Established in 1945, the Society of Aerospace Engineering Students ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, has grown into a mature society. It organizes many activities for its members, more than 95% of all students at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. The faculty is constantly growing, and growing strongly. Currently there are approximately 2500 members, making the Society of Aerospace Engineering Students the largest society of its kind in the Benelux. The Society aims to serve the moral and material interests of aerospace students in all aspects of student life. Since 1945, this has been achieved by organizing a wide variety of activities, mostly in the field of aerospace engineering. To accomplish this, 23 committees and 4 departments organise many different activities like guest lectures, excursions, a study tour, drinks and parties. All of this happens under the supervision of 7 students, who are a full-time member of the board of our society and put their study on hold for a year to fully dedicate themselves to the society.
Within the faculty of Aerospace engineering the VSV makes sure the students have a vote in the educational program and functions like a quality control group. Also, the VSV sells the books needed in the curriculum at the lowest price possible. Besides the educational activities the VSV also sees it as its duty to let her members get acquainted with the career segment of the Aerospace sector. In order to do so, the VSV organises workshop and excursions, and the Space and Aviation department both organise a 5 day trip within Europe, to visit all sorts of companies related to their branch. Also there is one big study tour every year, where 30 students visit companies far abroad (like Dubai and the United States) for 3 to 4 weeks in a row.
The VSV also regularly organises symposia with world known speakers like Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Director General of ESA. These symposia are of high quality and are visited by many students, scientists and the top of the Aerospace industry. These symposia inspire students to take on new challenges in aerospace. Besides, it gives an inside into how the aerospace industry is putting theory into practice.
Besides organising all this, the VSV also publishes. Every year we publish a yearbook, which contains all the reports and pictures off the activities organized the last year. Besides this yearbook, the VSV also publishes a full colour magazine, the Leonardo Times, which appears four times a year and has a circulation of over four thousand copies. This magazine contains technical articles, company profiles and other Aerospace related material.