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BUNAC

Objectives BUNAC’s founding objectives were “to encourage interest in Canada, the United States of America and Mexico among students at British universities and colleges and interest in Britain among students at universities and colleges in the aforementioned countries, leading to a better understanding between our nations, and generally to promote the advancement of learning and education of students of Britain and the other aforementioned countries. To work with other organisations with similar aims in any fields that will further these objects. “ An amendment added later enabled BUNAC to work towards the same objectives additionally in countries other than those stated above

Where frameworks are already in existence to permit work exchanges between countries, BUNAC aims to increase awareness and levels of participation. Where no framework exists, BUNAC works with government departments to try to create new reciprocal work abroad opportunities for students and young people in both the sending and host country.

History BUNAC (the British Universities North America Club) was founded in 1962 by Christopher Harbour and Martin Truscott. It grew out of the Canada Clubs and North America Clubs at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. It is a not-for-profit members Club and is one of the largest and oldest international work exchange organisations in the UK.

During the 1960s BUNAC was actively involved in the efforts of Lord Harlech (British Ambassador to the USA 1961-65) to formalise the reciprocal arrangements between the US and the UK to enable students from one of those countries to work in the other. This resulted in the development of the Exchange Visitor Programme (EVP) which allowed degree-level students to work in the USA during their summer holidays and, in 1966, the creation of SEEP (the Student Employment Exchange Program) US to UK programme. SEEP became known as the Work in Britain/Blue Card programme. The US administration of Work in Britain was originally undertaken by BUNAC’s American partner CIEE until it was taken on completely by BUNAC USA in 1997. BUNAC’s Work in Britain quickly grew to become the largest outbound work abroad programme from the USA until September 2008 when the 5-Tier Managed Migration restructuring of work-based immigration policy by the Home Office UKBA abolished the concession under which it existed. BUNAC’s long-running Work America summer programme operates within the US State Department J-1 Program framework.

In 1969 Lord Harlech became Honorary President with The Rt. Hon John Freeman and Senator James William Fulbright as Honorary Vice Presidents. The BUNACAMP programme was established by John Ball and Howard Crew in 1970. BUNACAMP (later BUNACAMP Counsellors and now Summer Camp USA) enables young people to experience to spend a summer working as camp counsellors for American children on a wide range of summer camps.

BUNAC’s early involvement with Canada was through a relatively restrictive tobacco picking programme. In 1986, in co-operation with the Canadian High Commission and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, BUNAC was authorised to offer a small but much more open Work Canada programme for students only. This has since developed into a much larger programme allowing 18 to 30 year olds to work in Canada for up to a year.

Throughout the 1990s BUNAC expanded the range of work abroad destinations from the UK to include Australia, New Zealand, a Teach & Travel China Programme, volunteer programmes to South Africa, Ghana, Costa Rica, Peru, Cambodia and, most recently, India.

BUNAC’s US office is based in Connecticut with a summer office in New York. These offices administer a range of outbound programmes to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France and the UK as well as volunteer programme to developing countries. The offices also provide support for inbound programme participants.

In Australia and New Zealand BUNAC provides inbound and outbound programmes through its wholly-owned subsidiary organisations International Exchange Programs Pty. Ltd (Australia) and International Exchange Programs Ltd. (New Zealand).

Long-term partnership arrangements also exist with countries such as South Africa, Poland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, France, Serbia, Hungary, Macedonia, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine

BUNAC was a founder member of IAEWEP (the International Association for Educational and Work Exchange Programmes) which has since become the WYSE Work Abroad Association, and is a founder member of The Year Out Group in the UK. BUNAC is also a member of BUTEX, ISTC, BETA (the British Educational Travel Association) and of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office “Know before you go” safety campaign. In the United States, BUNAC USA is a member of NAFSA and the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange and a founder member of the American Camp Association ICEO Group (International Cultural Exchange Organisations),

In December 2007 a consortium of BUNAC, Christian Aid and Islamic Relief was authorised by DFID to create, administer and operate Platform2. This was a DFID-funded 3-year volunteer programme designed to provide short-term (c10 weeks) overseas volunteering experience for 2,500 economically disadvantaged young UK citizens.

BUNAC – the Club BUNAC is a not-for-profit club. The Club membership elects an Honorary Chairperson, Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary annually. These “officers of the Club” sit on a fully-voting basis on BUNAC’s governing body, the General Council.

BUNAC programmes are promoted on university campuses across the UK by former participants who provide students with the information they require in order to take full advantage of the international work abroad programmes available to them through BUNAC.

Since 1962 BUNAC has published a travel handbook, The Moneywise Guide to North America (originally The Student Guide to North America) specifically designed to assist those working and travelling in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The guidebook is distributed as a benefit to members.

Scholarships & awards BUNAC also offers financial assistance for British students wishing to study in the US and Canada through our scholarships.

A number of scholarships are awarded each year through the BEST (BUNAC Educational Scholarship Trust) Scholarships. The individual amounts awarded vary but are typically in the region of $5000-$10,000. The BEST Travel Awards of $1,000 are awarded to offset the cost of travel to the USA or Canada by UK nationals who are taking part in a year of study abroad in North America as part of their UK undergraduate degree.

Introduced 1996 in honour of the late Howard Crew (General Secretary of BUNAC, 1966 to1992) the Green Cheese Awards consist of the scholarship and prizes and are awarded on a competitive basis. Entrants are required to submit a humorous piece of creative writing which is judged according to originality, presentation and content. The unique nature of the awards reflects the personality and the sense of humour of Howard Crew.

External Links

BUNAC Home Page www.bunac.org

BUNAC USA www. www.bunac.org/usa

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