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Schedule a meeting now! Get advice from our admission expert Katharina. Request a spot in our meeting hub and we will call you back!
Refer a friend - Save 100€! Refer a friend, enroll together for this summer school, and save both 100 Euro! Refer a friend!
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Schedule a meeting now! Get advice from our admission expert Katharina. Request a spot in our meeting hub and we will call you back!
Refer a friend - Save 100€! Refer a friend, enroll together for this summer school, and save both 100 Euro! Refer a friend!
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Interview with Cleo, A Cardiff University Student’s Experience
What Is It Like to Study Sustainable Development in Bali?
4-5 minutes reading
What changes when sustainable development is studied not only through theories and case studies, but in a place where tourism, environmental pressures, agriculture, culture, and community livelihoods intersect every day?
For international students in Bali, the surroundings can become part of the academic material.
That was the experience of Cleo, a Politics and International Relations student from Cardiff University, who joined the Sustainable Development and Ecotourism Summer Course at Udayana University with Upskill Study Programs.
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Cleo on her first day in the classroom, beginning the Sustainable Development and Ecotourism Summer Course at Udayana University.
Connecting Classroom Learning With the Field
Cleo initially selected the course because of its relevance to her studies in the UK. She was also interested in experiencing another culture and studying in an environment very different from home. What followed was a program that moved repeatedly between university classrooms and field settings across Bali.
Sustainable development covers an enormous range of issues. Understanding them requires more than learning terminology or discussing global frameworks in isolation. During the summer course, students explored subjects including mangrove ecosystems, waste management, Tri Hita Karana, community based tourism, cultural preservation, biodiversity, ecotourism, and sustainable agriculture.
The field lectures were designed to provide another layer to that learning.
For Cleo, some of the strongest experiences were those where an academic or local expert introduced a subject before students encountered it directly in the field.
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Class reflections with lecturers during a hotel audit visit, discussing sustainability practices through real-world observation.
“We learned all about it and then the next day we actually got to do the things that we learned about the day before.” This relationship between classroom and field is central to the Upskill Study Program approach. A discussion about cultural preservation, for example, takes on another dimension when students visit a community or cultural institution and speak with the people involved. Environmental issues become more tangible when students enter a mangrove ecosystem, examine waste management practices, or observe agriculture within a working landscape.
It also places greater importance on who is teaching. Cleo particularly valued sessions led by experts whose knowledge came with evident experience and commitment to their subject. “You could just tell when they were talking that they just knew everything and they were so passionate about what they were talking about.”
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Field lecture impressions from the organic farm and rice terrace visit, where sustainable agriculture is explored directly through the landscape.
Why a Rice Terrace Belongs in a Sustainability Course
Cleo ranked the field lecture to Jatiluwih and Dewandaru Organic Farm as her favorite of the program. Jatiluwih may be internationally recognized for its landscape, but for students of sustainable development, the rice terraces provide much more to examine than scenery.
The agricultural landscape offers an opportunity to learn about the traditional Subak irrigation system, community cooperation, agriculture, rural livelihoods, tourism, and the relationship between Balinese culture and environmental management.
The day continued at Dewandaru Organic Farm, where students explored organic agriculture and plant diversity and became involved in activities on the farm. An unplanned opportunity to process and traditionally roast coffee became one of Cleo’s favorite memories.
“I got to make my own coffee that day, which was so much fun.”
Other field experiences stood out for different reasons. At Samsara Living Museum, students connected lessons about Balinese traditions and cultural preservation with activities on site. Turtle conservation provided another perspective on environmental protection, while mangrove studies connected ecosystem conservation with the communities and livelihoods surrounding these coastal environments.
The experiences were varied, but that is precisely the point. Sustainable development does not exist within a single discipline.
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Cleo at the Tri Hita Karana Center in Ubud, exploring Balinese philosophy through traditional housing zonation and learning how the organization of space reflects relationships between people, nature, plants, and the surrounding environment.
Learning About Bali From Bali
International education can easily become disconnected from the destination in which it takes place. Students can travel thousands of kilometers and still spend most of their academic time studying ideas they could have encountered at home.
Studying sustainability in Bali provides an opportunity to approach things differently.
One example was Tri Hita Karana, a Balinese philosophy concerned with maintaining harmonious relationships between the spiritual, human, and natural dimensions of life.
Cleo had no previous knowledge of the concept before arriving in Bali. By the end of the course, it had become the subject of her final project.
Her classroom interests were not always predictable either.
“The mangrove lecture is top notch,” she said, while waste management became another unexpected favorite.
“How is waste management going to be interesting? But it was so interesting.”
These subjects encourage students to examine sustainability through local environmental challenges, cultural perspectives, and practices rather than treating Bali merely as the location where an international course happens to take place.
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Students canoeing through the mangrove forest with Professor Asta during a field lecture, observing the ecosystem firsthand while exploring the ecological importance of mangroves and their role in coastal conservation.
Studying Abroad Also Means Learning Independence
Academic learning is only one part of international education. For Cleo, the summer course was also her first experience traveling independently. Before Bali, she had never done solo travel.
Living in another country meant learning how to navigate unfamiliar transportation, food, language, cultural differences, and everyday decisions. At the same time, being part of an organized academic program provided a structure around that independence.
Cleo described the experience as “baby steps.”
“I’ve been able to come here, do all of this independent stuff, explore a new place, and feel really like, wow, I’m so responsible.”
That confidence appears to have changed what she wants to do next.
After returning home, Cleo plans to continue learning Bahasa Indonesia. She also wants to return to Indonesia and travel more independently in the future.
“Now I just want to see so much more of the world. I’ve just realized how much of the world there is that I’ve never seen.”
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Cleo with fellow students and the Upskill Study Programs team at Samsara Living Museum, exploring the Balinese life cycle and learning how lontar manuscripts, traditional herbal knowledge, food, and cooking practices preserve and communicate cultural knowledge across generations.
What Students Take Home
The value of studying abroad is difficult to measure through one experience alone.
Academic knowledge matters. So does understanding a subject from perspectives that may not be available at a student’s home university. But international education can also challenge students to become more independent, curious, and comfortable operating outside familiar environments.
When Cleo was asked to describe her personal development during the program in one phrase, she chose an unconventional one:
“Free will maxing.”
Her explanation was considerably simpler.
“I’ve just felt like I’ve been doing new things and doing things that I never would have expected I’d be able to do before.”
Perhaps that captures something important about studying abroad.
The objective is not simply to study the same subject somewhere warmer. It is to encounter knowledge in another context, learn from people with different expertise and perspectives, and discover what happens when the classroom extends into the place around you.
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Cleo receiving her Certificate of Participation from Professor Wba during the farewell ceremony, marking the completion of her summer course at Udayana University.
Study in Bali With Upskill
Cleo participated in one of Upskill Study Programs’ short summer courses, but field based learning forms part of a wider academic approach for international students studying in Bali.
Through semester programs and summer courses, students can combine university study with academic field lectures, local expertise, cultural learning, and direct engagement with the environmental and community contexts connected to their subjects.
For students considering studying abroad in Indonesia, the question is therefore not only what can I study in Bali?
It is also: what could I understand differently by studying it here?
By upskill team
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