Beyond the Classroom: International Field Trips in Postgraduate Politics and International Relations Education

Abstract

International field trips are typically designed to meet multiple objectives. First, they serve a pedagogical value: as a form of active and experiential learning, they enhance learning and provide students with the opportunity to connect concepts and theories to real-world practice. Second, they serve a cohort-building purpose: by bringing students together with their peers over a multi-day period, they are likely to strengthen their sense of community within their programme and, in turn, enhance their overall student experience. Third, field trips can shape professional development: by giving students the opportunity to meet with a variety of practitioners in professional settings, they may get a clearer sense, or fresh ideas, about how (and where) they may use their academic experience beyond graduation and enhance the attainment of transferable professional skills. Using survey data collected before and after postgraduate study trips to Brussels, this paper investigates the extent to which academic field trips in politics and international relations (IRs) meet their intended objectives. The study highlights the importance of international study trips and how they may be most effectively designed.