USC Students in Fiji: A Win-Win Educational Experience in Sustainability

Experiential education strategies in the formal education context should be real, that is, education should be about life itself and not mere preparation for life (Dewey 1938, p. 25). This paper discusses the development, design, and outcomes of a pilot research and education field trip to the Fiji highlands by a small group of third year students from the University of the Sunshine Coast. The trip was designed in response to the needs of a village that wanted to develop a small scale sustainable tourism venture (Weaver 2000). The achievable recommendations given by the students to the village resort owner were intended to enhance the economic, cultural, environmental and social sustainability of the micro business, which would in turn, empower the owner and his staff, offer training and employment to the villagers, and most importantly: assist in building a much needed school for their children. The desired outcomes of the experiential approach to educating for sustainability were: empowerment, enhanced self-efficacy and confidence in applying and implementing sustainable cultural tourism practices, putting sustainable theory into practice, increased confidence levels in recommending and implementing sustainable practices in the students’ own countries. The expedition was organised by a tourism lecturer from USC and Fiji Dreaming, a fledgling sustainable tourism business on the Sunshine Coast that aims to inspire people to travel responsibly and learn about other cultures through cultural immersion, community engagement, and adventure-based experiences. The company supports local indigenous communities whilst providing travellers with the opportunity to participate and contribute to an authentic travel experience with a transformative purpose. Over the past two years Fiji Dreaming has performed the vital role of “cultural broker” and taken schools from the Sunshine Coast to Fiji for cultural tourism experiences. Similarly, the pilot program in this paper was designed to combine sustainable theory, practice, research and education for University level students. Not only did the students deliver a comprehensive set of achievable short and long term recommendations to the owner of the primitive resort that were accepted and appreciated, but the cultural immersion experience proved to be intense, emotional, highly motivating, and both powerful and empowering for the students. Students were asked to reflect on the experience as an important part of the experiential education process. Self-reported impacts of the expedition on the international group of 10 students were: students were able to apply university theory to practice; each student’s career interests and directions were confirmed; individual levels of sustainability, self efficacy and selfconfidence were increased; and intentions to behave and act more sustainably were stronger. Most importantly, students felt competent in transferring the learning and education about sustainable travel, tourism and development from Fiji to other destinations, including their own countries. Students also expressed a strong desire to return to Fiji and/or go to other developing destinations where they could build on this introduction to involvement in small scale sustainable developments in the Pacific Islands and the Asia/Pacific region. All objectives of the expedition were achieved including the identification other opportunities to respond to the needs of the same and other villages in Fiji over a long-term basis using the combination of adventure, meaningful travel, research, education and regional engagement. This style of research/education expedition approach to educating for sustainability offers numerous and worthwhile opportunities for responding to the needs of the region, such as: ongoing research; learning; cultural connection; potential for involvement of the students, staff, and the entire University community in service activities in Fiji and other developing Asia/Pacific destinations; work integrated learning and internships