University Student Trips

Custom-Designed Trips For Your Educational Goals

Our trips for university students embrace a "learn by doing" approach. While ticking the academic goals, students also learn the value of international travel as a tool to better understand the world and their place in it.

Through involvement with aboriginal culture, local professors and biologists, and community-based service projects, college students gain an appreciation for the connection between human activities and the environment.

Zoologist, Marine Biologist and Wildlife Expert Guides

You could say our guides are nerdy. But only if nerdy means intellectual, passionate and fiendishly concerned about details. Our guides are also fun and flexible, and we've chose them because they're exactly the type of people you'd want as a travelling companion.

Our guides will cover the cerebral topics as well as the trivial with equal aplomb, discussing the mating habits of montoremes to beer-ordering tips in an outback pub. They will also be joined by specialists such as wildlife photographers, marine biologists, aboriginal elders, and ecotourism professors to give an added demension to your trip.

Sample University Student Trip Itineraries:

 

 

We can design an itinerary around the following themes:

Marine Biology at The Great Barrier Reef

• Spend several days at an island marine research station, meet researchers, use the wet & dry labs and lecture room, "touch tank" and other facilities.
• Join one of our marine biologist guides for lectures on a liveaboard boat at The Great Barrier Reef.
• Learn more about The Great Barrier Reef’s main plant and animal groups, how to identify its fish, cleverly evolved fish cleaning stations and evolution and phylogeny in reefs.
• Visit a turtle rehabilitation centre and learn about challenges and successes of this project.
• Particpate in pool and theory classes over 2 days and then practice open water dives to become PADI SCUBA certified.
• Participate in Bleach Watch or beach clean-up service projects.
• Spend time sailing to the The Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling and interacting with its abundance of life.

Aboriginal Culture

• Spend a day or two with an aboriginal family learning how to hand-craft a didgeridoo to take home.
• Learn to throw spears to catch sea food in the tradtional way and then cook up what you've caught.
• Visit with aboriginal elders who will give you insight into modern indigenous-white relations in Australia.
• Learn the significance of and how properly throw a boomerang.
• Watch a dance performance by members of the Tjapukai tribe.
• Walk the rainforest with an aboriginal elder to discover the secrets of the Kuku Yalanji.
• Understand the creation myths and Dreamtime stories of local tribes and how their incorporate their beliefs into modern life. Read more our Aboriginal Culture programs

Rainforest Ecology and Conservation

• Explore different types of rainforest communities in the lowlands, uplands and tablelands.
• Learn more about the area's different ecosystems in the company of a noted zoologist and field guide author.
• Go "spotlighting" to view noctural animal species.
• Contribute to Rainforest Rescue's seed propagation efforts in the Daintree Rainforest.
• Learn the traditional aboriginal uses of rainforest plants.
• See the rainforest canopy from a jungle zip line.
• Search for the elusive duck-billed platypus - one of the world's only two egg-laying mammals.
• Study mangrove ecology in one of the area's best mangrove communities.
• Visit a rare type of rainforest, known as "mabi", found only in small patches in north Queensland.
• Discover giant fig trees and learn how they eerily strangle their hosts.
• Visit a seed nursery to understand how rainforest species are helping in the field of medicine.

Adventure

Cairns is the adventure capital of Australia, and college students are known for their thrill-seeking! You can combine these activities into a largely curriculum-based trip for added excitement.

• Work and paddle as a team to navigate Class IV rapids on the Tully river.
• Mountain Bike the lush Little Mulgrave Valley and fun singletrack routes.
• Hike to the highest peak in the Lamb Range, where views over Cairns are endless, and then descend to a gorgeous swimming hole and creekside campsite.
• Ride a thrilling rainforest zip line and look for wildlife in the jungle canopy.
• Skydive, bungy jump, or hanglide for a pure adrenaline experience.

 

Show Your Students You're Environmentally & Socially Conscious.

We are proud to say that we are a carbon-neutral company--rare in the travel industry, but most certainly appreciated by your students. Small World Journeys pays to offset the carbon emissions that result from all of our office activities and our trips.

Through Sustainable Travel International (STI), our emissions are calculated and offset by our financial support of sustainability projects around the world, all of which are in the ClimateCare™ portfolio. We also make financial and in-kind donations to local conservation and indigenous community groups. For more information, see Why We're Eco

Ask the Hard Questions.

With leading a group of college students overseas comes a host of responsibilities, as well as barrage of questions. We encourage you to ask us the hard questions, and to demand the highest standards when it comes to your trip. We're up to the task. We'll ensure no detail is overlooked, and you can be confident your university group will have the best journey possible.