Students in Action initiative (SiA)

The Students in Action initiative (SiA) creating impact in tourism destinations and among Tourism and Events Management graduates.

• Team Members: Dr. Theresa Ryan, Dr. Ziene Mottiar, Dr. Catherine Gorman, Louise Bellew, Dr. Ruth Craggs, Dr. Gerard Dunne, Dr. Geraldine Gorham, Dr. Kevin Griffin, Raymond Keany, Rachelle O’Brien, Jennifer Stewart, Dr. Bernadette Quinn & Dr. Deirdre Quinn.
• Faculty: Arts & Humanities
• School: Tourism and Hospitality Management
• Keywords: Tourism; Sustainability

 

Project Description: The Students in Action initiative (SiA) was developed in 2012 with the main aim of giving students the opportunity to work on real life problems in tourism destinations. Furthermore, the objective was to develop closer links between stakeholders in this destination and the students, academics and university. Communities have also been a key part of the project with support from the Students Learning with Communities project in TU Dublin. Assessments are related to current challenges in the destination and at the end of the semester students present their findings at the destination to key stakeholders. To date we have worked with Slane, Co. Meath, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Wexford Town, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Fingal, Co. Dublin, Kildare Town and Wicklow Town. In 2018 SiA won the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education DELTA award which acknowledged the significant contribution of the project to student learning, destinations and their local communities. Additionally, the initiative was nominated for the Chambers Ireland ‘Excellence in Local Government Awards’ 2017. In 2023 we took a particular focus on sustainability and the students involved:

• Visited tourist attractions and a 5* hotel in Wicklow to learn how they operated sustainably.
• Identified ways in which these tourist providers could market the sustainability element of their activities.
• Developed global values tours in Dublin for visitors who want to maximise their positive impact when they visit and learn more about sustainability in Dublin.
• Ran sustainability workshops with primary school children from a local school.
• Exhibited assessment outputs on campus to enhance others knowledge of key issues of sustainability.

Summary of the Impact: SiA has impact on both the tourism destinations and the students who will become future professionals in the tourism sector. The impact is initially during the time of the project but there is also a longer-term impact identified. As a society there are many global challenges, such as climate change, wasted resources and inequality, that need to be addressed to create a better world. A key element in addressing these challenges is developing awareness and knowledge and as target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) states ‘by 2030, [we will] ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development’. The Students in Action (SiA) initiative impacts students on Tourism and Event Management programmes to ensure that they have knowledge, experiences and skills that will help them to take action as citizens, but also as employees and future leaders, in the sectors to promote sustainable action and thus contribute to creating a better world.

Strategic tourism destination management is crucial to addressing current global challenges and to achieving a more sustainable and resilient industry. As outlined in the values and principles of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), engaging in collaborative partnerships and with a myriad of different stakeholders is fundamental to realising this. With its emphasis on partnership and collaboration, SiA supports the destination, by providing important insights and outputs that can help propel tourism development in a sustainable and resilient manner. The inclusion of student voices, ideas and recommendations can have tremendous impact by providing opportunities for knowledge exchange as well as practical outputs including idea generation, problem solving and research.

Description of the Impact:

1. Helping tourism destinations to develop ideas and strategies.

Key benefits for SiA partners include opportunities for collaborative learning with students, improved relationships with the university, the opportunity to gain a Generation Z perspective on tourism development, as well as knowledge exchange and a useable end-product e.g. research reports, idea generation and problem solving. Feedback from destination partners has been very positive. Generally, the opportunity to engage with students was novel and very much welcomed. As one gallery owner emailed afterwards to say: 'It was great to be part of the diverse group. I look forward to looking at the information you sent in relation to culture and tourism, and to sharing it with colleagues’.

Similarly, one of the business participants this year commented ‘we are delighted to host you and your group; they are the future, so we need to embrace them. The ideas and perspectives of students who completed assessment work in these destinations was seen to be valuable with one business owner commenting: ‘I have read the report from the students which I found to be very good and            very interesting. Some of the suggestions have been in my mind from a tourism point of view already but it’s nice to see what others from outside think of the village... I am delighted with this report and I look forward to more feedback in the coming year.’

In the case of Fingal, master’s students presented their findings and suggestions at a county council meeting in the chambers, additionally, some of their ideas and recommendations were used for input into Fingal’s Tourism Strategy and in preparation for a Statement of Tourism Strategy presented to the Minister of State. The impact of the SiA project was also felt after the field trip was finished and the feedback had been delivered. In one case a local business owner commented that ‘following the work undertaken by students... [he would] be following up with the county council’. In Tullamore two academics involved in the project were invited to the county council’s tourism strategy meeting, and in Fingal one of the academics on the team was asked to present at their ‘Growing Food tourism in Fingal’ seminar. In Wexford the posters that the students developed were displayed in the Heritage Park so they would be seen by a wider audience.

