1. View any trip as a research trip.

You don’t need a grant to go on a research trip. Approaching your next destination with an academic goal will help keep your mind sharp and active throughout the journey and bring purpose to your decision making.

Recording people’s stories, researching and then hunting out architectural styles, or photographing and geotagging a suburb’s graffiti can be educationally rewarding and enjoyable.

2. Visit libraries, galleries, religious centres, and museums.

At some point, normally quite early in our travel careers, we spend hours trailing from art gallery to museum, pretending we know what we’re talking about. At our third cathedral, we mutter something about Gothic arches and Romanticism.

As time goes on, we become increasingly jaded and start avoiding anything that might once have been considered for inclusion in a guidebook.

Move beyond the banal by choosing an area of knowledge and focusing on it. Keep a notebook or file on your topic and start gathering background information and reading about it. Eventually, you’ll find questions that interest you and be able to do first-hand research to develop your knowledge and your own thesis.

3. Conduct online research.

It can be difficult to locate and sift through specialist information online. Tools such as Project Gutenberg opens up the world of public domain research.

If you’re working from Internet cafes, write key points, arguments and quotes into your notebook for constant access. Clip and sort useful source material using an online notebook and consider printing relevant information to digest and annotate on your next flight or train trip.

4. Talk with locals.

Be intentional: Why are you going to talk to locals? Recording everyday stories, discovering quiet cafes, or gleaning first-hand historical accounts are all good reasons to interview the people you meet.

If you intend to publish your findings in any way, consider creating a simple release form which states that the person knows they are being interviewed, allows publication and will not seek any future compensation for their involvement in the project. This isn’t currently necessary in most countries, but you never know how law is going to evolve.

Photo by Peter Gene

5. Tune into a podcast.

Now that educational institutions are competing in the new media market, literally thousands of lectures from illustrious universities are available for free download.

The best directory of these is iTunes U, a category within the iTunes store (free download for Mac and PC).

Podcasts are often available from university websites, too, although it may take some digging to find and download them.

Two of my favourite general knowledge podcasts are BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time with Melvin Bragg and Stephen Fry’s Podgrams. These are highly anticipated downloads and never fail to provide insight and interest.

6. Arrange some meet-ups.

Meet-ups are a fun and casual way to explore areas of mutual interest with complete strangers who may soon become friends. Think of it as an intentional group.

Meet-ups are easy to find and to start. One website facilitating these local movements is Meetup. Choose your location and area of interest to get started. If meetings are happening in your area, you can see the attendees, time, and place and, if you wish, register to announce your own participation.

7. Volunteer.

You may think that volunteering, also referred to as voluntourism, is more about doing than learning.

Within hours of work, however, there are many lessons to be collected that support or detract from your working thesis.

Volunteering can also be a practical way to spend your university holidays, especially if budding indies can make their way onto an archaeological dig team in China or future Jane Goodalls spend time in environmental care teams around the world.

There are many practical skills to be learned, too: from avoiding uncomfortable situations with a colleague to plumbing a house. There are many voluntary opportunities to investigate through Matador Change.

Photo by pedestrianREX

8. Take a language course.

Many travellers dream of learning or perfecting a foreign language, and there is a large and competent industry available to help us. Immersion language courses, textbooks, CD’s, podcasts and specialised software exist, as do private tutors and informal meet-ups.

As a language education professional, I must report my preference for immersion study guided by a qualified teacher as a highly successful learning model.

9. Do distance study.

All our efforts are fruitful and meaningful for us but they might not hold that much water with a future professor or employer. Perhaps you don’t feel you’re getting enough out of your research or you’d prefer a more guided approach.

You may be able to formalise your study by working towards a diploma or degree with a local college’s distance learning programme. By completing quizzes online and filing your essays by e-mail or a proprietary submission programme, you’ll be able to earn points as you travel.

10. Enroll in the Open University.

Highly recognised English-language distance courses are run by the Open University. With well-ranked research facilities, this is a premier choice for formal correspondence study.

