Be patient. After you enrol on a course with submitted Enrolment and Medical Forms, Outward Bound will screen through all the documents to ensure you are a good fit for the course. You will hear from a Course Advisor at Outward Bound offering your course if the screening process is done. 

In any case, if you have not received any response 14 days after submitting your form, please contact our Admission Office. All applications are dealt with on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Reminder: Send us your Enrolment Form, Medical Form, and pay the full course fee as soon as possible if you apply for a course less than 30 days before it starts. 

Enrolment will be closed two weeks before the course starts. We recommend submitting your enrolment at least one month before the course starts.

During peak season (i.e. Summer, Easter, Christmas) the courses usually fill up in very quickly!  We strongly recommend you sign up as soon as possible, or you may send us an enquiry.

Our Course Advisors will help you to decide to either join the waiting list for that course or find a different course.

Course fees cover the full-time attachment of instructors overseeing the safety, well-being and facilitation of learning over the entire course period.  Also, food, rations, camping gear and safety equipment are all included.   

However, insurance is not included. You can prepare extra insurance at your own cost or join our Group Personal Accident Insurance Scheme. 

Outward Bound does offer financial aid, based upon need, motivation, and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis by Outward Bound where your course is offered. Financial aid typically averages between 40% and 80% of the course tuition.  To apply, make sure to answer “yes” to the question on our enrolment form (under the payment section) that asks if you would like to be considered for financial aid. Outward Bound will send you a financial aid application, and we will notify you of the award offer having received and reviewed your completed paperwork. The enrolment fee is fully refundable if you apply for financial aid and you do not receive the award necessary for your course.

Yes. Some of the courses have been included in the list of reimbursable courses for CEF purposes. Participant applying for the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) should submit their application directly to the Office of the CEF before the commencement of the course. For details, please visit the website or contact the CEF enquiry hotline at +852 3142 2277

All prescription medications must be approved by Outward Bound  prior to the course start. On courses for participants under 18 who have written consent by parents or guardians, instructors will oversee the medication use. Please bring enough prescription medications in clearly marked  containers for the duration of the course. It is important that we know what medication is on course, so please provide full information - we have extensive experience of working with all kinds of needs - the most important thing is that we know about them!

You are more than welcome to travel to and from your course with items such as cell phones, iPods, tablets and laptops. However, once you arrive we will ask you to leave it all in your luggage which is kept locked away, as you are not allowed to take it on your course. We ask participants not to bring emergency response technology as we have a number of systems for emergency communication.

Cameras are welcome on course as long as they are not part of a smart phone.   

Participants' personal belongings will be secured in a safe on site. At the beginning of course, instructors work individually with participants to help them decide what essential items should be carried and what should stay in the luggage.

There is an element of risk in every part of our lives and completing challenging outdoor activities is no different. Risk is an element of everything that we do. However, with our depth of expertise, high staff:participant ratios, rigorous risk management systems and external accreditation we control the risk to ensure that participants  can focus on their development. 

We employ full-time staff who are trained and frequently monitored to ensure consistency. Our dedicated Safety Co-ordinator oversees equipment checks and compliance to ensure we meet or exceed industry standards. 

We take risk-management very seriously and as a result are proud of our record. We cannot eliminate risk - it is essential for effective learning to take place - but have everything in place to ensure it is effectively managed.

Outward Bound instructors are professional full-time trainers, facilitators and safety monitors. They come from different cultures and backgrounds and are chosen as much for their leadership abilities as they are for their interpersonal, educational and technical skills. 

As Hong Kong is a vibrant world city, Outward Bound courses are conducted in English, Cantonese or Putonghua. Approximately three quarters of our international staff are Hong Kong nationals, while the remaining third are from abroad. Outward Bound instructors are educators who are as passionate about the outdoor lifestyle as they are about facilitating human development. 

All of our instructors receive internal training, regardless of their background, experience or qualifications, to ensure that they meet our required level of competency for specific activities, An instructor is not permitted to lead a group until they have the required competencies. Many have a technical background in one outdoor pursuit or another, from rock climbing or sea kayaking to  and sailing. All instructors must maintain First Aid and Lifesaving certifications to maintain employment.

