ISANA

Georgina Douglas and Louisa Covalea

Abstract: There is an increasing awareness within international institutions today of the importance of an international experience for students who are about to enter our global society and economy. Student mobility programs such as traditional exchanges, work and clinical placements have long contributed to the internationalisation of teaching and learning. Now the Study Tour is an increasingly popular form of mobility chosen by both under graduate and post graduate students, international as well as local, to introduce a cross cultural perspective into their academic program. Study Tours give students a two to six weeks off-shore experience for credit and are an effective way of providing a focused view of another culture, as well as being time and cost effective.

This session is designed to illustrate how the Study Tour model contributes to socio cultural, economic and academic outcomes illustrating why it is an attractive alternative for students to the traditional exchange. A range of models current at Swinburne and RMIT Universities will be presented covering topics including academic guidelines, costings and quality assurance for Study Tours to over 20 destinations in Europe, Asia and the US. Study Tours – What are they?

Study Tours are a relatively new and increasingly popular mode of international mobility for students, along side the more conventional semester of exchange with a university’s partner institution overseas. A Study Tour can be defined as a program of study of two to four weeks (or, at the maximum, six weeks) in length where students complete a supervised academic program in intensive mode off-shore. The academic program of a Study Tour is devised according to the usual criteria for any subject in relation to its objectives, content, assessment and out-comes and is submitted through the normal academic boards for approval and registration. The subjects are usually registered as electives – and increasingly, as university wide electives. Thus, a Study Tour is not a holiday overseas with a group of persons with similar interests – although the travel involved in Study Tours is a major part of their attraction – it is a means of gaining credit for the academic program being completed within Australia in intensive mode off-shore.

Keywords: Student support, transition, academic outcomes, sociocultural outcomes, economic outcomes, study

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