Study Tour / General

During three weeks of the study tour a group of twenty-six students, accompanied by two professors, will visit several civil engineering projects, scientific institutes and universities in South Africa. Cities which will be visited are Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria and the region of Lesotho. The theme of this study tour is “the integral development of the rainbow nation”. Excursions will be organised in the fields of water management, traffic management and building processes. The social and cultural aspects of the places visited will not be neglected. Students will learn applications of the civil technology and see aspects of social life in a different culture, which is a valuable addition to the standard civil engineering curriculum. A short description of the activities in each phase is given in the next paragraphs.

Main goal
The main goal of the study tour is to exchange knowledge about the central theme, and verifying the results of the research that was done in the Netherlands before the journey.

Phase 1 Preparations and pre-travel-research
Before the trip the students take courses about civil engineering projects in South Africa and do research about the culture, economy, politics  and social aspects of South Africa. The research is bundled, giving a complete overview of all research. This ensures that the participants don’t depart unprepared, having knowledge about some of the most important elements of South Africa.
To make the study tour financially possible, the students earn money by doing assignments for civil engineering companies.

Both aspects make that the participating students of the study tour will be well prepared and very motivated to visit South Africa.

Phase 2 Study Tour
The trip has a duration of three weeks, and consists mainly of visits to civil engineering projects, company visits, and institutes involved with civil engineering. Besides that, there is time for some cultural trips and travelling. The visits to companies and institutes are mostly in combination with a specific project, which will be visited after some background information is given in a lecture. During the tour the research from the first phase is verified and reports are made of every project visit.

Phase 3 Report
After returning to the Netherlands the reports are also bundled in an overall report, in which the results are all written down. This is the final result of the study tour.