Jenny is studying medicine at an English university. Her elective has been timetabled for six weeks in June and July. The university is insisting that at least five of those weeks be spent on scheduled elective activities. Over her Christmas holiday she reads about our flexible electives program and decides to apply…

• New Year: she applies online and pays £25.

• January: we process her application and accept her subject to references.

• February: her references come back fine, we give her an acceptance email for her university’s records and send her our virtual orientation pack.

• March: she decides to do a five week elective. She will spend the sixth week back at home, recovering from jet lag and preparing for her graduation. She books and pays for her flights and arranges insurance. She looks up her visa requirements: as a UK citizen she is entitled to an automatic, free 30-day visa upon arrival in the Philippines; she will need a visa extension to cover the last week of her elective.

• April: she reads our virtual orientation. She gets the necessary vaccinations and a supply of PEP from her university’s occupational health department.

• May: her studies have been particularly tiring and so she decides to modify her elective plan. We agree that she should take the first week as a reading week. She will go straight on to another Philippine island, recover from jet lag, learn to SCUBA dive, and read about offender healthcare. Then she will come to us.

  • We amend her pre-arrival invoice for £200 (4 not 5 weeks of onsite supervision @ £50/week). She pays it. We give her access to the reading week’s e-material.

  • She arranges her internal flights and accommodation on her chosen island. We help her choose a reputable dive shop. She pays and starts doing her pre-diving course e-learning.

It’s finally happening! Jenny has passed her end-of-year exams and jets off on her elective…

• Week 1: Jenny arrives in the Philippines:

  • She travels to her chosen holiday island of Palawan, rests, recovers from jetlag, learns to SCUBA dive, and sits in a hammock doing a bit of e-reading about offender healthcare.

  • On the weekend she travels to our base.

• Week 2: Jenny orientates herself within our team and starts joining in with their rolling program of activities. In addition:

  • On Monday morning she has in-person orientation and chooses a QIP.

  • She pays 90% of her anticipated full board accommodation cost (a maximum of 5 weeks x 7 days x P1500/night) with the balance to be paid by the end of her elective. This allows flexibility for her weekend plans, as short notice plans are fun to make and we do not charge students for nights when they are away for the weekend.

  • She spends the weekend wreck diving in nearby Subic Bay.

• Week 3: Jenny is now embedded into our team:

  • She finds a particular patient to follow up and focus on in her CbD.

  • She teaches our team about the management of raised blood pressure.

  • She decides to go to Baguio for a long weekend with one of our staff members who is a keen mountain climber. She leaves on Thursday evening on the overnight bus. She explores Baguio including doing a pre-dawn hike up one of its smaller mountains.

• Week 4: Jenny is now thoroughly embedded in our team:

  • She moved her flexible Friday to Monday, so returns from Baguio on Monday evening.

  • She teaches CPR to student caregivers/healthcare assistants.

  • As she will be in the Philippines for more than one month, she visits the local shopping mall and gets a visa extension for just over P3000.

  • During a local beach clean-up team bonding day, she dives against debris for free with her SCUBA-diving clinical supervisor.

  • On Friday evening she travels to Manila for the weekend.

• Week 5: Jenny enjoys the last week of her elective:

  • She finishes her QIP.

  • She moves around her activities so as to be able to go SCUBA diving on two mornings.

  • She has her CbD with her supervisor who signs off her elective paperwork.

  • She she pays the balance of her accommodation fee.

  • She makes European crepes for the team during her farewell party.

Jenny’s medical school has an online electives folder, in which returning elective students give future elective students recommendations (and warnings) for the planning of their own electives.

In the section about funding the elective, Jenny considered that some costs vary from person to person depending upon their health, ability to fund recreational activities, and the time of the year. So alongside the amounts, she wrote some helpful notes…

• Compulsory = £1,553

  • Application fee = £25

  • Flights = £682
    I booked three months in advance and flew with Qatar Airways (with a very short transit stop in Doha) from Heathrow to Clark (Angeles) Airport, which is the nearest to Olongapo. It would likely be cheaper to:
    - fly into Manila Airport rather than Clark
    - fly with airlines other than Qatar & Emirates, which transit through the Middle East and fly to Clark/Angeles
    - go at other times of the year
    - have a longer transit stop
    - search for many flight options on Cheapflights, Kiwi and Skyscanner

  • Health & travel insurance = £48
    This varies a lot depending upon your overall health, anticipated activities and level of benefits. Your insurance must include hospitalisation costs and repatriation to your home country. And if you are going to do any high risk activities such as SCUBA diving, you need to ensure that the policy will cover evacuation and hyperbaric chamber treatment in the event of a case of decompression sickness.

  • Onsite food & accommodation = ~£453 (P1,500/night)
    Upon arrival, you pay 90% of this anticipated cost. Then you pay the balance before you leave. This allows for you to make short-notice decisions during your stay, about going away for long weekends.

  • Supervision fee = £200 (£50/week)
    This is not charged for reading weeks.
    Although this is minor part of your overall costs, Integritas does run its own bursary scheme for two students each year, discounting and - for a suitable low-and-middle-income applicant - waiving this fee. (See higher up this page for further details.)

  • Safeguarding check = £0
    Most universities cover the charge of a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check in the UK or whatever is the equivalent in your country of study.

  • Travel between airport and our base in Olongapo = ~£5 (bus + trike)
    This will vary a bit, depending upon which airport you fly into.

  • Vaccinations & any other preventative health measures = ~£140

• Optional = £806

  • Offsite accommodation & food = ~£120
    If you don’t go away from Olongapo on your days off, you’ll need to pay Integritas for extra days of full-board accommodation.

  • Recreational activities = ~£555
    Day at hotel roof top pool = P400
    Entry fees to local beach = P90 (P30/day)
    Mountain-climbing pass = P500
    SCUBA diving course = P28,000
    SCUBA fun diving = P11,400 (P3,800 (2 boat dives) x 3 days)

  • Recreational travel = ~£89
    Buses between Olongapo & Baguio = P840 (P420/one-way x 1 return trip)
    Buses between Olongapo & Manila = P1,096 (P274/one-way x 2 return trips)
    Flights between Clark and Palawan = £46
    Several jeepney (local bus) journeys = ~P200 (as little as P20)
    Several trike (bike taxi) journeys = ~P1,000 (common prices are P30-P300)

  • Visas = ~£42 (P3,030)
    You only need to pay this if you stay longer than a month