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Universities and colleges working with ABTA
ABTA works very closely with universities and colleges who join our ABTA Partner scheme. These universities and colleges are able to attend ABTA’s twice-yearly regional meetings and meet ABTA Members in their area. They have exclusive access to ABTA’s vast industry resources and expertise through the Member zone of ABTA’s website and via regular communications from ABTA, as well as attending ABTA events. ABTA Education Partners receive an annual guest lecture from ABTA’s team of experts and university Partners have the exclusive opportunity for their students to apply for ABTA’s annual internship.
ABTA's internship
At ABTA we encourage our Members to take on interns, graduates and work placements wherever possible.
ABTA offers a one month, paid internship (at the London Living Wage rate) to one student from an ABTA Education Partner University annually. The successful candidate will work within ABTA’s Destinations and Sustainability team on a live project. One of ABTA’s goals is to ensure the travel industry is building a sustainable future, so this internship is a great opportunity to get some real, hands-on experience of working on sustainability initiatives at ABTA.
Students at ABTA Partner Universities can apply for the 2020 ABTA Internship through their course leaders from September 2019. A short essay is required in order to be considered and applications close in early March. If you aren’t sure who to contact at your university, please contact Vicki Wolf on vwolf@abta.co.uk.
Students from any year at ABTA Partner Universities are invited to apply for the position through their Universities.
Hear from our interns as they share their experience.
Meet Charlene Pink, University of Surrey, 2019
After completing my internship with ABTA, I secured a role working on Digital Campaigns with Global Citizen, a company that focuses on ending extreme poverty by 2030 and tackles the world’s most challenging issues like women’s rights, the environment, education and more. Since my previous experience had all been in the tourism industry, this role has been a great opportunity to diversify my skill set and work for a non-profit organisation.
Next year I will be travelling around Asia for a few months, then will be looking to return to the tourism sector once back in the UK in a marketing role, ideally working for an orgainsation that has an eco-travel focus.
Meet Nicola Pearce, Leeds Beckett University, 2018
After the 2018 internship I went back home to Cornwall and worked as a restaurant supervisor up until January 2019. I left England to go travelling in early January and am now currently in New Zealand on my working holiday visa. I've been in New Zealand for nearly eight months now. I’ve had a couple of jobs since being out here, including a hostel manager.
New Zealand has a large focus on sustainability, with the protection of their wildlife, many endangered birds and the conservation of national parks. If I decide to extend my visa for another year I would really like to work for the council/local tourism board on these projects.
Meet Lee McGavin, London South Bank University, 2017
Meet Gerasimos Margelis, University of Surrey, 2016
As soon as I completed my internship with ABTA, I started a new one as a Social Media Marketing Intern at Tekpaw Net Solutions. This role included running Facebook advertising campaigns on a media website. By the end of my internship, I got a permanent job with Tekpaw and spent the next four months as an Ecommerce Website Administrator on the company's dropshipping websites. My main duties in that position where managing communications among the community, troubleshooting issues with orders, product research and product page optimisation on our websites. I was promoted to a Performance Marketing Assistant Manager in the company's main operations which is online advertising. Daily tasks ranged from the creation and optimisation of paid social, paid search and native ad campaigns and market research for trending niches and website design optimisation. I'm looking for a new marketing-related role within the tourism and hospitality industry.
Meet Amy Edmunds, Plymouth University, 2015
Amy went on to secure a role at TUI Headquarters shortly after working for ABTA.
ABTA's Educational Partners
Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, UK.
ABTA Partner plus, Lincoln International Business School is dedicated to working with students and organisations to find solutions that enhance the contribution of business to society. For our students, that means developing their business skills and knowledge to improve their career readiness. For organisations, that means helping them to succeed through effective governance, responsible leadership, improved productivity, and organisational innovation.
Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University Department of Tourism and Hospitality is situated, less than two hours from London by train. Our academic, business and student services are geared to the professions and supported by a passionate commitment to high-quality academic endeavour and achievement.
Cardiff Metropolitan University, Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Events
The Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management Department at Cardiff Metropolitan University is the foremost collective of academics in these disciplines in Wales, and one of the leading collectives in the UK.
Craven College
The Aviation Academy is a unique college campus based at Leeds Bradford Airport. If you have a passion for aviation and would like to learn about a number of jobs in the industry, you can study here after your GCSEs.
College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL)
The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London offers courses and apprenticeships for work or university. It recently achieved a fantastic Ofsted result and is rated top of all similar London colleges for performance and learner satisfaction.
Hertford Regional College
Hertford Regional College (HRC) is a friendly and lively college based in leafy Hertfordshire. With two campuses, in Ware and Broxbourne, we support students of all ages to reach their dream destination. This could be getting that job you’ve always wanted, starting an apprenticeship or achieving a place at university.
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Beckett is home to the School of Events,Tourism & Hospitality, which is the largest school of this kind in the world.The School is recognized by ITT as a Centre of Excellence in tourism education, as well by UNWTO for its work in Responsible Tourism.
London South Bank University
London South Bank University (LSBU) is celebrating 125 years this year. Established as the Borough Polytechnic Institute in 1892, the original aim of LSBU was 'to promote the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women', which remains remarkably similar today.
The University of Derby
Study tourism at the University of Derby and you’ll be based at our Buxton Campus. Situated on the edge of the Peak District, one of the busiest National Parks in the UK, and with 38,000 tourism businesses in the area, Buxton is the perfect choice to study your tourism degree with the University of Derby.
University of Hertfordshire
The University is the UK's leading business-facing university and an exemplar in the sector. It is innovative and enterprising and challenges individuals and organisations to excel. The Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management courses are ranked in the to
Plymouth University
Plymouth University has a strong record of excellence, enterprise and innovation across its teaching and research activities in tourism.
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University
The tourism team at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) offer undergraduate and postgraduate tourism and aviation courses, doctoral supervision, and research and consultancy expertise. There is a strong focus on developing students’ graduate employability skills throughout their studies at SHU.
University of Wales Trinity St David
Learn, work and develop in the company of experts. The School of Tourism and Hospitality are proud to deliver a range of exciting programmes specialising in Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management.
University of Surrey
Ranked number one in the UK by the Guardian, The Times and the National Student Survey, hospitality and tourism programmes at Surrey combine a fresh, dynamic outlook with a leading international reputation.
University of Wolverhampton
With over 180 years of pioneering education for all, the University of Wolverhampton has an excellent reputation for offering education with a unique combination of theoretical, functional and practical approaches to meet the needs of today’s environment.
Being an ABTA partner has been really beneficial to the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University. Our students are able to access additional resources which help with their assessments and provide additional real-world learning. Annual presentations from senior ABTA colleagues add real value to the student experience and provide unique, interesting and engaging insights into current challenges in the sector. Opportunities for lecturers and senior staff to attend ABTA events, particularly those which are focussed on qualifications, training and future employability is useful and the networking opportunities are highly valuable.
Dr Peter Robinson, Leeds Beckett University
The University of Plymouth is pleased to be an ABTA Education Partner. Being a partner, our students and staff have great opportunities to gain insight from industry practitioners’ on a range of current issues affecting the tourism industry in general, as well as tour operators. We also have free access to a range of training materials available to members, which our students find very useful for completing assessments, when they are on placements and, during preparation for job interviews.
Dr Rong Huang, University of Plymouth
Being an ABTA Education Partner enables us to be at the heart of the tourism and travel ecosystem and engage in dynamic dialogue with our industry. Our research contributes to the knowledge base of tourism and our students are trained to for the future challenges. ABTA keeps us aware of current affairs and policies and brings us all together on a dynamic dialogue.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis , Bournemouth University