Rotary's Youth Exchange (RYE) Program
This page provides an overview of the many aspects of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. By clicking on the particular heading below readers can navigate to the relevant section covered by that heading
1. What is RYE Rotary Youth Exchange ?
Rotary Youth Exchange is an official program of Rotary International that allows students from participating countries to exchange with other countries through the Rotary Network. While there are other student exchange providers, Rotary’s RYE program is considered to provide greater advantages by way of lifestyle experience, culture and importantly student safety and well being.
As a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, you will spend 12 months in an overseas country – this gives you
- an opportunity to develop your personal self confidence and maturity
- an opportunity to develop a lifetime of international friendships
- an opportunity to develop a real understanding of many different cultures
- an opportunity to develop new language skills
- an opportunity to develop a base for future education and career goals
- an opportunity to develop in many ways
Rotary Youth Exchange is an opportunity of a lifetime
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2. How does the Program work ?
At the National level, the Rotary Youth Exchange program is no different to other secondary student exchange programs in that it is controlled and supervised by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations which regulates the education and training sector’s involvement with overseas students studying in Australia on student visas.
It does this through the Education Services for Overseas Students legislative framework. This protects Australia’s reputation for delivering quality education services and the interests of overseas students, by setting standards . Further where exchange agreements exist between the various exchanging countries, exchanging students are not required to pay for education expenses.
The ESOS legislation is enhanced by its relationship with the immigration laws of the exchanging countries which in turn imposes on the Exchange provider a number of visa related reporting requirements on both students and providers. This ensures that the quality of the tuition, and care of students, remains high. It also ensures that a provider maintains a balance between sponsored students ( Outbound ) and Hosted students ( Inbound ),hence its reciprocal nature.
A simple explanation of the framework is the Easy Guide to ESOS.[See www.dest.gov.au/ esos / default :htm for further details ].
As a Rotary Exchange student, you will spend one year living in another country, usually with three or four host families. You will become part of those families and their community. These Rotary accredited families are volunteers who will welcome and care for you, supervise your year and introduce you to their culture and lifestyle. These families may be Rotarian and non Rotarian families.
As the program is reciprocal, your family may be required to support Rotary with the Hosting of an inbound student in this District.
Currently, Rotary District 9750 exchanges with countries whose official language is not English only and therefore you will be required to learn that country’s language if you want to have a successful exchange. Failure to make an attempt to learn the language after a reasonable time, may result in the Exchange being cancelled and the student returned home.
In your host country you will experience different foods, study different subjects, enjoy a new culture and enjoy a new way of living. In addition you will learn a great deal about yourself and gain confidence and self sufficiency.
One of the exchange rules stipulates that you attend school in your local community, as well as participating in Rotary activities and civic functions. At the same time you will make new friends, see exciting places and experience adventures that will take a lifetime to recount.
However while there are requirements and obligations on Rotary, there are a number of obligations on both the student and student’s parents and these will be discussed and shown on the both the initial and full application papers.
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3. Rotary's Youth Policy
Rotary International, in line with its objective to provide the best student exchange program has implemented a worldwide Certification process for all participating clubs and the necessary infrastructure for the program.
Associated with this program, the Board of Rotary International has made the following statement as a code of Conduct ;
" Statement of Conduct for working with Youth
Rotary International strives to create and maintain a safe environment for all youth who participate in Rotary activities. Rotarians, Rotarian's Spouses and partners and other volunteers must safeguard the children and young people with whom they come into contact and protect them from physical sexual and emotional abuse ".
Furthermore, Rotary in New South Wales is required to comply with the following State legislature:-
1. The Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998
2. The Child Protection Act ( Offenders Registration ) Act 2000
3. Working with Children Guidelines.
see http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/) .
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4. Who is eligible ?
To be eligible for Rotary Youth Exchange you must:-
1. Be aged between 16 and 18 years and 3 months at the time of departure in mid January each year. Students should be aware that some countries impose a lower age limit on their inbound students and therefore some older students may not be acceptable to some countries.
2. Be enrolled in full time secondary education at the time of application .
3. Be making sound progress at school and have a general interest in people and places and should possess a good general knowledge of Australia.
4. Have displayed high standards of personal conduct and attitudes which are widely accepted in our community.
5.Have an outgoing personality and should be interested in cultural or outdoor pursuits.
Sons or daughters of Rotary members gain no preference in selection.
Rotary is looking for young people who can act as personal ambassadors for the sponsoring club , District and Australia.
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5. Costs
The costs for the 12months student exchange will vary depending on a student's personal budget and assigned country. The subject of costs and budgets will be discussed during the District Selection weekend and subsequent briefing / preparation sessions conducted before departure
As you will see in the respective application papers a student's natural parents and guardian will be responsible for the following costs :-
- Return airfare , as arranged by Rotary , to the country of exchange
- Personal insurance, as defined by Rotary International and arranged by this district committee
- An administration fee
- Internal travel in overseas country including Rotary or school organised tours.
- Day to day living expenses of the student, postage, phone calls, personal items, clothing, footwear etc.
