From 9 September to 17 September 2023, a group of West African students and professors were invited to Switzerland as part of the NEWAL Study Tour. The group consisted of students from Liberia, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire as well as some Swiss students. The professors from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire completed the group. The Study Tour 2023 took place at the OST in Rapperswil SG, with various excursions to companies in the region.
The objectives of the NEWAL Study Tour 2023 were to show the students new knowledge and practices, to strengthen the exchange of knowledge between Switzerland and the West African countries and to further expand the NEWAL network. The study tour also aimed to show students possible solutions in the field of environmental technology.
The study tour included various courses and excursions to various companies in the region of Rapperswil. The courses covered a wide range of topics such as photovoltaics, water management and treatment, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), organic farming, and a sustainability value proposition canvas. In addition to the lectures, the students visited the drinking water treatment plant, the waste incineration and slag processing plant, the electronic waste recycling plant, and a plastic recycling plant in Germany. Further visits included the EAWAG and the NEST with its modern wastewater treatment plants. In addition to this busy schedule, various social activities were also organised, such as the visit to the 100-year-old dam wall in the Wägital and a tour of the Lindt chocolate factory.
Thanks to the partnerships and the partner universities, this study tour was able to offer the students from West Africa an instructive and exciting programme. The partner from Switzerland were the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST), ETH Zurich, EPFL in Lausanne, University of Applies Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the Swiss Peace Foundation (swisspeace). The partner from West Africa were the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, the Stella Maris Polytechnic University (SMPU) and the United Methodist University (UMU) in Monrovia and the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) in Abidjan. The Hosts of the Study Tour 2023 were the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) and the ETH Zurich.
