RMIT Fiji Tour Project

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Jeff Shimeta: The Fiji Project is a two week study tour that students can do in Fiji, but it's part of a capstone course that they do in their final year. We pair them up with industry partners who are working on local projects in communities, things to benefit the environment and the people around them so students can see how they're applying their skills to have some tangible outcome.

Zac Tisdale: I think the biggest takeaway was getting to do a survey that could eventually mean something. They obviously want to protect these reefs so if we can provide hard data for them so they can maybe get it turned into a marine national park, that's something that we can say we were a part of.

Jeff Shimeta: Immersive experience and learning is really one of the best ways to learn their craft. So by doing a project in the environment where they're thinking and working on it 24/7 and they're exposed to a situation where it's being directly applied and they can see the benefits and the outcomes of it. That really makes it a very effective kind of learning.

Mia Baetan: I think they really just expand your learning, like sitting in a classroom the whole time is just so different to being out there, actually doing it and it just sticks in your memory forever and ever.

Jeff Shimeta: This is an obvious thing for RMIT to be doing because we've always put so much emphasis on practical skills, developing world life experiences, and I think it's the field work where we've really been pushing it to the extreme in recent years, developing a lot of these study tour programs.

Khadija A.N.: The whole experience was really, really amazing. I would recommend it to everyone. Even if they're hesitant about going there, I would still recommend them to go and just go for it.

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