JENZA Paper Tear
Profile Image
BUNAC-logo.png
BUNAC_Hero_KR-0-1144-Oct24.jpg

Making travel work since 1962

About BUNAC

Hey, we're BUNAC! And we've been shaping the way students and 18-30s see the world for over 60 years.

Part of the JENZA Travel Group – a family of work, camp + intern brands for students and 18-30s

JENZA Paper Tear

Meet the travel fam

travel world.svg

The grown ups

The JENZA Travel Group is our parent company and also includes our Irish youth work and travel brand, USIT.

board.svg

The camp one

Founded in 1962 and launching our first camp program in 1972, BUNAC is our dedicated Summer Camp USA brand.

Illustrated black footprints

The work one

Our 'never coming home' sibling brand, JENZA is all things working holidays and international internships for the rest of the world.

HighFive_JENZA_Black.svg

Our story

|

A bit about us

Where it all began...

About BUNAC

Founded in 1962 by two students, our founders knew that crossing borders had the power to break down barriers and build cultural connections. (They were also British, so understood that staying in the UK for the summer could be meteorologically dicey). So, they chartered a plane, got a gang together, and started running cultural exchanges to the USA. Ten years later, BUNAC launched its famous Summer Camp USA program – and we’ve been saving summers from average jobs at home ever since!

Black and white polaroid of 2 males in an office in 1963

Why the history lesson...

Why BUNAC

60+ years later, our purpose has never been more important. We believe that travel is one of the most impactful things you can do in your twenties – and we're on a mission to open up as many cabin doors as we can for our travellers. A heritage brand with a challenger spirit, BUNAC has led the way in shaping the camp world – always pushing for the highest salaries and even pioneering the first camp hiring pool to give our travellers more choice over their camp placement.

Black and white polaroid of 1963 office with 2 males and 3 females

A brief history of BUNAC

1962 The British Universities North America Club (BUNAC) was officially founded as a non-profit by uni students Christopher Harbour and Martin Truscott

1963 BUNAC chartered its first transatlantic flight program with 1,530 travellers – a return flight was just £59!

1966 The Exchange Visitor Program (now known as Work USA) was created for UK university students to work over in America

1972 BUNAC’s Summer Camp USA program was established, sending 351 happy campers to work for the summer in the States

1986 After years of lobbying, the Canadian Government gave its approval for a flexible work program – to become Work Canada

1988 BUNAC UK begins receiving Australia, New Zealand and Canadian students

1989 Our Work Australia program is launched

1992 BUNAC turns 30 and sends its 150,000th participant

2009 BUNAC becomes a UKVI sponsor for the GAE visa program, now known as JENZA Intern UK

2018 We launch Work Japan - enabling 18-30s to work in Japan with English-speaking ski jobs

2022 We recruit our first Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) of 18-25 year olds to help keep Gen Z voices at the centre of what we do

2023 The JENZA Travel Group, now made up of BUNAC and USIT, launch our new work and travel brand JENZA into the Australia, NZ, UK and US markets

2023 We launch our Youth Access Scholarship Fund, where we donate 5% of profits to open up work overseas opportunities to more young people

2024 Going back to our 1972 summer camp roots, BUNAC becomes our dedicated summer camp brand!

Bunac x Jenza

Working the world together

Wondering what happened to BUNAC working holidays and internships? Here's Reggie to explain. Although JENZA and BUNAC are the same team behind-the-scenes with similar work abroad programs, we had different brand names in different countries. Which was something of a headache for our team – and probably a little confusing for you guys! So, we had a do-over. Going back to our 1972 camp roots, BUNAC is now everything Summer Camp USA, and JENZA is all things working holidays and international internships. Same team, same programs - one happy family of work, intern and camp brands.

Cut out of a brown Labrador dog sitting at a table with a laptop and headphones on on a blue background. There is an arrow and some text that reads 'Reggie - Owner: Ella, Sales'.

The good stuff

Working on our mission

Committed to our three values – Authenticity, Accessibility, Accountability (and our un-official fourth value of not being an A-hole) – we're working towards doing better for our people, our community and our planet. We work with our Youth Advisory Panel of 18-25 year olds to help keep youth voices at the heart our business, we're on track to become B-Corp certified, and we donate 5% of profits to our Youth Access Scholarship Fund to help support young people to have the life-shaping experience of working overseas.

JENZA Paper Tear
Tower bridge with pink and yellow designs super imposed onto the photo

Visa sponsors for Intern UK

Founding our first student exchange program to the UK in 1966, today, BUNAC remains one of the largest A-rated visa sponsors for our JENZA Intern UK program. If you're an international student looking to get ahead with a 1-12 month UK internship, head to our JENZA site for all the internship intel!

JENZA Paper Tear

Upcoming events

Get hired or get the intel

A group of campers stand in the sun next to a lake waving America, Australian and UK flags

In-person hiring days | Australia

07 Dec Melbourne | 08 Dec Sydney | 09 Dec Brisbane

Meet Camp Directors face-to-face, connect with others heading to camp, and (fingers crossed) get hired on the day. To register your interest, apply for Summer Camp USA and let us know which city you'd like to attend. We can't wait to see your face, but don't worry if you can't make an in-person event - the quickest way to get hired is in our hiring pool.

Guy sits in chair beside lake on sunny evening

In-person camp hiring days | UK + Ireland

28 Jan Dublin | 01 Feb London

Meet Camp Directors face-to-face, connect with others heading to camp, and (fingers crossed) get hired on the day. To register your interest, apply for Summer Camp USA and let us know which city you'd like to attend. We can't wait to see your face, but don't worry if you can't make an in-person event - the quickest way to get hired is in our hiring pool.

View all events

JENZA Paper Tear
Girl with sunglasses standing with her arm raised on a beach with waves and sunset in the background

The rest of the world...

Searching for our working holidays and internships?

Same team, same programs - different name! Head to our JENZA site for working holidays, ski seasons and international internships in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and UK.

JENZA Paper Tear
JENZA Paper Tear
BUNAC-logo.png
WYSETC_negative.png
TikTokIcon_White.svglinkedinwhite-.svgInstagramIcon_White .svg

My Booking

JENZA Travel International Ltd, trading as BUNAC, is a company registered in Dublin, Ireland with Registered Company No. 707281 and registered address at 29-31 South William St, Dublin, Ireland, D02 EY96.