An internship scheme run by Royal Caribbean International and the University of Chester has been recognised with a student engagement award.
The Educate North awards recognise and share best practice and excellence in the education sector in the north of England.
The line’s internship initiative, in its third year, offers second year students studying international tourism management at the university, the opportunity to join Royal Caribbean team for a month.
Chosen by a competitive selection process taking into account their academic performance and an interview process, students are then given a project by a different area of the business, to deliver with the support of a dedicated mentor.
This year’s students were also invited onboard a two-night familiarisation cruise on board revamped Independence of the Seas, to support the Royal Caribbean team in the re-launch of the ship.
Students have also worked in account management, trade incentivisation, customer events and retail activations, digital marketing and the customer journey and marketing.
UK and Ireland associate vice president and managing director. Ben Bouldin, said: “The internship programme was founded on a belief that tomorrow’s travel industry leaders could be the young people joining our industry through initiatives such as these.
“As we enter our third year of the programme, in partnership with the University of Chester, it is incredibly rewarding to be recognised by Educate North for the work that we are doing to develop and foster this next generation of talent within the travel industry.
“We have been fortunate to work with a number of incredibly capable and committed individuals over the course of the programme to date, so much so, that we have made offers of employment to two of our interns from 2017, to join the business once they have completed their studies.”
Chester University international tourism management programme leader, Maeve Marmion, said: “We have worked alongside Royal Caribbean to deliver the internship programme for our students and it has been designed to strategically align future graduate skills and competencies with the needs and expectations of key employees.
“We are so pleased to be able to offer our students this first-hand experience of the industry, which in turn will help prepare them to excel as graduates. Thanks to the fantastic team at RCI for their passion and dedication to the internship programme and very well done to our past and current interns for shining in their RCI roles.”