Take innovation to implementation

Explore open-access tools, frameworks, and case studies that make work-integrated learning (WIL) scalable and sustainable across higher education.

About the Hub

The WIL Accelerator Resource Hub is an open-access library built to help higher education leaders, industry, and innovators turn ideas into action.

Each resource reflects lessons learned from pilots, research, and collaborations across the Accelerator network—tested models that anyone can adapt, apply, and build upon.

Whether you’re integrating real-world projects into the curriculum, designing workforce partnerships, or testing digital WIL tools, this hub connects you to the frameworks and insights shaping the future of higher education.

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Guides/Templates

Time to Value: Accelerating the Return on Students’ Educational Investment

The University of North Texas (UNT) uses a Time to Value framework to measure how quickly graduates recoup the investment they make in their education by comparing the cost of a degree with graduates' increased lifetime earnings. This metric informs institutional decisions about curriculum, advising, and student success initiatives to maximize the value of a UNT degree.A key contributor to improving students' time to value is work-integrated learning (WIL). By expanding internships, industry-sponsored projects, and other career-connected experiences, UNT helps students build workforce-ready skills, develop professional networks, and transition more quickly into meaningful employment—ultimately increasing the return on their educational investment.

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Research/Reports

UCF Career Connected Learning in Action

The University of Central Florida (UCF) embedded career-connected, work-integrated learning (WIL) directly into required first-year engineering coursework. Part of the Work-Integrated Learning Accelerator initiative, this pilot was designed to provide early career exposure to every student—not just the most engaged—helping them choose the right major, stay on track for graduation, avoid credit loss, and connect academic learning to real-world careers.

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Articles, Research/Reports

Models and Practices for Supporting Students and Strengthening the Workforce

It is time for accessible education to partner with employers to set up all students for success in their respective field. This Strada report explores the different ways institutions and employers can collaborate to support students and strengthen workforce pathways. It breaks down different partnership models, the policies that can help them, and everyday practices that strengthen these partnerships. This report showcases how students can be that much more supported when they have access to financial support, meaningful career guidance, and hands-on work-based learning and partnerships between colleges and employers are one of the best tools to make that happen.

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Articles

Building Pluralistic Intelligence Into the American Research University

To respond to challenges in society, sustainability, and governance, universities must first deal with the mismatch between how knowledge is actually generated and what academia recognizes and teaches.

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Articles, Case Study

The Global Scholars Program: A bold model for applied learning, careers and global impact

William & Mary's Global Scholars Program is a strong example of how institutions are actively working on creating new ways of applied learning experiences for their students. This article looks at how W&M brought together internships, international study, and structured mentorship into one experience. This approach means students do not have to choose between different applied learning options. W&M shares practical strategies for making work-integrated learning available to more students, these include layered mentorship, financial aid to help all students participate, and collaboration across departments. Together, these steps provide a model that other institutions can use to make applied learning a regular and fair part of every student’s education.

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Research/Reports

Entry Level Hiring in the AI Era

Entry-level jobs have long represented the first step on the career ladder toward economic stability and mobility. But today’s world, with its constantly changing job market and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, is making their role in launching a career feel more uncertain. As AI automates some of the tasks historically done by entry-level workers, are those jobs starting to disappear? To understand better how entry-level hiring is evolving in the early AI era — and to help inform how learners, educators, and policymakers prepare for a changing job market — Strada Institute for the Future of Work surveyed nearly 1,500 executives and senior talent leaders across the country, representing the full range of industries and firm sizes. We asked them key questions relevant to people starting their careers: Is AI increasing or decreasing entry-level hiring? How is it changing the skills and qualifications employers expect? And which credentials, skills, and experience matter most for success in an entry-level job?

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Articles

Scaling Work-Based Learning Is a Team Sport

Scaling work-based learning requires more than strong systems—it depends on the collective effort of a well-aligned team. In this second installment of the series, Kevin Grubb explores how institutions can move from strategy to action by mobilizing faculty, staff, employers, and external partners around a shared goal. The article highlights practical approaches to activating cross-functional teams, strengthening and coordinating employer partnerships, and investing in supervisor development to ensure high-quality student experiences. Together, these strategies emphasize that expanding access to work-based learning is a collaborative effort—one that succeeds when institutions think broadly about who is involved and how they work together.

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Guides/Templates

Learner Journey through Work-Integrated Learning

The learner journey through Work-integrated Learning helps institutions recognize and understand the full process from initial awareness to recording and communicating skills as a learner—so they can develop tools and services that align with learners’ needs. Institutions can review this content to better understand the journey and capture key insights for improvement.

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Articles

Completion is Not Enough

In this thought-provoking article, Sukhwant Jhaj argues that higher education must move beyond a narrow focus on access and completion to confront a more urgent challenge: post-graduate success. Drawing on national data and decades of research, he highlights the growing disconnect between earning a degree and achieving meaningful career and life outcomes. The piece reframes student success as a three-phase journey—access, completion, and post-college thriving—and calls on institutions to redesign their systems to deliver on the true promise of higher education: economic mobility, adaptability, and a better future for every student.

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