Study Tour 2018: Join Japan
The Study Tour of 2018 will head to Japan. Here you can find all the information you will need!
What is the study tour?
The study tour is an intercontinental tour, which is organized once every two years by study association ConcepT. The study tour is mainly focussed on MSc-students. The previous study tour visited the United States of America. Other destinations have been Brazil, Indonesia & Singapore and Argentina & Uruguay. The study trip takes three weeks during which numerous excursions in all fields of civil engineering and some cultural excursions will be organized. In advance of the tour, courses will be organized which have to do with Japan and the theme.
Why are we going to Japan?
Japan, land of the rising sun, is known for its high civilization and enormous technological developments. Japan has to deal with some great challenges in civil engineering. The country is in coinstantaneous battle with nature. The islands, as Japan is much more than the largest island Tokyo is located on, must deal with not only the rising sea level, but also the imminent threat of tsunami’s and typhoons. The Japanese have developed some unique structures to deal with these threats. Flood drainage systems and man-made islands are quite common in this Asian country. Furthermore, there are many challenges upon the high density, like housing and transportation problems. This makes Japan a perfect destination for the 2018 study tour!
Why the title subtitle?
A main characteristic of Japan is the urbanization. 80 percent of the Japanese population lives in one of the seven largest cities. This high level of urbanisation creates whole new challenges for civil engineers. The Japanese have come up with ingenious solutions for these challenges. You can think of urban housing projects where skyscrapers are more like small cities, high quality public transport and public safety measures against earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding’s.
Where will we go?
We will definitely visit Tokyo, the capital of Japan and the second largest metropolitan area in the world with almost 40 million inhabitants! That’s more than twice the inhabitants of The Netherlands in about an area as big as the province of Utrecht.
Besides Tokyo, we will also visit other Japanese cities. We will travel by plane, but of course we can’t travel without using the Shinkansen, the world-famous bullet trains.
Potential cities are:
- Yokohama
- Kyoto
- Osaka
- Hiroshima
Please note, these cities are not yet confirmed and there may be changes to the plan. Furthermore, we would like your input on cities or projects to visit!
What does the ‘study’ part in study tour mean?
Except for the experiences, you also have to learn from the study tour. That is why the tour is accompanied by two or three courses (depends on the number of EC) that will take place before the trip. Each course is centred on a study. The studies are on a macro, meso, micro scale and will be done in groups. During the trip, you will also be working on these studies and afterward you will present your findings.
- Macro: Aimed to make participants familiar with the destination country or cities.
- Meso: Deepening your knowledge of the workings of a particular civil sector in the destination country or cities.
- Micro: A study mainly done during the study tour. The study complements excursions of the study trip. The micro study includes formulating research questions, an anticipated method and so on.
As an MSc-student the study tour will grant you in total 15EC’s (given you have completed the track with sufficient marks). 5 or 10 EC can be used as part of your 120EC MSc-degree. The other 7.5EC will be added to your degree as a bonus (so a total of 127.5EC). For a BSc-student the study tour counts as full quartile (15EC).
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Important note: There will be some changes as to how the study part is organised, when compared to the previous study tours. First of all, the courses will all be given in the first quartile of the study year 2018-2019. This means we will start our trip in the second part of this quartile, which will most likely limit your abilities to travel solo afterwards. To streamline the courses, and make sure we leave on time we will try our best to make it possible to do part of the work during the summer holidays. |
What is expected of the participants?
Participants need to the study tour pretty seriously. You commit yourself to a trip for three weeks with weeks of preparation time. So you need the enthusiasm to go and sufficient resources. We aim to keep the level of the study tour high. That’s also why it is aimed at MSc-students (at the time of the study tour). BSc-students are not excluded. However it is (highly) uncommon for them to participate. If you are a still a BSc-student at the time we leave for Japan and you want to join, let us know.
First there’s the money. The admission fee is set at €1100. This will be paid in 3 payments. You also need to do a research contract for different company of around 120 hours. This usually takes place in the summer vacation. We, as the committee, will look for an appropriate contract for you. This in total will get you the trip to and from the destination, every meal on the trip, excursions etc. So it’s a total package. Of course, other luxury goods you need to pay yourself on the trip.
Next there’s the effort. We want students who are committed to go on such a trip and won’t mind to do some extra effort for that. It’s a study tour, so you take the trip and the study component seriously.
Last there’s your study planning. We’d like to have student that are well on their way with their study. For BSc-student it is required they have completed module 1 till and including 8 by the time we leave. That being said, we prefer MSc-students and would like to limit the amount of BSc-student we take along. Therefore, it is important will-be master students stay on track with their courses. Now second year BSc-students must also make sure to reach the set standard. Therefore, we ask of all our participants to make a realistic planning for the coming year including the study tour and its components. You need to take into account that you need to devote the first quartile of college year 2018/2019 at the study tour. It’s not recommended to follow any additional courses next to the course of the study tour.
So, why go on a study tour?
First of all, the study tour is a unique experience. You will get the chance to get acquainted with civil engineering in another part of the world. You can learn a lot from the different cultures in the country where we’re going and see the way they look at things and handle things differently. Besides, it’s also a lot of fun. Going to another continent with about twenty other civil engineering master students is an exciting thing to do. Also, although the study tour is a serious trip, that can’t be placed on equal footing with a BuLa or vacation, there will be plenty of time to do nice things or have a beer together!
How do I sign up?
If you want to join the study tour, you will have to write a letter of application, before the end of October. In this letter, we would like to read your motivation, and why especially you should join the trip. Also, please include your CV and a study planning with the letter, in which you specify how you are planning to combine your study with the study tour and the contract research that you have to do. You can submit your letter to us at src2018@concept.utwente.nl. We expect your application at the 27th of October 2017 (at the latest). If you would like to be kept informed, please send an email to the above address.
