The IEEE Student Branch at Atilim University had a picnic in May at Göksu Park in Ankara, Turkey, to give its members a fun break before final exams.

IEEE student membership in 2006 reached an all-time high, with a record 80 491 members. The number of new student members increased 9 percent, by 6621 students, over the previous year. Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) climbed by 5236 members, Region 8 (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) grew by 1544, Region 7 (Canada) by 233, Region 3 (Southeastern United States) by 204, and Region 1 (Northeastern United States) by 161.

The growth is continuing this year. Working behind the scenes to help boost this interest are IEEE student branches, located at more than 1500 universities and colleges worldwide. And in April alone, branches were established at universities in China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Mexico, Taiwan, and Turkey. So what’s fueling the interest?

REACHING OUT “As students at a newly founded university, we see an IEEE student branch as a means of communicating with other branches and engineers across Egypt and abroad,” says Maha Elsabrouty, the student branch counselor at German University in Cairo. His is one of the branches created in April. “We also consider the branch a place where we can introduce activities such as training courses and summer projects.”

Other reasons for creating a student branch include the value of joining a network of professionals, as well as the scholarships, engineering projects, and design contests offered by the IEEE.

“We wanted to integrate our engineering students into the worldwide forum of engineering professionals and make them part of the IEEE,” says IEEE student branch counselor Ali Kara from Atilim University, in Ankara, Turkey—also formed in April. “I have been involved with IEEE activities and conferences for more than 11 years, and forming a student branch here has been a vision of mine since 2001,” he adds.

Much of the impetus for forming a new student branch at the Bangalore Institute of Technology, in India, came from information on the petition needed to form a branch. There the students learned about such perks as professional networking and meetings, tours of tech facilities, access to distinguished lecturers, use of IEEE online services and resources, and the help that is available for setting up a library stocked with IEEE publications.

FIVE STEPS How do you organize a student branch? Just follow these five steps:

1. Fill out a student branch petition signed by at least 20 IEEE student members and three faculty members who are IEEE members and teach in IEEE fields of interest. One of the faculty members should also agree to become the students’ branch counselor, or advisor, to provide guidance and assistance. The most successful student branches have strong counselors who like working with students, offer help when needed, and connect students to the university administration and the IEEE network.

2. Include with the petition the school’s Web address, its course curriculum, verification that it’s an accredited university, and a list of the engineering faculty.

3. Attach a separate form detailing the educational programs and degrees offered at the institution.

4. Complete and adopt a student branch constitution, which details the branch’s goals and objectives. (A sample constitution is available from the IEEE.)

5. Submit these materials to IEEE Student Services either by e-mail or surface mail. Student Services reviews the paperwork and, if everything is in order, it sends the petition to be approved by the regional director and the regional student activities committee chair. The entire approval process takes three to four weeks. However, recruiting student members, and finding the faculty and university administration support can take from six months to a year.

Some student branch counselors say filling out the paperwork is the easy part. Maintaining the students’ interest is harder and must be done continuously.

“We held a series of seminars to introduce the IEEE to the students, held recruitment meetings, organized elections for positions within the branch, and prepared a room as our branch headquarters,” says Elsabrouty of German University.

“The most difficult part was explaining how students would benefit from joining the IEEE,” says Atilim’s Kara. “Student organizers spent so much effort just doing that.”

To find out what other branches are doing to keep students interested in the IEEE, see “Branches Buzz With Activity,” below.

For more information on forming an IEEE student branch, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/students/branchresources/stbforms.html.