Tourism students take part in Masterclass

Eight outstanding UCLan Tourism students took part in a Masterclass at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. As part of the Institute of Transport and Tourism's involvement with the European Union Citizens' Rail Project, the group joined students from RWTH, Plymouth University, Design School Nantes and Hogeschool Zuyd at the two-day event.

This transnational and interdisciplinary Masterclass brought students together with a range of industry experts and leading academics to develop concept plans for community engagement at two sites in Germany and The Netherlands. Students presented their findings to partner members of the project from across Europe.

Associate Lecturer Peter Mcgrath accompanied the students on the trip and was full of praise for their efforts: "It was a privilege to see our students' professional and enthusiastic attitude. They were outstanding ambassadors for UCLan. They took the lead in all of their working groups and presented to a high-profile audience.

"I was really impressed with how the group applied their knowledge of tourism and linked it with other disciplines from the built environment and applied Geography to develop some really innovative ways of helping engage communities from a social, economic and environmental perspective."

UCLan Tourism student Beth Higson felt the trip was a useful aid to her studies: "The Masterclass has helped develop our presentation skills as we had to outline a range of complex ideas to an international audience."

Emma Robinson commented: "It was an excellent opportunity being involved in such a large project and it’s good to know our ideas will be developed into a finished product."

Pictures from the trip can be found here. Final presentations from each workshop group and photos from the event are here.