Organisational Update

Mar 18, 2021 | Breath of Technology

It has been about a year since we started preparations for the study trip and we have accomplished so much already!

Since then the board has found the travelling agency that will guide us through the organisation of the trip. Fivesenses has helped us with setting dates and locations and will continue to support us. We will leave on the 9th of July of 2021 and the trip will end on the 1st of August. Due to the uncertainties of COVID-19 and travel permissions, the board of Foundation ICE will have a close look at the possibilities coming March. By the end of March, a final decision will be made whether the trip is going to take place this summer. If not, alternatives will be looked at. You will be able to read about these decisions in a new blog post.

The trip is taking us to Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland but before we get there a lot of work had, and still has, to be done here in the Netherlands. Starting with the casework, where the participants raise money to partially fund their part of the trip. This is done by doing cases for companies in exchange for a generous salary. The Case Coordination committee contacted a lot of companies and got cases for everyone! However, they are still looking for some final additional cases so everyone can get 100 hours of work in.

The cases are very diverse and showcase the broad interests of Creative Technology and Interaction Technology students! From interface design and website building to promotion material and product evaluations, it’s all there.

Companies not only play a role in the cases but also on location. When visiting these three cities we will visit companies as well. More recently the Corporate Contact committee has tried to actually contact companies during their office hours, which worked really well. Unfortunately, this means for the committee that they have to work pretty late due to the time-zone difference, but that will all be worth it once we’re there! Several companies have indicated that we are very much welcome when all the COVID struggles have subdued. That’s also why no concrete plans have yet been made because all is still very uncertain. Visiting universities and academic organizations will also be part of our trip. Since there is a Creative Technologies program in New-Zealand this is especially interesting. Some contact has been made and there have been meetings with the Creative Technologies study of the University of Auckland. It’s all very exciting, and we can’t wait to see how they shaped their curriculum and compare it to ours.

To make sure we actually get places and have guidelines on where to go and what to do we have the Logistics committee. They have been figuring out how to travel to the location, where we are going to stay, what awesome things we could do, and some very practical tips and tricks. Despite the uncertainties, they continue to figure out this grand puzzle. They are in close contact with Fivesenses and have figured out the flights and the safest payment terms for all the costs that need to be made when booking a trip.

Logistics is writing all this information down, and a lot of it has to be easily accessible when on the trip and that is why they are working together with corporate identity to make the travel booklet. This booklet will contain all types of useful information during the trip. The information and publisher is arranged by logistics, but the design comes from the Corporate Identity committee, and the name says it all: they designed the corporate identity (or huisstijl in Dutch). This identity is included in all kinds of media, for example, the business cards and the travel booklet. They also run this blog and the social media platforms for the trip. So far they have completed the company relationship gift that we will give to the companies we visit on locations, but also a little token of appreciation we give to our guest lecturers, the template for our reports and the website.

Last but not least, the study part of this study trip. The Education Committee makes sure we follow two courses to earn ECs in preparation for this trip. This is done so the “study” value of the study trip is met. The first course in quartile 1B was about the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and how they connect to the three countries, the Netherlands, Australia and New-Zealand. All participants have completed this course with a passing grade and have 2 more ECs in the bag. The next course, from this quartile, consists of multiple guest lectures on all types of topics and an academic paper on one of these topics has to be written. Again, ideally in relation to the Netherlands, Australia and New-Zealand. We wish everyone good luck and happy writing so we can all score another 3 ECs!

All in all the preparations are coming along nicely, everyone is working hard to make sure their committee completes their tasks. Even though the future for the continuation of our trip is very uncertain, we all continue to put in our efforts and are still very excited about this trip!

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