WHY YOU SHOULD DO A UNIVERSITY STUDY TOUR

Towards the end of my university degree I was burnt out, waiting to graduate and ready to get the heck out of there. Luckily for me I had a couple of elective courses available and by chance found out that I could spend a week travelling from Australia to Singapore and have credits count towards my degree.

If you are finding it hard to travel whilst finishing your undergraduate degree I would highly recommend you have a talk to student services to see if there are any opportunities to do a study tour. This type of course is different to studying abroad as you generally only go away for a week and have specific assignments related to your experience there.

You Will Meet Important People

Depending on the type of degree and course you are undertaking you may have the opportunity to meet some very important industry professionals. I never thought that I would have a meeting in the board room of the Singapore Tourism Board, see behind the scenes of the Singapore Zoo and even go into the highly restricted training offices of Singapore Airlines. There we heard stories that I can’t share about how they operate, inside secrets and we even saw a crash landing training drill.

Singapore Tourism Board Inside

You Will Have Fun

I can’t speak for every university but the lecturers that took us on our tour were down to earth and fun to be around. We partied every night, even with our early wake up calls, spent a day on Sentosa Island and generally had a lot of downtime to see the city. Singapore was not high on my list of travel locations, so when I had such blast I made sure I would bring my partner back there to show her how spectacular the city was.

Universal Studios Singapore Jurassic Park

Study Tours Count As Credits Towards Your Degree

I could rewrite this list and just include this point. It was a surreal moment when I realised that I could travel and have credits count towards my degree, I mean how amazing does that sound? You travel overseas for a week, do a few reports and voila another unit ticked off your list. 8am lectures or 8am in a foreign country?

Gardens By The Bay Singapore

It's A Great Topic In Job Interviews

A lot of early career job interviews involves a lot of rejection due to having no experience. I mean how are you meant to get experience if no one will give you experience? Well having some additional courses can help you stand out from the other hundreds of graduates receiving the same degree as you.

Singapore Airlines Training Facility

You Make Lifelong Friends

There were people I saw everyday in lecture theatres that I had never thought about talking to who I got to meet on our study tour. We clicked, found travel as a topic something we loved talking about and now we catch up for mexican food and ice cream to see where we have all travelled that year.

Universal Studios Singapore

Bonus: It's Cheaper

The university I attended was quite large which meant they had a sweet deal with their travel agent. We all received great deals on flights, accommodations and even some free entries to attractions were given out. There were also university grants to help cover the costs of getting there.

Would you go on a University study tour?

READ NEXT: HOW TO AFFORD A LIFE OF TRAVEL

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