Home > Fam trip guidelines

StudyWorld fam trip guidelines

What is a fam trip? Familiarisation Trips (fam trip) are a sales and marketing tool to showcase your centre and what your local destination has to offer. StudyWorld fam trips take place before and after our in-person events in the UK, giving agents the chance to visit a range of UK educators. They are a great opportunity for them to discover new study destinations, meet centre staff in person and speak to current students.

Trips are usually free for agents, and include travel, accommodation and meals.

Why organise a fam trip? Fam trips are an opportunity for current and potential agent partners to visit your centre along with others nearby to understand and experience your centre first-hand and learn more about the destination. Agents will return to their organisation with the knowledge and confidence to sell your centre more effectively.

Trips allow you to network, build relationships and personally promote your courses and activities. If you can impress and inspire agents during a fam trip, then you should be able to generate new leads and recommendations for your centre.

We invite UK educators to join up with others in their region to host a small group of agents either before or after StudyWorld Manchester. Please see below for more details on the process.

Please contact, Eleanor Thomas, events and training manager, if you have any questions.

Organising a Fam trip

Trips tend to be 3-5 days in length. We recommend a group size of 5-10 agents. Trips should visit 3-6 institutions from one or two regions near one another.

Trips with activities scheduled during the official StudyWorld programme, or leaving before 18:00 on Wednesday will not be promoted by English UK.

The criteria

For English UK to promote your fam trip the following criteria must be met:

  • All participating institutions must be a member of English UK or an accredited/ inspected institution (e.g. ISI, BAC, QAA, etc.).
  • At least two participating centres attend StudyWorld.
  • At least one staff member from a participating institution must accompany the trip at all times.
  • The trip co-ordinator/hosts agree to document the trip, e.g. photos and vlogs to be collated and shared with English UK after the trip. These will be used on social media to raise the profile of UK ELT.

Costs/Fees

Fam trips are offered to agents at no charge. To assist with costs, you may wish to apply for sponsorship from your local tourist authority.

When considering organising a trip

  • Contact and discuss with other educators in your region the mutual benefits of running a trip. English UK can assist with introducing centres in a region to each other.
  • Discuss and agree on a budget for the trip. You will need to provide agents with the following:
    • Transport from the StudyWorld venue to the Fam trip destination and return transport back to Manchester/ London (or appropriate airport)
    • Accommodation for the duration of the trip (agents will expect to have their own room with en-suite facilities)
    • Suitable transport to and from their accommodation to the participating hosts throughout the duration of the trip
    • Meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) throughout the duration of the trip
    • An interesting itinerary of activities and visits that is well balanced and includes visits to the participating hosts, visits to attractions in the region and a good level of hospitality.
  • Although not essential at first, it helps to discuss and agree who will be responsible for each aspect of the items in the planned itinerary.
  • Remember that agents may need to cancel their attendance at the last minute depending on Covid-19, travel restrictions, or other legitimate reasons. Ensure you negotiate flexible terms with any hotels, venues, activities, etc., you contract.

Trip itinerary

  • Devise an interesting and varied programme (see example fam trip itinerary). Give the agent a ‘feel’ for each institution rather than a tour of every single classroom.
    • Centre visits give educators the opportunity to present their courses, facilities and services. You may include tours of buildings and surrounding areas, sample lessons, presentations, or the chance for the agents to chat to students.
    • Include tours of the local area and/or an excursion activity in the timetable. This helps the agents gain insight into the local culture and to better advise students on the benefits of a particular location.
  • Each participating host should create an individual welcome and should liaise with other participating hosts to avoid duplication and maximise variety.
  • One person from the group of hosts must be responsible for the coordination of the total itinerary to avoid any oversights or omissions in the timings.
  • Participating hosts should prepare a welcome information pack to send to agents as soon as they have been offered a place on the trip.
  • Your full itinerary (not just the description of the trip) should be sent to the English UK team by the date requested.

Registering your trip

  • Complete the online Fam Trip Registration Form and elect one person to be the sole contact with the English UK and act as the trip coordinator.
  • The trip coordinator will be responsible for forwarding the details of the agents interested in participating in your trip to all participating hosts for decision (see agent booking procedure) and will also be responsible for confirming the hosts decision to English UK.

Complete the Fam Trip registration form by Friday 28 June.

Agents

  • Agent participants in StudyWorld and English UK Partner Agencies will be invited to register for the Fam trips.
  • Agents are advised that only one representative per agency can attend the same trip. There are occasional exceptions, such as agents requiring translators or travelling with partners. Should this or a comparable situation arise the English UK team will negotiate options with the trip coordinator and agent.

Agent booking procedure

  • English UK will promote the trips on the StudyWorld and English UK websites and in targeted emails.
  • It is a two-step booking process for agents.
    1. Agents are sent a Fam Trip Application Form to complete where they choose a first and second choice of trip.
    2. An Agency Company Profile form is sent to the agent, requesting more details about the agency and their courses of interest.
  • The trip co-ordinator will receive a notification email when the Agency Company Profile form is submitted so you can review their application.
  • Acting on behalf of the group the coordinator can accept or reject an application. The coordinator should not make decisions without consulting all participating hosts.
  • The trip coordinator should confirm their decision as quickly as possible. In the case of an agent being offered a place, it is recommended that the coordinator then sends the agent a personalised ‘welcome’ message.

Meeting with participating agents

Coordinators are advised to update Fam trip participants regularly and to meet with them, online or at StudyWorld, in the week leading up to the trip. The aim of this meeting is to distribute an up-to-date trip itinerary and familiarise yourself with the agents taking part, as well as to confirm departure time and location. If the trip coordinator is not participating in StudyWorld, a person to meet the group should be designated, and English UK informed.

Fam trip feedback

After the trip it would be appreciated if the trip coordinator could provide feedback from the hosts and participating agents.

Back To Top