- School travel expenses -in some countries students may be required to pay for this expense.
Rotary will provide :-
- Rotary approved host families who provide a family environment for the student.
- Schooling and the payment of normal school fees and expenses.
- A monthly allowance of approximately equivalent to $ 120/ month , but this will vary from country to country.
- A student counsellor, both here and in the host country.
- Back up support and counselling for the family of the student
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6. Program Time Table
To ensure that selected students depart for their overseas exchanges in January each year , the program must run to a strict time table.
- February - March: Students are invited to apply by completing the Initial Application and posting it to a local club by the 30th March each year.
- March – April: Applicants are interviewed and if selected, the nominated student is requested to complete the Long Term application form with applications to the District Committee closing on the 30th April each year.
- Mid June – District Selection weekend - Applicants are interviewed by District Committee and intially briefed on the program. Application papers of selected students are forwarded to a hosting overseas district.
- Mid September – Second Training Session.
- October – December – Visa application processed by the allocated country’s consulate.
- Mid December – Final Training Session.
- Early January – Last year's students return.
- Late January( Circa 20/22nd ) – Outbound students depart.
- Mid February – Debriefing Session for last year's rebounds
Applying students should note that endorsement or acceptance of the application by an overseas district can occur at any date during the period of August to November. It is only when an endorsed Guarantee form ( forming part of the Application papers ) is returned to the sponsoring district that the student's Exchange is firm and formalised . An endorsed Guarantee form is required for the long term visa application.
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7.Completing the initial Application
As your first step, you should create in your PC, a new folder under My Documents called "Youth Exchange". This will keep all future documents and downloads in an orderly manner for later retrieval.
Then download the Initial application form by activating one of the Icons in the right hand panel and save into this folder . This form is available in two formats, RTF ( MS Word ) and PDF, both
formats being acessible from either of the icons shown below. To open the PDF files you will need to download a copy of the latest version of the Adobe Reader, if this is not on your system . You will also need this to complete the Long term application.
You can now complete the application form and despatch to this Rotary Club through the nominated Rotarians responsible for Youth Exchange in this club .
Initial application forms
PDF Format
RTF Format
Webmasters note : The PDF format file will require the Adobe Reader on the viewer's system to be able to open and view the file contents. Unless an applicant has the full Adobe system, the Adobe Reader will allow an applicant to type in the details and print but not save.
Currently the Rotarynews.info system will not accept the RTF (Rich text Formatted ) files. Until this is corrected applicants should contact this webmaster on Gbea0414@bigpond.com.au to request the RTF format file.
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8. Completing the Long Term Application
. If you have been accepted by the Rotary Club that has interviewed you, you will be asked to complete the more comprehensive ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE – LONG TERM APPLICATION.
This application will be used by the District committee at their interview and will be sent to your allocated host country to serve as your introduction to the people who are being asked to host you.
More importantly section E- GUARANTEE AND VISA APPLICATION of this application is a legal document which is used by the host country’s Consulate to grant you your entry visa which will be endorsed into your passport.
You should now download the Rotary Youth Exchange Long Term Program Application by accessing the Adobe Acrobat PDF icon below and save in the “Youth Exchange” folder previously created by you .
Long Term Application Form
Open the Application File and print a draft or working copy. Then carefully examine and understand the directions on page two of the form.
Because of the protective nature of the PDF format you will not be able to save entered data, but the PDF format enables you to enter details in data fields once only and to populate them throughout the document and so avoid multiple entries of information. Clicking on checkboxes will insert an "x"
Before you start to complete the application, ascertain what other documents are needed to complete it. A number of sections are to be completed by external agencies ie Medical, Dental and school reports and these should be actioned concurrently rather than sequentially. In some cases, authorisation must be obtained from all parents of/ legal guardians and others who have legal rights to the decisions affecting the students participation. See check box in paragraph 2 Part A page 1.
There are a number of sections in the application requiring the details of your club and district personnel. These are :-
1. Section A page 2 Item 7 “ Sponsor District /Club Contacts” and
2. Section E page 1 Guarantee and Visa Application part D
You should ascertain this information from your sponsor Club Contact and type it into the designated frames.
When completed refer to your club for endorsement and then for referral to the District Committee
Remember the deadline to the District Committee is the 30th April.
Also remember keep a copy of your application papers for your personal records.
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9. What happens after I have submitted the Long term application ?
Within two weeks of submitting your application, you will receive an acknowledgement and advice concerning your District Committee Selection weekend together with directions to the venue. If you have not received this advice by the 30th May please contact your sponsoring club to follow up.
Remember the deadline to the District Committee is the 30th April.
10. District Selection and Preparation Seminars
Besides the District Selection weekend, as previously mentioned, there will two other preparation sessions- All sessions are compulsory and failure to attend may mean cancellation of your exchange.
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Students wishing to apply for sponsorship to the Rotary Youth Exchange program should contact the Youth Committee members of this Club at the bottom of the Club Program & Contacts page .
[click to access ]
For a more expansive information you may wish access the District Youth Exchange website by [Clicking here]