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International learning opportunities can help equip students with the skills and global perspectives needed to succeed in an interconnected world. During a ɫ��ֱ�� webinar, a panel of experts discussed how universities can leverage short-term international mobility to boost student engagement and success. The webinar was held in partnership with StudyLink Tours, a leading higher and further education student group travel specialist in the UK.

“Soft-skill development through curriculum-based trips builds academic credibility within the university and beyond,” said John Allan, head of impact and breakthrough at PGL Beyond. Field trips and educational travel have a significant impact on students’ skills development, especially soft skills that are highly valued by employers today. “Younger people now coming into the workforce sometimes struggle with soft skill alignment to what they need to do. The work that we do has to be authentic, and sometimes it’s about plugging the gap with what students are not used to and empowering them to understand their strengths,” Allan said.

Eylem Atakav, associate pro vice-chancellor for global engagement at the University of East Anglia, said that encouraging students to document and reflect on their academic travel experiences can help them build essential skills for articulating their value in today’s job market. “At my institution, we are promoting the idea of storytelling to our students so that they can tell their own stories of what they’ve experienced.” 

Co-creating international opportunities with students and providing support before, during and after trips increases the value students derive from them. “One of the things that’s important with a university-organised trip is that it gives students more than what they could get if they travelled independently,” said Melanie Peters, senior manager for planning, development and delivery at Manchester Metropolitan University. It’s important to be intentional when planning such activities and align them to desired learning outcomes, Peters said. 

Institutions need a coherent approach to international mobility and offer a continuum of opportunities to cater to the needs of students from diverse backgrounds, ranging from local internationalisation initiatives to short and long-term global mobility opportunities, said Anthony Manning, dean for global and lifelong learning at the University of Kent. Manning spoke about the importance of establishing a global opportunities framework to identify a broad range of international opportunities within institutions.

“At StudyLink Tours, we try to get students involved in developing the itinerary,” said Michelle Evans, head of marketing at PGL Beyond. “We can provide pre-travel briefings, which can very much help engage those students who are going on the trip and help them get involved,” she added.

“We bring our students’ experiences and reflections to the forefront of what we do but one of the biggest challenges in this day and age is funding,” said Atakav. Evans echoed this point: “There are two big barriers that we recognise. One is cost and the second, tied to a long-term overseas placement, could be the fear of the unknown. Short-term mobility trips are perfect for addressing these issues.” 

Universities can partner with educational travel experts to streamline the process of designing and organising travel opportunities that are accessible to a wider group of students. Collaborating with specialist operators also offers institutions better support in case of unforeseen challenges and travel disruptions. In instances where universities struggle to get enough students to make a trip viable, StudyLink Tours works with university teams to organise cross-faculty trips to the same destination, with each faculty having its own specialised itinerary. 

The panel: 

• John Allan, head of impact and breakthrough, PGL Beyond
• Eylem Atakav, pro vice-chancellor of global, University of East Anglia
• Michelle Evans, head of marketing, PGL Beyond
• Anthony Manning, dean for global and lifelong learning, University of Kent,
• Melanie Peters, senior manager for planning, development and delivery, Manchester Metropolitan University
• Sreethu Sajeev, branded content deputy editor, Times Higher Education (chair)

about StudyLink Tours.