World Challenge is a for-profit UK provider of overseas adventure travel programs targeted at schools. The company was founded when a young army captain took a team of soldiers on a training mission to the snow-capped

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

mountain range in Pakistan in 1985. He realised that the personal development and camaraderie learned there would shape the team for years to come. World Challenge was later born from this experience in 1988, which created the school expedition industry. The company operates in North America, Australia,

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. As a brand within the Travelopia Holdings Limited group, World Challenge is owned by KKR.

Carbon Negative Trips

World Challenge are the world's first climate positive (carbon negative) student travel company and pride themselves on providin
sustainable travel
They also produce an impact report every year which calculates their impact on the environment, students, local communities and projects plus much more.
Impact Report 2022

Student-Led Expeditions of 1 to 4 weeks

Depending on the experience selected, the students are in charge of picking the destination and activities from curated lists. They also take it in turns to lead the trip and manage the budget, to empower and develop them outside of the classroom.

Earning It

World Challenge encourages the students to raise as much of their expedition fees as possible, giving guidance and ideas along the way.

Journeys 1 to 2 weeks

A newer offering from World Challenge is the Journey product focussing on global citizenship and cultural literacy. Aside from being shorter the focus is more on community engagement and some rest and relaxation activities. Students have an opportunity to live and work in a local community as well as take a look around the destination they are in. The groups are led by local guides with leaders and teachers adding to the trip supervision.

Sports & Curriculum Tours

World Challenge Australasia now offer sport and curriculum tours, covering subjects like Art, History and Geography, as well as sports like cricket, rugby and netball. The tours combine the subject or sport into a World Challenge style trip overseas including R&R time and adventurous activities.

Incidents

In July 2017 a student at the

Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe , established = , closed = , type = Selective Grammar SchoolAcademy , head_label = Headmaster , head = Philip Wayne , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = , chair = , founder ...

, died while

white-water rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

on a World Challenge trip to Ecuador. The company then suspended all white water rafting activity while an investigation took place. In September 2019 a student with

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar ...

died after becoming ill on a World Challenge trip to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. A coroner's inquest in the students home country of Australia heard that World Challenge staff and teachers from the student's school failed to recognise the seriousness of his condition and opportunities were missed for appropriate care to be provided.

References

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External links

World Challenge UK Official WebsiteWorld Challenge Australia Official WebsiteABS World Challenge: India 2016
A Challenger-made video summing up a month long expedition to North India Youth organisations based in the United Kingdom Adventure travel