Education | Join Japan

Overview

As a part of the studytour, students have to participate in an education programme too. This programme starts 5 weeks before the start of the trip on August 27 and lasts till a couple of months after the trip (half of February). Within these weeks the students have to do a macro-, meso- and micro study. Students will get insight how Japan works on a national level and they will further zoom in towards a case study. On the trip itself students will make a visit reports of the excursions.

Lectures

The study tour will be supported by the following lectures:

A workshop on Japanese culture and business etiquette given by Hisami Kimura (organised by Studium Generale)
Introduction to macro and meso study: Why do a macro and/or meso study and which tools to use? by Veronica Junjan.
Professor Andre Dorée on his experiences with the civil engineering sector, specifically the procurement of large projects, in the Netherlands and Japan.
Lisa Gommer on her experiences with the Japanese educational system.
APPM will give a guest lecture about the rise of electric vehicles and transition to these vehicles in Japan and the Netherlands
Wagemaker will give a business case about contract management with respect to the recently opened N18 motorway
More will follow…

Macro

The participants start with a macro study on Japan. The macro study will be done with the help of the PESTLE-analysis. This method is one of several methods to perform a macro study. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Enviromental. 6 groups containing 4 students will each analyse one of the letters The final result will be a report and a presentation. The conclusions of each group will be combined to make a total conclusion.

Meso

Parallel to the macro study, students will perform a meso study. During the MESO study groups of 4 students (the same as the ones from the Macro Study) each will assess the innovation and competitiveness in a Civil Engineering sector in Japan using either a SWOT analysis or the Porters Diamond framework. Therewith, the study will focus on the following research question:

What is the innovation drive and competitiveness in the industry in question in Japan?

So, 6 groups containing 4 students will do this and these groups are the same ones from the macro study. The final result will be a report and a presentation.

The six different groups will each focus on a different Civil Engineering sector, being:

Construction of buildings (Hans Boes)
Construction of roads and railways (Seirgei Miller)
Water collection, treatment and supply (Marcela Brugnach)
Construction of utility projects & construction of other civil engineering projects (Léon olde Scholtenhuis)
Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (Robin de Graaf)
Urban and suburban passenger land transport (John Pritchard)

Micro

Lastly, all students will conduct an in-depth micro research to a topic related to the central theme of the study tour, “Civil Engineering in advanced urbanisation”. Within the central theme, there are seven subthemes with their respective supervisor:

Coastal protection and flood safety (Koen Reef)
Earthquake protection (Gerrit Snellink)
Public transport in high density cities (John Pritchard)
Construction in high density cities (Hans Boes)
Urban water management (Marcela Brugnach)
Transport between cities (John Pritchard)
Gateways (harbours/airports) (Koen Reef)

The micro study is based on preliminary findings and data gathered during the study tour (mostly excursions). The participants will write a preliminary paper, a visit report and a final paper about their research. There will also be several presentations.

Assessment

Each study will be assessed. The following distribution will be applied:

Macro- and meso study report/paper – 30% (group)
Preliminary paper micro study – 30% (group)
Visit report(s) – 10% (individual)
Final paper micro study – 20% (group)
Presentation final result micro study – 10% (group)