Goals and a short history of the SWORG
The EAZWV student-working group was founded in 1997 in Zurich by Jürg-Ove Heckel and Christina Bertram. Christina was elected chairman and Marianne Keller vice chairman. In Vienna 1999 Marianne became president and two new members were elected into the SWORG board (Florian Herold and Simon Rüegg). The student working group has evolved quickly and many new ideas for more convenience for student and full members of the EAZWV followed.

At the board meeting in Paris (2000) it was initiated that an Educational board should be organised to coordinate and standardise training in the field of zoo and wildlife medicine. In order to give students greater opportunity to get experience in zoos and similar institutions, the SWORG designed a questionnaire, which allows us to collect their profiles. This data is available upon request at the SWORG board and is only accessible to EAZWV member.

In Rotterdam (2001) some mutations took place regarding the student representatives. Three more vice-chairmen were elected while Florian and Simon swopped to respectively chairman and communication officer.

Another goal of the SWORG is to enhance the communication amongst student members. For this purpose we have installed a Yahoo!Group which acts as a mailing list, gives possibilities to publish downloads and includes a database of people with special interest. The Yahoo!Group is only accessible to student members of the EAZWV.

The SWORG publishes a newsletter 3 times per year to inform student members about current issues. The letter is now available for student members as a download on the Yahoo!Group.

As one of the main problems of all students is money, it also is an issue of our student working group. It is our aim to cut costs wherever this is possible, i.e. conference fees, proceedings, etc.

Basically, the SWORG is thought to be a forum for students and their specific concerns and the student representatives are in charge of the execution of the discussed issues. Your matters can only be treated if the board is aware of it and therefore we encourage you to use our Yahoo!Group intensively to discuss your interests.

Your Student Representatives.