News
Manchester, United Kingdom — 22-25 September 2009WYSE Archives
GROUND adds new community travel programmes throughout Asia
WYSE Travel Confederation member GROUND is bringing dozens of new community and educational programme offerings to Asia. GROUND is a travel operator focused on educational travel that develops resilience and global citizenship skills for high school pupils. It also facilitates course credit placements for university students.
Most recently, GROUND launched five new offerings in Sri Lanka, which include wildlife conservation, exploring a lesser-known national park, conducting school renovations in rural areas, plus ideas exchange and hands-on practical experience in the paramedical and biomedical sectors.
The wildlife conservation option allows students to gather information on elephants, leopards, sloth bears and other wildlife. Students compile data from environmental and socio-economic field work. The data underpins ongoing conservation programmes.
For university students interested in medical placements, GROUND has created two programmes. In the paramedical programme, students visit Sri Lankan universities and hospitals and spend time in a rural village practising primary health care. A second programme, with a biomedical focus, takes students to a private medical institute in Colombo. There, they take part in seminars about microbiology and biotechnology.
“In the student placement scene, Sri Lanka is a little-known gem,” explained Lauren Groves, general manager of GROUND. “Geographical variety in a compact area, a rich culture and high levels of human resource skills, especially in the medical field, are hallmarks of the Sri Lankan experience.”
Groves said that with GROUND, tutors and administrators deal directly with the staff who run the programmes. “Everything can be customised to fit educational objectives,” she said.
Customised programmes available throughout Asia
The new programmes join 27 similar projects that are run by GROUND covering Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.
The programmes are tailored to the needs of each school or university. Typical middle and high school programmes run for four to five days. University programmes can be customised as placement programmes for up to a month.
“Our new GROUND journeys have been developed with the objective of opening the eyes of young travellers through positive engagement in Southeast Asia,” said Groves. “Leadership building, resiliency, and cross-cultural connections are the foundation of what we do. The programmes are ideal for schools and universities. But we always listen carefully to community needs first,” she remarked.
Now in its 4th year of operations, GROUND has tour directors in each country. Further information on all community travel options for university and high school students is available at GROUNDAsia.com.
