Two UNE students were sponsored separately by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to participate in the 14-day Reimagining India Program last month.
Warren Rodwell-Scott, who is doing a Bachelor of Arts (Studies in Religion) with a Writing minor concurrently with a Diploma in Professional Communication has kindly shared some pictures of this fascinating experience.
Online students may never actually step foot on campus or physically be in a traditional or contemporary learning environment at any of UNE’s study centres. This minimises the likelihood of external students ever being able to interact or exchange ideas with each other on a one-to-one basis during any stimulating excursion or in a relaxed informal setting afterwards. In this regard, the New Colombo Plan (NCP) initiative funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is to be highly commended for effectively bringing ‘outsiders’ back into the mainstream of lifelong higher education.
Indeed, a two-week intensive study tour experience abroad such as Reimagining India (RI) during a vacation break is an excellent sentient learning opportunity, often unavailable in the past to undergraduates living outside major metropolitan centres or those in cities attempting to balance correlated socio-economic factors unconducive to regular attendance in person at a local university.