Seventeen days, six delegates, two countries, three universities, unlimited learning.

Australia-Middle East Journalism Exchange (AMEJE), a not-for-profit organisation, has proudly partnered with the CAAR since 2015 on study tours between Australia and the Arab World.

#AMEJE18 was the organisation's fourth tour from Australia to the Middle East and the first to include students from the University of Adelaide along with those from the University of Canberra.

At the conclusion of a comprehensive selection process, and before leaving Australia, the successful journalism students completed a ten-week academic program run by AMEJE. Through a series of modules addressing topics such as Orientalism, gender, Islam, and media theory, delegates began the process of critical engagement with themes they would encounter on tour, along with those central to the production of better informed journalism that encourages cross-cultural understanding.

The study tour combined working visits to professional and cultural organisations, collaboration with local universities, and structured fieldwork activities. Facilitated by AMEJE's expert staff, the program was designed to give delegates the opportunity to develop their understanding of the Middle East region in parallel with their journalism practice.

Rather than focusing on short-term content generation, AMEJE's study tours encourage delegates to develop knowledge, skills and behaviours they can draw on throughout their careers to produce better journalism. With these long-term outcomes in mind, AMEJE maintains contact with all past delegates. This short 2018 video checks in with Helena Game, a delegate on AMEJE's 2016 University of Canberra study tour to Qatar and the UAE, and now a producer at ABC New England.