For undergraduate students, the Open University provides qualifications which can often be cross-credited into many traditional courses. If you already have a degree, the Open University offers teaching and coursework-based post-graduate courses which might, with appropriate sponsorship, be a fruitful path for the traveling scholar.

Whichever path you choose to follow, from reading about art history before entering the Louvre to digging for dinosaur bones in the Chinese countryside, we wish you all the best with your DIY attempts to keep studying while traveling.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

For more on self-directed learning on the road, check out How To Take a Foreign History Crash Course in 5 Easy Steps, 5 Reasons Dating Abroad is the Best Way to Learn a Language, or 5 Tips for Better Sessions with a Language Exchange Partner.

Feature photo by mars-hill Photo above by mars-hill

ACLE has begun recruiting for English teaching positions in holiday camps around Italy. The season runs for twelve weeks starting in June.

ACLE have been running for over twenty-five years and were the first organisation in Italy running Theatre in Education programmes to be endorsed by the Italian Ministry of Education.

You do not need a teaching or TEFL qualification to work for ACLE, although they are an advantage. The company stresses an informal teaching approach with drama, games and interactivity foremost. Training is given in a four to five day preparatory camp near San Remo where you can share ideas with past tutors, understand the organisation’s vision and teaching methodology.

Photo by mars-hill

No arrival or departure costs are covered by ACLE. You must hold travel insurance and, in addition, pay for an in-house training/orientation camp before starting work with them.

Near the end of the season they often drop the orientation camp fee if they are in need of extra teachers. After starting teaching, transport within Italy is paid for and accommodation is arranged. This is either in a hotel or with host families: a real chance to immerse yourself in Italian life.

Salaries for new tutors are 220 euros a week for non-residential “City Camps” and 240 a week for residential “Summer Camps”. Returning tutors earn 20 euros more for each programme. Salaries are paid at the end of your contract, although you can request payments in advance.

Candidates must:

• Be a Native English speaker (distinct foreign accents are not acceptable). GENUINELY enjoy working with children.
• Be energetic, positive, flexible and know how to smile.
• Be aged between 20 and 30 by June 1st of the year in which you are applying (Please note you may still apply if your age is outside this range) or have completed a minimum of a year at university, college or experienced a gap year!
• Be in possession of a valid passport. If you are in the process of applying for your passport, please send in your
  application followed by a copy of your passport once you have obtained it.

To find out more or apply for a position with ACLE, visit their website.

Feature Photo by slushpup. Photo by m.bjerke

Ready to head south for more study options? New Zealand and Australia offer a great backdrop to world-class tertiary education in native English-speaking environments. Not only that but between them they hold three of the top-ten places in the Times Higher Education rankings for international staff. Sweet as, mate.

New Zealand

New Zealand — Land of the Long White Cloud — had been made famous by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but before that it was known for pioneering people: first to allow women to vote, first person to split the atom, first to climb Mt Everest. Universities continue the pioneering spirit in this beautiful country.

Photo by JennyHuang

Auckland

New Zealand’s biggest city sits on an isthmus between two beautiful harbours and boasts surf-beaches and native forest within an hour’s drive of the CBD. Once you arrive the moniker “City of Sails” becomes instantly clear making it a great location for waterbabies. Auckland has a plentitude of institutions and specialist centres catering for all tastes: the two best known are the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology.

The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s top University and was ranked 50th in the world by The Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2007. It hosts the largest University library in the country and the largest research commercialisation centre in Australasia. Not a bad place to study really. AUT (Auckland University of Technology) is also located in the city centre and known for it’s creative IT and journalism courses amongst a multitude of industry-focussed qualifications.

Wellington

The Kiwi capital is small and groovy; the set of Peter Jackson’s cult film Braindead and the home of the Beehive – New Zealand’s parliament building. Expect a solid local arts scene and cafe culture alongside a small but friendly University and the national museum, Te Papa.

Victoria University makes the most of this and relationships with several other local research centres to provide research-based degree and post-graduate courses. A job with local company Weta workshops would certainly be an education in itself, but there’s less chance of that than Frodo making a cameo in Halo 3!

