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If an international student meets the criteria below, then the student can start a placement:
- an international placement in their home country,
- and that placement is confirmed to be safe, with remote working arrangements if required
- and is approved by the academic program as a placement for which a course/credit can be issued
Students undertaking an experience in this manner are required to register in the Safety Abroad Registry.
International students who have identified that they would like to be in their home country for an upcoming international work term/placement should be covered by their home country’s health system, as travel insurance does not cover students who are travelling to their home country. If the student has secured an unpaid international internship in their home country, note that the Ministry of Colleges and Universities does not provide workplace insurance.
If any international student has a work placement in a country in which they are currently located which is not their home country, the placement coordinator should request that the placement site extend their workplace insurance policy to cover the student.
The Association for Co-operative Education (CEWIL) Canada has put together a suite of resources for supporting the transition into a virtual environment. On their page, you will find supports for supervisors and managers that focus on both virtual and in-person experiential and work-integrated learning.
The University of Toronto is dedicated to fostering and building partnerships with the community. There are opportunities to partner and deliver experiential learning opportunities to students, both remotely and in-person, depending on the situation. You may wish to visit the ‘Explore’ section of this website to review various types of partnerships available. From there, you would work with the divisional office with which you choose to partner to determine next steps.
It is important to be intentional with the interactions you have with your peers, colleagues, instructors, and TAs in both in-person and virtual environments. To start building strategies for success in a virtual team or group assignment, review these resources on team building and attribution sheets created for the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Engineering Strategies and Practice course.
The University remains committed to providing undergraduate research across its three campuses. There are a wide variety of research based-courses, Work Study opportunities, and other research experiences across the University. The ‘Explore’ page of the Experiential Learning Hub provides an overview of all types of Experiential Learning and you can find details related to research opportunities by selecting ‘Connected to Research’ on that page.
For a better sense of what research looks like during COVID, you may wish to review the Remote Experiential Learning resource, Research-Intensive Courses to get a sense of how instructors are approaching remote research. You can also visit the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering’s UnERD Virtual Research Symposium page from this past summer.
If you are an international student and meet the below criteria, then you can start a placement:
- an international placement in their home country,
- and that placement is confirmed to be safe, with remote working arrangements if required
- and is approved by the academic program as a placement for which a course/credit can be issued
Students undertaking an experience in this manner are required to register in the Safety Abroad Registry.
International students who have identified that they would like to be in their home country for an upcoming international work term/placement should be covered by their home country’s health system, as travel insurance does not cover students who are travelling to their home country. If the student has secured an unpaid international internship in their home country, note that the Ministry of Colleges and Universities does not provide workplace insurance.
If any international student has a work placement in a country in which they are currently located which is not their home country, the placement coordinator should request that the placement site extend their workplace insurance policy to cover the student.
While the University has cancelled in-person outbound exchanges for both Fall and Winter 2020/2021, there are still ways to build international experiences and global fluency into your degree. For example, you can participate in the Global Classroom Initiative. Taking part in a Global Classroom provides the opportunity to contextualize your course work in both an international and regional context. You can explore of what it means to take part in a Global Classroom here. For other ways to internationalize your degree, visit the Learning Abroad homepage.
Faculty and instructors across the University are working hard to provide creative solutions to embed experiential learning in your courses during COVID-19. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, your courses may adopt online simulation models, convert lab/studio/field work into modules, create interactive experiences you can replicate at home, or provide case studies for Quercus discussion. You can read more about the rationale and models being adopted by your instructors at the Online Learning’s Virtual Labs for Remote/Online Courses page.
If an international student meets the criteria below, then the student can start a placement:
- an international placement in their home country,
- and that placement is confirmed to be safe, with remote working arrangements if required
- and is approved by the academic program as a placement for which a course/credit can be issued
Students undertaking an experience in this manner are required to register in the Safety Abroad Registry.