No. Every participant must wear Outward Bound approved life jackets during water activities. Also, before courses start, each participant must complete a ‘water confidence’ test before any water activities are completed. This test must be completed in a depth where the participant cannot stand up. It is an opportunity for the participant to get used to the buoyancy a flotation device provides and feel at ease floating in the water. The objective of the water confidence test is to allow the instructor to observe the skill level of their individual participants in the water and their ability to stay afloat with the aid of either a life jacket or buoyancy aid.

As Outward Bound programme are wilderness based, the opportunities of having “shower” are varied. Personal hygiene is important and so participants will find ways to keep clean - such as using water in containers, finding a water source, public facilities etc.

However, there are no luxury shower blocks!

For center based courses, you will have an opportunity to take a quick shower at least every two days, possibly even every day depending on program outline. While for the journey based courses, you are usually free to bathe in sea water everyday, the opportunity to wash in fresh water occurs every two to three days depending on program.

For center based courses, Outward Bound is equipped with washrooms free to use by participants. 

For journey based courses, we follow a set of Leave No Trace principles, for example, self-made ‘cat-hole’ toilets in the wilderness areas and clear instruction for how to use and maintain it.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate in an Outward Bound course.  However, it is important that we know as much about our participants as possible and therefore have rigorous medical screening procedures. Before you begin a course, everyone completes a personal medical history record. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian will need to complete and sign it on your behalf. This medical screening procedure is designed to ensure that instructors have the most up-to-date information regarding the physical and mental condition of their participants before they begin a course. 

Should there be any concern for any medical condition shown in the personal medical history record, Outward Bound Hong Kong will make contact to either seek clarification or more information regarding a certain condition or request for specific medical clearance from a registered Doctor prior to joining a course. Remember the aim is not to exclude but to make sure we have everything in place for a successful course experience.

Our instructors are trained to assess the severity of medical conditions and injuries. If a participant requires  further medical attention, Outward Bound Hong Kong will make necessary arrangements and maintain contact with parents or guardians. 

It is reported to the safety management team and instructors who will, wherever possible, work to return the participant to course.

Given the number of people that we work with each year some illness and minor injuries are to be expected. Instructors have Wilderness Advanced First Aid training or higher and they must carry a fully stocked first aid kit at all times.  

As Outward Bound programmes take participants into unfamiliar environments we do experience a small number of scratches, bumps and bruises. We also have experience of students falling sick on course, which is to be expected as it would be in normal daily life. 

We have well-practiced responses to these incidents and maintain communication with everyone involved. 

The exact course program will be determined by the instructors who will consider the best way to achieve the intended learning outcome and use the most appropriate activity. This may be influenced by season, weather, group background etc. Where it is a specified course (e.g. a ketch sailing course) then the route will be determined to suit the course.

Most of our programmes operate on the water. These ‘sea journeys’  involve either expedition kayaking or sailing as a means of transportation.  Some courses will also involve hiking at certain times of year. 

The aim of the courses is to take participants on a journey where even though they are the same person day in and day out, they will be placed into an environment of unfamiliar setting and faced with challenges daily.  It is up to the participant to work with others in the group to face such challenges and difficult times to discover hidden potential within themselves and attitudes or ways or working with others that they may never have experienced or considered before.  Pushing personal boundaries through encouragement, motivation and support of others will help participants to increase their comfort zones and what used to be perceived and ‘difficult’, ‘impossible’ or ‘hard to deal with’ will soon become ‘manageable’ and ‘easy to deal with’.

There are several activities that participants will find themselves involved with during a course however each course is different with specific learning outcomes that are facilitated through the experiences gained for helping participants to transfer back into their everyday lives.  As such not all activities will be incorporated into each programme unless deemed to be appropriate for facilitating a specific learning outcome for that course.

Outward Bound provide food suitable for every participant on course. We also provide nutritional and healthy orientated dietary foods to ensure each participant has a healthy diet, given the physicality of programmes. The menu is designed by a professional nutritionist to ensure participants received appropriate calories and the nutrients that they require.

Sure. A female participant can still participate in sea based journeys.  At Outward Bound there are many female operational staff.  Should a participant be experiencing menstrual problems, she should inform the instructors who are trained to be sensitive and professional to deal with these occurrences. 

Instructors are also required to carry extra sanitary napkins should a participant only discover during the course that her menstruation cycle has arrived.