WETM SCORES
HIGH WITH 
ATTENDEES

This year’s Work Experience Travel Market (WETM), organised by Wyse Work Abroad, was held in The Hague, Netherlands and attracted a record number of delegates active in the Work & Travel sector. Overall, attendee numbers were up 27 per cent on the previous year.

Jayne Stroud from The Training Partnership in the UK said that they attended WETM this year for the fourth year running and described it an “an event not to be missed”. She added, “Our two representatives officially met with over 72 international organisations, all of which were beneficial and we were able to reaffirm friendships made from attending previous events.”

Rick Jones from Monash Professional Internships in Australia said, “I thought WETM was good for business. I had the opportunity to meet with both existing and potentially some new partners. There was a good mix of agents from a variety of geographical locations.”

In total, 214 organisations from 45 countries attended the two-day event and 62 organisations were attending for the first time. Two seminars held during the event were also well attended. Stroud commented, “The seminars always address issues relevant to improving standards and providing quality in all of the programmes we deliver.”

A student video competition was launched at the event this year, which will see one student presented with a cheque for US$2,000 at the 2008 World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC) organised in Brooklyn, NY, USA in September. Contestants will compete to produce the best video of their travel abroad trip and must be present in the USA in September in order to be eligible.

Stephanie Manning from the Wyse Travel Confederation explained, “[The competition] is open to most of the member organisations of Wyse Work Abroad, since it’s open to both senders and receivers and most of our members do send [students] to the USA.”

Next year’s Work Experience Travel Market will be held in Vienna, Austria in March 2009.

WORK VISA
CHANGES IN
AUSTRALIA

The Australian government has increased the number of skilled migration places in the country in 2007/2008 by 6,000 to 108,500. The increase will be made up of permanent employer sponsored visas and General Skilled Migration visas and was introduced in order to counter a skills shortage and encourage skilled migration.

Changes to the Working Holiday visa programme will also see applicants who undertake at least three months work in the construction sector in regional Australia be able to extend their 12-month working holiday visa by another 12 months.

NEW WORK 
PLACEMENT
COMPANY IN 
NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Management Academies (NZMA) in Auckland has launched a new company offering a work placement and employment service in order to cater for students on working holiday visas. The company, called Red Fish, specialises in the hospitality, business and contact centre industries and has created partnerships with several work & travel companies overseas, including STA Travel USA.

Jayne Hatak, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Red Fish, said, “Red Fish offers a product that is missing in the overseas market. [We] can line employment up for travellers in advance, alleviating stress and financial worry. The company can also offer practical work experience packages for tertiary students from overseas who want to fulfil course requirements.”
Red Fish also operates an employment service for students studying at NZMA and Fern English Academy in Auckland and provides guidance in CV writing.

NEWS IN BRIEF

The UK government has announced a scheme to sponsor young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to volunteer in a developing country overseas. The UK£10 million (US$19.8 million) scheme is to start this summer and over the next three years will send 2,500 young people aged between 18 and 25 years on placements in countries such as Ghana and South Africa.
The scheme will be run in partnership with Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and Bunac.

Research by Mintel International Group showed that the voluntary work and travel market in the UK was worth an estimated UK£77.2 million (US$152.8 million) in 2006. An estimated 63,000 trips were taken with gap year travellers and students making up the majority of clients in this sector. The research also found that there were over four million adults interested in undertaking a volunteering trip.

The University of Helsinki in Finland has introduced a new programme to develop traineeship opportunities for international students. The project, called KVOTA, aims to form a network of employers and nine different higher education institutions in the Helsinki Metropolitan Region. Currently in a pilot phase, the project aims to start offering traineeships from autumn this year.