Posted: June 7, 2024
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Students from DN Colleges Group have recently returned from their furthest work experience expedition to date.
The two-week work placement to Fiji provided travel and tourism students from North Lindsey College and Doncaster College with a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the South Pacific and fly long-haul; something none of them had experienced before.
The two-week work placement, which was fully funded through the Government Turing Scheme, challenged students to think about responsible and sustainable tourism and the ways they could contribute. They were expertly guided in this by ‘Think Pacific’, who offer global experiences in Fiji and Bali.
Ruby Last (18) Travel and Tourism student at North Lindsey College spoke of her time spent in Fiji and said: “Everyday was amazing. I felt this was once in a lifetime experience. My favourite part was enjoying the culture, it was surreal, and I have never experienced anything like it before. Everyone was so happy and dancing and smiling. This experience really pushed me out of my comfort zone, particularly travelling without my parents, and this has now given me the confidence to travel around Australia when I leave College.”
The group worked closely with Tourism Fiji who set them an action challenge, so that they could achieve the learning outcomes that had been set for their course. There were plenty of activities to help with this, including a visit to a conservation centre on the Coral Coast where the group was able to witness firsthand the tangible effects of tourism on the natural reef and the ongoing conservation efforts to mitigate and address these impacts.
Also included in the itinerary was a visit to a traditional Fijian village where the group experienced authentic Fijian culture and food and were able to understand agri-tourism.
Linda Sykes (DN Colleges Group Internation Coordinator) said: “Every activity contributed to the students’ studies and gave valuable work experience for whichever area of Travel and Tourism they choose to move forward to. Even the long-haul travel to get to Fiji was valuable experience and something that students would not have been able to do without the Turing scheme. Students ended the two weeks by presenting 7-day itineraries to Tourism Fiji, which were designed to encourage responsible tourism. What a great learning tool to bring back to the classroom and share!”
Kayleigh Grierson (DN Colleges Group Curriculum Leader) said: “The Fiji trip through the government Turing scheme was a once in a lifetime opportunity not only for the students, but for us staff too. The Think Pacific company who looked after us while in Fiji were so hospitable and took us to a huge range of different tourism-focused organisations. We were lucky to be able to experience so much of the beautiful country of Fiji and enjoying their culture, traditions and many other aspects. They say ”happiness comes naturally” in Fiji and we could not agree more.”
DN Colleges Group were again fortunate enough to secure Turing funding for the academic year 2023/24 enabling several lifechanging work experiences for students. Other locations this year have included: South of France, Finland, Netherlands, Malaga and St Lucia, and June will see the last trip of this academic year to Indonesia.