International students who have identified that they would like to be in their home country for an upcoming international work term/placement should be covered by their home country’s health system, as travel insurance does not cover students who are travelling to their home country. If the student has secured an unpaid international internship in their home country, note that the Ministry of Colleges and Universities does not provide workplace insurance.
If any international student has a work placement in a country in which they are currently located which is not their home country, the placement coordinator should request that the placement site extend their workplace insurance policy to cover the student.
The University strongly encourages our partners to support remote working options for students. Keep in mind that policies, regulations and requirements related to COVID-19 are constantly shifting so it is important to continue to review all relevant regulations.
However, some experiential learning opportunities (e.g. co-op, placements, internships, practica) may continue to operate on location, depending on the circumstances. The health and safety of all students, faculty, and staff are paramount, and the University expects that any organizations remaining open and willing to host students will maintain safe and clean work environments and adhere to all relevant federal, provincial and relevant municipal (e.g. Toronto, Peel, etc.) government and University of Toronto health regulations and requirements. In-person interactions should be minimized, guidance about social distancing followed, and students should not feel compelled by anyone to do something that, under the circumstances, feels unsafe. Faculty, staff, and/or students with concerns regarding continued participation in these experiences should contact their academic program director.
Should an organization hosting a University of Toronto student choose to offer a remote working arrangement, we recommend reviewing resources such as those created by the University of Waterloo regarding remote working practices for students and employers in impacted EL placements.
If the experiential learning component is not a canonical element of the course, but rather a choice that the instructor has made, and not part of the grading scheme, then the change can be made by the instructor without any further steps necessary. The instructor may choose, for example, to use some alternative form of experience to substitute for the originally scheduled activity.
If the experiential learning component is not a canonical element of the course, but part of the course delivery mode that the instructor selected, and it is integral to the marking scheme, then a class vote should be held. The instructor proposes a new marking scheme that does not rely on the EL component, and the students vote on whether to accept the new marking scheme. Information on how to hold this vote online can be found on the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation’s Continuity Planning page. If a vote is not possible because of timing issues, then the instructor needs to work with their Chair or Dean so that the Dean can submit a formal request to the Provost for a disruption in the course per the Policy on Academic Continuity.
You can find resources related to both onboarding and supervising students remotely on Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada’s website. You may also want to review this document that discusses onboarding and supervising students remotely.
There is also a growing body of research on best practices for transitioning to a remote work and research environment. You will find information on designing internships and creating a supportive working environment for students and supervisors in remote settings on the Remote Experiential Learning resource, Academic Internships.
The Remote Experiential Learning resource, Designing Remote Activities to Spark Student Engagement, offers some useful strategies when considering how to design remote activities. You may also want to review this document that offers considerations and strategies to employ when remotely facilitating synchronous events and activities. Additionally, the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation offers resources for Teaching Online/Remotely, Engaging Students, and Continuity Planning and Online/Remote Learning.
Remote partnerships present unique opportunities for faculty and staff to engage with community organizations. The Centre for Community Partnerships has compiled a comprehensive document, “Community-Engaged Learning in Online Spaces,” outlining best practices for creating and sustaining partnerships during COVID-19. This document outlines a variety of models and methods designed specifically for remote and virtual partnerships.
You may also wish to visit the Remote Experiential Learning resource focused on Effective Partnership Development and Engagement for more information.
Pivoting to remote research can provide an excellent opportunity to engage students in unique ways. You may wish to visit the Research-Intensive Courses section of our Remote Experiential Learning resources which provides insight, tips, and tricks for creating undergraduate research opportunities during COVID-19.
Field experiences are a vital part of many experiential learning opportunities. There are a variety of ways that faculty and staff can provide field experiences for students in a remote environment. Please visit the Field Experiences section of our Remote Experiential Learning resources where you will find additional resources and information to support designing virtual field trips and field experiences. Included on this page is an FAQ document regarding designing and delivering Field Experiences (virtual and in-person) during COVID-19.
