Experiential Learning at USask

To prepare for the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow, recruiting competent, and experienced students and graduates is vital to the growth of business, innovation within industry, and the stability of our economy.

Experiential Learning (EL) opportunities are key to supporting students' development of core skills and competencies and preparing them to Be What the World Needs. Our partnerships with employers, community organizations, and industry leaders are critical to creating successful EL initiatives.

There are several ways to get involved in EL at USask: Community Engaged Projects, Riipen Level UP and Course-Based Projects, RBC Experiential Learning in the Workplace Course and college-based Co-op and Internship Programs.  

Community Engaged Projects

Community Engaged Projects provide opportunities for employers and community partners to benefit from the talents of Usask students in a structured project-based learning experience. These partnerships are driven by employer and community partner priorities that provide reciprocal benefits to both partners and students. You can engage students in 30-hour, impactful projects where they will develop their career-readiness competencies. While completing these projects students have opportunities to reflect, share, and act on their career-readiness competencies, receive a bursary, and CCR recognition.  

Community Engaged Projects are partially or fully funded depending on the nature of the partnership. 

Riipen

Riipen is a work integrated learning platform that allows educators, students and employers to collaborate on real industry projects. USask has partnered with Riipen to connect students to work-integrated learning, community-engaged learning, internships, and practica. The Riipen online platform facilitates communications between students, and employers/partners. There is no cost to USask students, instructors or employers.  

Employers can utilize the Riipen platform in two ways, through course-embedded projects or Level UP. 

  • Course-embedded projects allow employers to get projects completed at no cost, while students get academic credit and feedback from you to use on their resumes.  
  • Level-UP is an innovative work-integrated learning program powered by Riipen and sponsored by the Government of Canada to prepare students in post-secondary education and employers to thrive in the future of work. Students will receive a $1,400 stipend for each remote project completed at your organization, with payments made directly by Riipen

RBC Experiential Learning in the Workplace Course

Experiential Learning in the Workplace is an upper-year work-integrated learning course offering where students apply and expand their academic knowledge and transferable skills through work experience (paid, volunteer, or entrepreneurial).  

You can support students in participating in this course in various ways:  

  • Hire a student or group of students to complete a project or initiative. 
  • Support a student volunteer or job-shadow participant.  
  • Present to students on a topic or research area specific to your industry or have students present their research to your organization.