2. Helping students to acquire skills, knowledge and experiences that will impact their futures

The ‘wicked’ problems that we face today need skills, perspectives, and knowledge that we need to develop. A key element in affecting future change and achieving the SDGs is the call for us all to act as global citizens, to enhance our understanding of sustainability and to take action. The SiA project addresses this by providing students with opportunities not only to develop their knowledge, but also to use this knowledge to suggest ways in which change can be implemented. The effect of this is shown by the comment made by one of the students: 'I definitely feel more aware of my impact as a tourist on the planet. I know I can't reverse these things but going forward I can reduce them and with my small knowledge I can also educate my friends on ways we could all change our usual approach and have more sustainable trips'.

Another was inspired by the field trip saying: ‘I found it inspiring to see what these destinations have achieved, and I feel sustainability offers very exciting tourism career opportunities where we can really make a difference to the world around us. It really opened my eyes to being an eco-aware tourist and I look forward to exploring this field further’.

One of the external examiners on the programme noted how SiA is ‘useful to help students with applied and critical thinking’ and these are key skills that these students will need to operate effectively in modern global society. The experience also broadened students’ perspectives, as one student commented: ‘at the beginning. I never thought of people aged 50+ would want to travel but because of this project, it made me realise that there is a niche market for tourism for people over 50’.

The most common feedback from students was that it was ‘interesting’ and ‘insightful’. These impacts are evident at the time of the project, but the implications go beyond this as the skills, knowledge and awareness they have developed are brought with them into their future careers and lives. As figure 1 below shows there are a wide variety of impacts on both the destination and students (who are future professionals in the sectors) as a result of the interaction between them that SiA creates.

Figure 1: The impact of SiA

What SDG goals does this contribute to?

The Students in Action Initiative (SiA) impacts a broad range of SDGs (see figure 1), in particular:

• 4.4 Quality Education: A central part of our UG and PG curriculum is developing knowledge, skills and competences in respect of tourism and events sustainability issues so that our graduates will be informed, capable, civically engaged and can act as global citizens to effect transformative change once they enter the industry. We treat sustainability as an inherent part across our tourism programmes at UG and PG level and across the SIA programme.
• 8.3 & 8.9 Decent Work and Economic Growth: By empowering students to consider how tourism & events can promote sustainable economic growth and employment.
• 11.3 Sustainable Cities and Communities By encouraging students to explore how tourism & events can impact on the sustainability of cities and communities.
• 12.b Responsible Consumption and Production of tourism and events.
• 13.3 Climate Action: By encouraging staff & students to take action to combat climate change.
• 17.9 Partnerships for the Goals: By facilitating diverse actors to work in partnership to promote sustainability. SiA is an approach to learning that is centred on students’ interests and real-world problems. Participating in SIA involves lecturers thinking differently about how relate to their students and to construe them in the role of co-creators. Simultaneously it empowers students to pro-actively shape their own learning experiences.

 

Evidence/Sources to Corroborate Impact:

• In 2018 this project won the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education DELTA award which acknowledged the significant contribution of the project to student learning, destinations and their local communities.
• In 2017, SiA was nominated for the Chambers Ireland ‘Excellence in Local Government Awards’ in the ‘Supporting Tourism’ category.
• Student feedback as evidenced in quotes above.
• Impact on tourism destinations and towns/villages as evidenced in quotes above.
• Project presentation to Edinburgh Destination Leaders and colleagues from Edinburgh Napier University in 2018. This involved a presentation of the project and its objectives by staff, as well as a presentation on the impacts and benefits to the destination by the Senior Executive Officer, Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development, Fingal County Council.
• Influencing policy and supporting the development of Food Tourism in Fingal.
• An external examiner on a programme that was attached to SiA said ‘the use of destinations such as Fingal for Student in Action projects in the Consumer Behaviour module and applied work assessments where students are expected to draw upon live case studies and student in action approaches continues to be very useful to help students with applied and critical thinking’.

 

Research References:

• Craggs, R, Griffin, K, Gorman, C, Mottiar, Z, Quinn, B and Ryan, T (2017) Students in Action: a destination-based learning approach to student engagement for inclusion in the Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Tourism published by Edward Elgar.
• Craggs, R., Gorman, C., Griffin, K., Mottiar, Z., Quinn, B. and Ryan, T. (2014) ‘Collaborative Learning in a Real-World Destination: Student Perceptions of Their Learning Outcomes.