The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering has put together resources to help you identify what types of video recording and editing software work for various course requirements. And, if you need inspiration for creating your own virtual field experiences, you may want to explore Professor Nick Eyles’s Planet Earth Online page for UTSC’s EESA06.
It is necessary for University instructors and staff to determine if placement organizations are eligible to be covered for workers’ compensation through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
If students undertake an unpaid placement 1) at a partner organization where employees are covered by workers’ compensation through the WSIB and 2) as part of a for-credit course, they are eligible for coverage by default and University instructors and staff are not required to establish any additional coverage.
If students undertake an unpaid placement at a partner organization that is not covered by WSIB or is outside the province of Ontario, students are covered by Chubb Insurance of Canada. In such cases, the University placement coordinator needs to be provided with this information. Please contact placements@utoronto.ca for more information.
The Guidelines & Procedures section of the Hub offers a general overview of guidelines and procedures related to experiential learning. For more information on workplace insurance for unpaid placements, consult the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students.
Given the many forms that experiential learning takes, you may want to connect with your academic unit or other local office (campus or faculty) to understand your options.
Approaches to partnership development will differ based on a host of factors including your learning objectives, whether you have previous relationships with the organizations or communities in question, and what type of organization you wish to partner with (e.g., local organization, large corporation, public institution). There are resources and supports across campus to help you determine what considerations should be taken into account for partnership development in your context. For an overview of considerations related to building and maintaining ethical partnerships, explore the Building Partnerships resource.
For more information on local infrastructure and resources available to support the development of partnerships, contact your Dean’s Office. For support with community-based partnerships, contact the Centre for Community Partnerships.
Reflection is a key component of students’ experiential learning, as it supports the integration of new understanding into a student’s overall knowledge base. There are many ways to incorporate a reflective activity into a course or program depending on the timing, depth, and motivation for reflection. For an overview of different types of reflective activities and how to assess reflection for both quality and rigor, explore the Reflection resource on the Course and Program Development Resources page.
Experiential opportunities in the context of a for-credit course can be as short as a half day, such as with job shadowing experiences, and as long as a full term placed on site with an external organization, with a range of options in between. The duration and scope of the experience typically depends on the learning goals of the experiences, as these will help identify the appropriate location, timing, duration, and intensity of the experience for a given course. For more information about developing a curricular experiential learning opportunity, you can review the Faculty & Staff Learn page and the Course and Program Development Resources page. For more information on local infrastructure and resources available to support the development of curricular experiential learning, contact your Dean’s Office.
Institutional funding for developing and/or implementing curricular experiential learning opportunities in first-entry undergraduate divisions is available through the Provost’s Learning and Education Advancement Fund (LEAF). The focus of this program is to enrich the learning experience of undergraduate students in first-entry divisions across the University and to provide faculty with a mechanism for developing and enhancing the research, assessment, and application of high-impact teaching practices within learning environments at the University. The Fund is intended to support projects that will anticipate, leverage, and create positive changes in both the modes and mechanisms of undergraduate education at the University of Toronto.
Academic divisions may also provide development grants for pedagogical initiatives, including experiential. The following list is not comprehensive, so we recommend contacting your Dean’s Office.
Experiential learning activities are primarily intended to support student learning in three ways: to directly apply or observe the application of disciplinary skills and knowledge outside the classroom; to gain direct experience with professional practices and work environments in a profession or field related to their studies; and to reflect upon how the experience furthers a student’s disciplinary learning and their personal and professional development. In these ways, experiential learning opportunities will provide students with a more fulsome lens through which to think about their academic learning, enhance their ability to contribute to the in-class components of a course, and support their ability to make better informed decisions about future academic and professional opportunities.
