Admin
The Admin committee focuses on all administrative aspects of the study trip. This includes creating templates for contracts and invoices, managing insurances and the correct travel documents, acquiring funds, and monitoring financial flows. Moreover, after the study trip the admin committee makes sure all remaining financial issues are concluded. With only a group of 4 people, the committee members each focus on different tasks while maintaining close contact. This way, all necessary administrative issues can be handled as precise and consistently as possible.
Acquisition
The Acqui is one of the four commissions of the SSA and is responsible for gathering the funding needed to finance the trip. The Acqui uses casework instead of sponsoring to obtain the money that is required for the trip.
The Acqui reaches out to companies and research groups and asks them if they have some job or assignment that can be done by a group of students. This job or assignment is called a case. When there is a case available the Acqui will meet with the company or research group to work out the detailed requirements for the case. These requirements are written down in the case description. Once the details are clear the Acqui will select suited students for the job and a contract can be made.
It is convenient to use casework to gather money because it allows students to learn while earning the money. The companies and research groups that we have worked with often prefer casework over sponsoring because they get work done in return for their funding.
Design
The design committee is, as the name implies, the committee which is responsible for the design of everything related to the studytrip. This includes the website, brochures, clothing, business cards, aftermovie, logo, social media, travel guide and more.
Not only is the committee responsible for the organisation of the aforementioned list, but also a course. The course consists of a set of lectures, excursions and assignment to get the participants well prepared for the trip in terms of cultural, economical, technological and political knowledge. In addition, the course is required to ensure the educational purposes of the trip and is required for the approval from the University of Twente (including extra funding).
The design committee allows the other committee’s to make use of the designs in order to convey a more professional appeal and provide a way of extra information for other instances (website/social media).
Planning
The planning committee of the SSA tries to arrange all logistical aspects of the trip to Singapore and Malaysia. The tasks range from organizing excursions to companies and universities, to finding accommodation and means of travel. We do this by contacting people in the destination countries before the trip. For this, we make use of social media, such as LinkedIn. This allows us to make the travel arrangements well in advance. During the study trip, we will function as travel guides.