Faculty Versus Tour Company Organized International Short Courses in Agriculture: Lessons Learned in Planning and Executing Positive Educational Student Trips.

Faculty-led international tours are an increasingly important part of the agriculture curriculum at Northwest Missouri State University (Northwest), as academic administrators and industry employers begin to require students to possess diverse cultural and global experiences prior to graduation/employment. To meet these changing needs, as well as the increasing student demand for such opportunities, the Northwest Agriculture Department has offered two international spring break trips: a 13-day trip to Puerto Rico in 2007 organized by participating faculty and an 11-day trip to the British Isles in 2009 organized by a professional tour company specializing in educational agriculture experiences abroad. Both trip preparation approaches had their own unique advantages, with the faculty planned trip offering increased flexibility in scheduling and lower overall student cost. These benefits, however, were minor compared to the enhanced educational and cultural opportunities arranged by the professional tour company. In addition, the benefit of rigid scheduling became clear with the professionally organized trip, as the faculty observed minimal student apprehension about traveling and integrating themselves abroad as compared to the previous, more fluent, faculty organized trip. With fewer concerns about the ambiguity of destinations, students were able to anticipate the day’s activities, concentrate on required course assignments and simply enjoy the time in country. For the participating faculty, the opportunity to focus on interacting with students and providing a quality educational experience, rather than focusing on the logistics and details of travel, was an invaluable benefit to the professionally organized trip.