Adventure Studies Field School

Each year, students of the Bachelor of Tourism Management or Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degrees have the option of participating in a spring field school.

These field based courses typically interact with government economic development personnel, adventure tourism operators, and get involved in community development work.

This provides exciting opportunities for students who are interested in "social enterprise" work and in using their knowledge and skills to assist others in developing their dreams. Most of this work is conducted in rural areas, with local communities and social service agencies to create social value. These field schools occur between late April and June each year.

Adventure Studies now offers a locally focused three-credit field school.

To prepare for Field Schools, the following courses are offered:

• ADVG 4010-3 - Business Applications for Eco and Adventure Tourism
• ADVG 4090-3 - Adventure Tourism International Community Development

Past field schools

2020 - 2023

Trails to Reconciliation. A domestic three-credit field school. Students visit various Indigenous communities in BC to help build/maintain biking trails, learn about traditional land use and the history of the trails they visit, the importance of building relationships and partnerships with Indigenous communities, and the impacts of community-based tourism development.

2017

A new domestic three-credit field school was offered. Centered on the fast growing sectors of mountain bike and trail tourism. Five students travelled to central British Columbia to work on trail tourism projects and engage with local First-Nations communities. The field school worked with Recreation Sites and Trails BC as they do the community consultation, site selection and layout for a new recreational trail network.

Check out the TRU Field School- 2017: Trail-building student blog for the field school experience.

2012

We added a second trip to Ecuador with one group of students returning to Panguipulli in Chile and another group began a project in the Bahia de Caraquez region of Ecuador.

2011

Students began work on a three-year contract in the community of Panguipulli. See the 2011 Panguipulli Presentation students gave to the community on sport fishing and tourism.

2010

Students returned to the Alto Bio Bio region of Chile and worked in the communities of Teodoro Schmidt, Carahue, and Toltén.

2007 to 2009

Students were involved in the development of a tourism industry in the Atacama community of Camiña, a remote community in northern Chile, in the Tarapaca Region, close to the Bolivian border. Students have assisted with creating a long-term development plan, planning hiking routes, developing gaucho tour product, and have started working on marketing programs. The residents of Camiña have enthusiastically welcomed TRU's involvement.

2006

Students worked on an eco and adventure tourism development plan for the Alto Bio Bio region of Chile. They were based in the community of Lonquimay and began a long-standing relationship with the Chilean government.

2003 to 2005

Students worked in the small coastal town of Puyuhuapi, Aysén Region, Patagonia, Chile.