Building Universal Access
Dana Stephenson, CEO of Riipen and member of the NWILA Advisory Board, argues that higher education’s approach to work-integrated learning is fundamentally broken. In order to fix this in a measurable way, the institutional infrastructure needs repair, not simply individual efforts.
“The uncomfortable truth is that the current model [of work-integrated learning] will not get us to universal access,” Stephenson said, “the institutions that will lead in the next decade of higher education won’t be those that help a few students find internships. They’ll be those that build the infrastructure to make work-integrated learning universal, embedded, and genuinely accessible for every student.”
The employer/college relationship also needs to be revisited. Reliance on faculty connections or alumni relationships only work in smaller ecosystems that limit access to a few, at scale this model will collapse.
“To scale this sustainably,” Stephenson explained, “higher education needs clear experience models, employer onboarding, student preparation, faculty support, common skills, language, quality standards, and feedback loops, as well as the technology that makes it easier to connect real work to learning.”
Stephenson advocates for what he calls an “employer menu,” which is described as a range of engagement options beyond traditional internships. Having this kind of flexibility benefits both the employer and institutions.
"The strongest employer partnerships I have seen are not built by simply asking employers to 'take students.' They are built by giving employers a clear menu of ways to engage, and then supporting them to choose the right model at the right time. Some employers may be ready for internships, while others may be better suited to short projects, employer challenges, applied assignments, simulations, team-based consulting projects, mentoring, or feedback on student work."
There are opportunities for structured projects outside of traditional internships: a non-profit that needs help with donor data but cannot hire an intern, a manufacturer who wants perspectives on process improvement, or a startup in need of market research. Each of these are opportunities for students to gain career-ready skills, embedded into their coursework, while being beneficial to industry professionals.
"Employers are motivated by access to talent, fresh thinking, community impact, brand visibility, and the chance to help shape the skills they need in the future workforce. But they are often held back by unclear expectations, academic complexity, timing misalignment, administrative burden, and uncertainty about whether the experience will be worth the time required. Institutions need to reduce that friction by making participation easier, clearer, and more valuable."
Stephenson challenges the tension between education and employability, asserting the two missions are not in conflict, but rather are in alignment.
“Stop treating the civic mission of higher education and the mission of employability as competing ideas. They are not.”
He defines the overlap as civic preparation. In that, graduates are educated to think critically, communicate effectively, collaborate across differences to solve complex problems, and contribute meaningfully to a democratic society. These are the same needs that employers are searching for in their organizations.
Graduate employability is developing capabilities, not vocational training. The difference between the two is the broad versus narrow focus. Stephenson’s vision for integrating work into learning is concrete.
“Every student should have repeated opportunities to work on real problems with real organizations, build durable skills, understand how their learning connects to the world of work, and gain the confidence to keep adapting as careers continue to change.”
In order to achieve scaled work-integrated learning, Stephenson challenges institutional leaders to make a fundamental choice: to either continue treating work-integrated learning as an “add-on” that is “nice to have” or commit to building it into the educational architecture. It requires a shift in investing from individual programs to infrastructure in order to support scalable pathways rather than boutique experiences.
Work-integrated learning should be a universal experience, according to Stephenson, but he questions whether institutions will build the infrastructure to make it so.
Related articles:
Beyond Internships: Advisory Board Members Envision a New Era of Employer Engagement
National Work-integrated Learning Accelerator Announces Advisory Board