District 5040 Group Study Exchange (GSE)

Welcome to the homepage of District 5040's Group Study Exchange Website. This website is intended for the use of current and previous GSE teams as well as host countries. It has been also designed to allow a GSE Alumni to keep in contact with team members and share past experiences so that it will help future teams plan their tours.

What is GSE?

Group Study Exchange (GSE) is a vocational and cultural exchange program between two participating Rotary Districts sponsored by the Rotary Foundation.

Two Different Exchanges Planned for 2009

Two different GSE exchanges have been planned for 2009 and recruitment and training for both outbound teams is now underway.

The first exchange, which will not have an individual vocational focus, will be with District D1090 in England - which is under the leadership of DG Malcolm Boddington pictured to the left. Their area includes Oxford, Abingdon, Ascot, Henley, Windsor and Reading. The D5040 team will depart on March 12th and return on April 10th. More information about this District is available on their website at this site (Click here)

The second exchange will be with District D5630 in Nebraska will be focused on “Fish and Wildlife", with an emphasis on habitat preservation and resource management. DG Tom Kraus is pictured on the right and the D5630 website can be found at this site (Click here)

The outbound D5040 team to Nebraska will travel between April 1st to 30th.

Selected Teams

The two teams for the exchange with the UK have already been selected and are as follows - (Click here) Details of the two Nebraska exchange teams will follow soon.

Team Selection Criteria

As usual the two teams will comprise an experienced Rotarian leader and four non-Rotarian team members. Detailed criteria for the Team Leader and Team Members are provided in the material which can be downloaded from this site. Requirements for the four Team Members can be summarized as:

• Be currently employed for at least two years in any recognized business or profession on a full-time basis and be 25 to 40 years of age at the time of application
• Work or live within District 5040
• Canadian citizens
• Have good health, be neat in appearance and be able to express themselves clearly and logically
• Have a sound educational background and solid cultural awareness
• Be interested in and clearly enthusiastic about their chosen vocations, and possess outstanding vocational skills
• Open-minded, tolerant, and flexible
• Note that relatives of Rotarians are not eligible

In order to ensure equitable participation opportunities throughout the District, and to limit overhead costs, the team to visit the UK will be recruited from the southern part of D5040 and the USA team from the northern portion of the District. 100 Mile House and all clubs further to the north will comprise the northern portion.

Participation Costs

The Rotary Foundation and the host District will provide almost all travel and accomodation for GSE teams and therefore costs for participants will generally be limited to incidental expenses.

Application Procedure

Gary Shearer is responsible for the District D1090 exchange and Tim Cawdell the D5630 exchange. Applications must be submitted to the responsible team organizer, as indicated above, using the forms downloaded from this site. Applications endorsed by a D5040 Rotary club are preferred but are not essential for good candidates.

More Information

For more information about this GSE opportunity please contact either:

Gary Shearer at garryshearer@yahoo.ca or Tim Cawdell at timcawdell_8@hotmail.com