Christchurch

Parocial Christchurch sits on the east coast of the South Island. A beautiful city centre is bordered by beautiful Akaroa on one side and climbers and snow fans will love the slopes of Aoraki-Mt Cook being less than an hour away. It is also the proud home of the Canterbury Crusaders, New Zealand’s top rugby team.

Canterbury University is one of the two top South Island Universities, boasting several research centres and an energetic student community. Unlike most Kiwi cities, Christchurch is remarkably flat making it very comfortable for wheelchair users and cyclists.

Speciality: Wine

Prefer a different approach? Grab your glasses and head to one of the Southern hemisphere’s premier wine regions to study wine and viticulture at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. You’ll be in the region of the iconic Cloudy Bay amongst many others. Courses are available at certificate, diploma and degree levels with access to their excellent Wine Research Centre. NZ Wine has a fuller list of study options from casual wine appreciation courses to serious drinking programmes.

Speciality: Adventure Tourism

As home of the Zorb and pioneers of bungy jumping, New Zealand seems the perfect place to study Adventure Tourism. On the practical side, Adventure Training New Zealand offers 18 week courses aimed at international students looking to explore the South Island while gaining the technical and personal skills necessary for life as an adventure sports guide. They also offer assistance finding a job in the industry at the end of the course — sweet as.

Australia

Australia has a lot more to offer international students than Crocodile Dundee. The land of kangaroos and crocodiles has a wealth of study options in metropolitan cities stretching along the coast from Perth in the west to the rich eastern states. Australian National University, the country’s top University is based in the capital Canberra, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it over the country’s other main cities.

Perth

Sitting alone on the west coast, Perth is a paradise for those seeking a relaxed and productive lifestyle within easy reach of the sea and top wineries. It’s known as Aussie’s “Education City” and many European students I’ve spoken to prefer Perth to centres in Sydney or Brisbane.

There are five Universities to choose from including the prestigious Curtin University of Technology which is ranked in second and sixth place world-wide for International staff and students respectively. It’s MBA programme is especially lauded, recently being placed fourth in the world by the EIU. And when all the stats are too much, head down to the beach for a surf.

Melbourne

Melbourne has to be my favourite Australian city: along the Yarra River run excellent local arts and cultural events, great museums and galleries, not to mention the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the MCG – famed for cricket and Aussie rules football all wrapped up in a modern design ethic emerging from Victorian roots.

It’s replete with Universities: no fewer than nine of them! The creative energy is amazing. Both the Univerity of Melbourne and Monash University are top 50 Universities with great campuses in the centre of this funky city.

Sydney

Australia’s biggest and flashiest city is stereotypically represented by its Opera house and harbour bridge. But behind that is the strongest economic drive in the South Pacific which brings in lots of business opportunities and big shows. Sydney is a big festival city with the Madi Gras and the largest Chinese New Year celebrations outside of Asia.

The University of Sydney is the top ranked University amongst four others so — once again — there’s plenty of choice in this exciting city.

Photo by blairstirrett

Brisbane

Brisbane is the largest city on Australia’s east coast and has a reputation for fun, sun and surf. Forgetting the beautiful Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, Queensland also has a reputation for quality education.

The Queensland University of Technology offers a wide range of Undergraduate degrees, giving ample choice for those looking to study in a place in the sun whilst the University of Queensland has a well-recognised research ethos.

Speciality: Oceans and Coasts

A speciality for Australia? It’s far too big to simplify, but with the Great Barrier Reef sitting off the coast budding Marine Biologists and Oceanographers can have a field day in Australia. One new specialist course to consider is the Bachelor of Coastal Studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Located just north of Brisbane it’s the perfect place for beach-lovers.

Northern hemisphere visitors should note that the Australasian University calendar is somewhat different, starting semester one in February or March and semester two in July or August; some institutes run intensive “summer schools” in January and February.

If you’re looking to research further you can check visa and entry information for New Zealand and Australia and visit University directories for New Zealand and Australia.