the event. Be honest because the information you provide is valuable for the organisers and will be used to improve the quality of BEST events in the future.
Where to find the Evaluation Form?
The Evaluation form is located on the My Applications page of BEST website, in the box of the event in which you participated. You need to login to be able to evaluate.
What are the application rules?
Each student is allowed to apply to 3 optimised events and 3 non-optimised events per season. The 3 optimised events include both BEST Courses. The 3 non-optimised events include BEST Events on Education and Partner Organisation events. A student can be accepted to a maximum of one optimised event and, in the same time, to any number of non-optimised events per season.
Important:
A student who has confirmed his or her participation, even if later didn't attend the event to three or more BEST Courses in any season, is not allowed to apply to BEST courses in any other future season. Moreover, a student who has confirmed his or her participation, even if later didn't attend the event to two or more BEST Courses in the Summer Season is not allowed to apply to BEST courses in other future Summer Seasons.
In case you have to cancel your participation in event and have any doubts or questions about this rule we suggest you to contact Local BEST Group in your University for more information. Also you should inform organising Local BEST Group about cancellation and its reason as soon as possible.
Got a problem?
If you have any serious problems getting in contact with organisers, or if you consider that one of the rules stated in this guide has not been fulfilled and you can not find a solution together with your hosts, please contact either Helpdesk or your own Local BEST Group.
At the end of the event, you will be asked to express your opinion about the event in an evaluation form. We will take your evaluation into consideration and use the outcomes to improve our events in the future.