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The object of this program is to provide participants with the interpersonal, hospitality, technical, and organizational skills necessary to secure long-term employment and careers in the adventure industry. It does this through training which is specific to guiding knowledge and leadership, adventure tourism industry issues, small business ownership, trip planning, and certification through numerous provincial and national adventure associations.
This program is designed to attract individuals:
This program addresses training issues facing this quickly changing segment of the tourism industry by providing complete and formalized guide training. One of the biggest obstacles to growth and long term planning for many companies today is the inability to guarantee finding employees and managers who are qualified in adventure sport activities as well as hospitality and business management skills. The adventure tourism industry is a highly technical and specialized field requiring a great deal of practical experience in specific skills. The necessity for guides to have backgrounds in more than one technical skill is important for full-time employment. It is also important for the individual to have good interpersonal skills, hospitality skills and organizational skills for him or her to retain long-term employment and contribute positively to the field.
Today's primary concern for an employer is the care and safety of his or her client and the legalities of operation. For every business, the legal qualifications of employees is a prime concern, yet the reality of hiring adventure guides leaves most businesses searching hard to find competent guides with the legal qualifications they require.
As guide staffing is the backbone of the industry, it is the program's intent to train participants primarily to become qualified and competent guides with a broad background in more than one skill - an who are employable within as much of the industry as possible. The intention is to formalize and integrate existing industry association standards and certification while creating the most useful training program to employers and employees.
The private sector has been heavily involved in the development and delivery of this program, and continues to be heavily involved through substantial use of industry association curriculum, advisory committee participation, as well as the heavy use of association examiners as contract instructors on all activity courses. The Adventure Programs Department is comprised of highly respected long-standing guides who instruct within the program, and approximately 30 contract instructors who are instructors and/or examiners for the national association they are involved in.
The UCC region of British Columbia forms a natural hub for adventure travel in the province and Western Canada. UCC is a natural centre for this type of training, just as the surrounding geography fits perfectly with the concept. As one of the goals of the program is to have students participating in trips in the geographic area they may work in, activity courses in the program travel extensively throughout Alberta, British Columbia, and the western United States. Students spend approximately 50% of the program course time on various trips throughout western North America.
As the Adventure Guide Diploma is taught exclusively by guiding professionals within the adventure tourism industry who are still actively at the pinnacle of their sport, this program forms a unique integration between members of the private sector and UCC. This link gives the program additional validity and purpose, gives students excellent networking opportunity, and has stimulated a good deal of interest within the international adventure tourism community as a model to strive after for adventure education delivery.
The employment possibilities for graduates of this program are good not only provincially but also nationally and internationally. The program office currently receives hundreds of job offers each year for students in the program, and many companies have realized the benefits of hiring exclusively from participants in this program. Opportunity is made for companies to post job openings with the program, as well as to come to UCC to interview prospective candidates for employment.