2015-12-04

Oxford Royale Academy was named the institution with the best educational product in the UK for its suite of courses giving teenagers a taster of courses popular at university level, in this year’s BETA British Youth Travel Awards.

This makes it the fifth year the school has topped the education category, after winner for four consecutive years from 2010-2013.

“I’m delighted to get this award, and I would say that I was very impressed with the other winners”

“It’s been a big year for us, so we’re really happy,” Alasdair Maher, its summer school academic manager, told The PIE News.

“We’ve really expanded in the 13-15 market, we saw a lot of potential growth there,” he commented. “We’ve looked to really expand on what students might be considering at university at a young age, and what they can gain at that age by being with us.”

The fleet of courses, which enables 13-15 year olds to engage with disciplines such as medicine, engineering and law, also saw the academy shortlisted for Outstanding Achievement award, which was won by the Youth Hostel Association (England and Wales).

The awards, presented at Westfield London this week, recognise excellence in the UK’s youth travel sector.

Another international education stalwart and last year’s runner English in Britain, won the Best Support Service award, for its work connecting international students worldwide with accredited English language courses in England, Scotland and Wales.



The Best Educational Product award winners

“I’m delighted to get this award, and I would say that I was very impressed with the other winners,” David Blackie, its director, told The PIE News. “Oxford Royale do a superb job and now that we’re being mentioned in the same breath as them, I’m really pleased.”

“I think that we do what we do a great deal better than anyone else,” he said, noting that the service has three times as many paid-up subscribers as the British Council.

In the destinations category, South Africa was named best international youth destination, while Liverpool won the best UK youth destination category.

“The Best Educational Product category seemed to have a lot more entries this year, making it even harder to choose a winner when the entries were so diverse,” commented Laura Porter, freelance travel writer and one of the award judges.

“Young travellers are incredibly lucky to have so much on offer.”

See more photos from this year’s awards here.

2015 British Youth Travel Award Winners and Finalists in full

Best Accommodation

WINNER: YHA Cardiff Central

Silver: Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage Bronze: My Student Village: Liverpool

Best Educational Product WINNER: Oxford Royale Academy Silver: ISSOS International

Bronze: Club Europe Concert Tours

Best International Youth Destination

WINNER: South Africa (South Africa Tourism)

Silver : France (Atout France) Bronze: Dublin (Visit Dublin)

Best Leisure Product WINNER: BBC Tour of Broadcasting House

Silver: York’s Chocolate Story

Bronze: The LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort

Best Support Service Offer

WINNER: English in Britain

Silver: Jayne Peirce Tourism Recruitment

Bronze: Yummy Jobs

Best UK Youth Destination

WINNER: Liverpool

Silver: Edinburgh Bronze: London

Best Use of Social/Mobile Media

WINNER: Contiki Holidays – The Roadtrip

Silver: STA Travel – MySTA App

Bronze: Topdeck Travel – Snapchat Travel Show

Best Volunteering Organisation

WINNER: Pod Volunteer

Silver: Kaya Responsible Travel Bronze: Madventure International

Best Marketing

WINNER: Hatters Hostels – The Rebrand

Silver: STA Travel – Reel Philippines Campaign

Bronze: STA Travel – Find Your State of Play Campaign Brand USA

Rising Star Award

WINNER: Dan Mew, African Adventures

Silver: Dan Baker, StudentUniverse

Bronze: Jennifer van der Linde, Beds & Bars

Best Customer Service

WINNER: Next Generation Travel

Silver: Palmers Lodge

Bronze: Camp America

Outstanding Achievement

WINNER: YHA (England & Wales)

Special recognition also to Oxford Royale Academy

The post BETA presents 9th annual Youth Travel Awards appeared first on The PIE News.

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