Faculty-led Programs

Faculty-led programs for high schools & universities

Experiencing a different culture and learning to adapt to alternative ways of living greatly contributes to personal development and global awareness in students. While traveling abroad, students learn about themselves, their own cultural lens and biases, and the society, history and environment of their host country. Additionally students learn how to overcome challenges, be flexible and consider multiple perspectives. Through this, students return home refreshed and inspired with a deeper sense of purpose.

Pacific Discovery offers customized educational travel programs for high school and university groups. These programs are experiential: learning is hands-on and tangible. For example, students will learn about a country’s history and culture by immersing themselves in it – meeting local people and hearing stories and perspectives first hand – and if you choose, being involved in a community-initiated service learning project.

To encourage learning from experience, our Program Instructors facilitate opportunities for participants to regularly reflect upon their experiences, and provide historical, cultural, geographical and environmental background so that personal experience can be connected with a broader understanding of place.

The educational component of our programs is multi-disciplinary and can incorporate:

Host country specifics: history, politics, culture, geography, environment, relevant social issues
Global themes: globalization, development, conservation, religion, ethics, sustainability
How to travel: what to take, how to plan, how to keep safe, socially and environmentally responsible travel
Outdoor education: soft and hard skills of a number of outdoor activities such as backpacking, mountain biking, canoeing, climbing, sailing, snorkeling
Group skills: how to work with a group, effective communication
Development of personal leadership skills for students
Special focus: sports science, entrepreneurship, counselling, photography, architecture, meditation, language, service-learning, conservation (these are all examples of what we've run previously).

Why travel with Pacific Discovery?

Since 2001, we have been developing and running international educational travel and service learning/volunteer programs for high schools, universities (under-graduate and postgraduate), and special interest groups. To date, we have run more than 50 custom programs, on top of our regular semester and summer program departures.

When designing a custom program we work with you to develop an itinerary tailored to your group’s focus, interests, and requirements. Our custom programs can go anywhere, for any length of time, and are always developed with great care.

The benefits of our custom school programs

Proudly New Zealand owned and operated: We are a Kiwi travel organization that has more than 20 years of experience in creating educational student trips.
Personalized programming: We will develop a program to highlight your focus and goals and we will be available throughout the process.
Local knowledge: Up to date, on the ground information; we know what is new, what is possible and what is overrated.
Full-time support 24/7: One of our Program Instructors will be with your group at all times in the host country/s and we will provide you with a 24/7 emergency free-call number for your school and students' families.
Professional and personal attention: We pride ourselves on being professional with a great response time; we are easily contacted and always available for assistance and help.
Affordable programs: Our local connections and business ethics enable us to provide programs that are of exceptional value.
Travel with a purpose: Give your students the opportunity to not only have an educational and insightful adventure, but to also feel that they have made a contribution to their host communities.

Where do you want to travel?

We have run programs to a myriad of destinations all over the world. These are just a few of our past educational travel programs: Costa Rica, Hawaii, Peru, Ecuador, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, Nepal, Tibet, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

What we offer you

An itinerary and experience tailored to your group's interest and needs.
Exceptional value and transparency with regard to the program cost. You accompany the group (if you wish) and faculty travel costs are typically built into the program fee.
One of our experienced Program Instructors accompanies your group to facilitate their experience, provide insight, handle logistics, deal with local operators and manage group safety.
Comprehensive pre-travel information for your group to prepare them for their program. This includes health and safety considerations, cultural and environmental education, gear lists, and recommended reading.
We provide each participant with a program handbook which has a detailed itinerary, background information to every destination, maps, excerpts from literature relating to the itinerary, and guidelines around culturally sensitive and environmentally responsible travel.
We handle all logistical arrangements including: visas, international and in-country flights, overland travel, meals, accommodation, activities, entrance fees, excursions and special visits with community organizations, local guides and in-country support.
For faculty/staff who choose to offer their own classes/credit on our programs, we can support you with itinerary suggestions, site visits and curricular content.

What we need from you

An enthusiastic contact person who will liaise with us and your group throughout program development.
Sufficient time, preferably 6-12 months prior to anticipated departure, to enable us to work with you to develop an itinerary, recruit students and implement logistics.
All group members (students and teachers/chaperones) to complete a registration/medical form, a liability waiver form, and to be covered by an international travel/medical assistance insurance policy for the duration of the itinerary (we generally arrange a group travel insurance policy as part of the program service).

How it works

We can develop an educational travel program for your students based on one of our existing itineraries, or we can work with you to develop an itinerary specifically tailored to your focus and interests.

Once we have agreed upon the program content (itinerary and focus), dates and cost, we produce an informative registration and pre-travel booklet for you to circulate to your students and their families, or to use to assist with recruitment.

Your school will have a program approval procedure which we are happy to follow. We take care of all program logistics, including international flights (if you choose), and we work closely with you to ensure students and their families are comfortable with all aspects of the program and addressing any questions raised.

Faculty-Led Travel Programs

For your Peace of Mind
Pacific Discovery is a registered New Zealand education organization. In utilizing our services, you are working with an organization that emphasizes social and environmental responsibility and has a proven record of giving participants outstanding and rewarding international experiences.

We maintain a robust risk management system and emergency contingency planning, and we hold comprehensive public liability insurance and require all participants to hold a travel or international medical insurance policy for the duration of the program.

We maintain:

An independently audited safety plan.
An independently audited sustainability policy.
Public liability insurance.
Global medical and security evacuation insurance for all group members.
Experienced Program Instructors who hold relevant post-graduate qualifications, wilderness first responder certification, and are trained in our risk assessment and safety management systems.

We have undergone and maintain comprehensive accreditation’s with:

Gap Year Association (USA)
Year Out Group (UK)
Outdoors Mark (NZ)

Additionally:
All payments are held in a bank trust account until disbursement.
We have a database of alumni and alumni families as well as university and gap year advisors, who are happy to be contacted to discuss their experience with Pacific Discovery.
Alumni and faculty references can be supplied on request, or reviewed here.
If you are interested in a customized educational travel program, please contact us. We can provide you with sample itineraries and references.