What Makes a Study Tour Truly Successful for RADI?

After organising and accompanying international study tours for many years, one thing becomes clear to me: successful study tours are not defined by the number of visits per week or the intensity of the programme, but by whether participants are able to understand the bigger picture, what they take home and implement and whether we could build up mutual trust in a short period of time.

I learned that a meaningful study tour may create a range of different forms of connections, e.g.:

• between institutions,
• between theory and practice,
• between research and industry,
• and definitely between people.

One of the strongest pieces of feedback we recently received from participants of a study tour on Quality Infrastructure and Innovation was that the programme provided not only individual impressions, but a coherent overall understanding of how the different elements of a Quality Infrastructure system interact.

This does not happen automatically, but requires careful preparation, close coordination with partner institutions and companies, and many conversations in advance to ensure that each visit contributes to a broader learning journey rather than standing alone.

In my work together with @RADI (Link), I have seen how three elements are particularly particular important:

• Curating institutions we want to visit in a way that creates a logical narrative and a holistic understanding of the topic.
• Creating enough flexibility to respond to the professional and personal interests of participants - even within a very dense programme.
• Building trust and dialogue between all actors involved, so that visits become real exchanges rather than formal presentations.

What often matters most to participants are not only technical insights, but the moments where systems, approaches and cooperation structures suddenly become tangible.

In this sense, study tours are much more than organisational exercises. When designed thoughtfully, they can become platforms for mutual learning, long-term cooperation and institutional transformation.

More about the work of RADI on international exchange and tailored learning formats: https://www.radi.cx/en/portfolio-2/study-visits-and-delegations/