Study Tour

Every two years Scintilla tries to organize a study tour to a foreign and distant country to get more insight in the work of an electrical engineer, make contacts in companies and to get to know other cultures.

For information about previous study tours follow these links:

• Sakura Zensen (Japan, 2014)
• Lián Xì (China, 2012)
• Nonomae (USA, 2011)
• Ngoisang (Southeast Asia, 2009)
• Ohiariha (Canada, 2007)
• Shouraizou (Japan, 2005)

Cool stories about past tours have been published in the Vonk:

• Click here to read the article about Ngoisang (The Vonk 282).
• Click here to read the article about Nonóma'e (The Vonk 293).

Organisation

The study tour at Scintilla is according to the SPOCK method. SPOCK stands for Scintillas Piece Of Cake Kommittee. The idea is that many hands make work lighter. Therefore every participant has to organize a bit of the study tour and contributes to the case studies. The organization of the study tour is divided in four committees: Acquisition, Graphics, Travel planning and Administration.

Committee work

The Acquisition committee arranges sponsors and case studies. The Graphics committee designs a house style, makes a website, a booklet for sponsors and a booklet for use during the study tour. The Travel planning committee plans the tour, books tickets, arranges staying places and transportation and acts as a travel leader during the study tour. The Administration committee keeps track of the income and expenses of the study tour.

Most of the committee work is done in evenings. Every committee roughly has the same amount of work but the workload of a committee depends on the phase of the organization. The Graphics Committee has work during all of the organization. The Acquisition committee has the most work during the early phase of the organisation. The Travel planning committee is busy just before and during the study tour. The Administration committee has the most work during the study tour.

Case studies

To get money for the study tour work is done for companies or research chairs of the university. Most of the case study work is done during case study weekends but that depends on the kind of case study. Examples of case studies done during the last study tour are: translating lecture notes, a literature research of Through-Silicon Vias, optimization of packaging cookies on a production line and design of a self-aligning satellite dish.