The Research Catalogue profiles potential research opportunities for undergraduate students interested in participating in research with faculty members. The catalogue outlines the areas of study, primary location of research, qualifications or skills required to participate in research, deadlines, and application processes. It is important to keep in mind that this catalogue is not a job board; it does not provide information about specific research opportunities. The Research Catalogue is also not an exhaustive list of all research opportunities available to undergraduate students. That said, it is important to do your own research and speak to your professors, academic unit, or registrar about what other opportunities might be available. To view the research catalogue, you must be logged into the Career & Co-Curricular Network (CLNx).
Academic internships are connected to a course or program of study. There are also short-term job opportunities that many organizations refer to as internships that may support you in developing competencies and building your professional network.
The Career & Co-curricular Learning Network (CLNx) has an extensive database of job opportunities that are uploaded by employers on an as-needed basis. Look for short-term or summer positions (some of which will be listed as an ‘internship’) as they may offer you an experience that will supplement and support your academic learning.
Experiential learning opportunities can help you develop competencies and consider the applicability of your degree while connecting you with individuals working in a wide variety of fields. You will gain experience that you can reference on resumes and in interviews but also develop the language that allows you to speak about the applicability of your studies to the path you choose. Experiential learning opportunities may also help you determine the future pathways that most align with your interests, skills, and experiences.
You can participate in experiential learning opportunities at any time during your studies at the University of Toronto. You may wish to visit the ‘Explore’ section of the Experiential Learning Hub to get a better sense of eligibility requirements and timelines, or speak to your registrar or academic unit to determine the ideal pathways available to you.
There are a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities that exist across the University of Toronto. Eligibility requirements vary depending on the specific opportunity you are interested in, but there are opportunities available for all students. You may wish to peruse the Explore section of the Experiential Learning Hub to get a better sense of eligibility requirements, or speak to your registrar or academic unit about opportunities connected to your area of study.
Curricular experiential learning opportunities are embedded in academic programs. These types of opportunities are available as part of a course or program of study and allow you to apply the disciplinary knowledge you are learning through projects, partnerships, and placements.
Co-curricular experiential learning activities are structured experiences that complement the formal curriculum but that are not required for graduation. These opportunities are intended to augment your academic experience, allowing you to apply your disciplinary knowledge and competencies in a variety of settings.
Virtually all experiential learning opportunities will offer some form of credit or recognition for participation. Courses that incorporate curricular experiential learning opportunities will be listed on your transcript. The majority of co-curricular experiential learning opportunities will provide recognition through the Co-Curricular Record.
Experiential learning allows you to learn new skills, understand workplace practices, acquire new knowledge, and explore how your academic experiences can help you contribute to the broader community and society. You will also have the chance to experience professional work environments, gaining a sense of how you might wish to apply your degree upon graduation and developing professional connections. Through reflecting on these experiences, you will be able to perceive changes in your thinking or attitudes, articulate what you have learned, and position yourself for future opportunities.
If the student is on an unpaid placement, the following steps need to be followed:
- The student should immediately notify their placement employer/supervisor and their University placement contact.
- The University placement contact must complete the Accident Injury Form on behalf of the injured student and should provide it to placements@utoronto.ca within 24 hours.
- The University Coordinator, Student Placements will provide the University placement contact and student with next steps and appropriate documentation.
If the student is on a paid placement, they are covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) as an employee of the placement organization. The internal protocols of the organization should be followed to manage the insurance aspects of the injury. The University program coordinator must also be informed about the injury.
Academic internships, practicums, and co-ops offer students the opportunity to spend time in professional work environments but there are fundamental differences between them.
A practicum or clinical placement is a curricular opportunity that is designed for students who are required to meet a set number of hours as part of an academic program of study and/or to meet a prerequisite for a licensing board or professional certificate. Students on practicums do not usually have their own caseload/workload as the work they do is completed in a supervised setting. These opportunities are typically unpaid and are often found in clinical and education fields.
An academic internship is an internship that is connected to a course or program of study. These opportunities can be full-time or part-time and the duration varies depending on the circumstances.
Co-op programs have clearly defined work terms, students complete a 4, 8-, 12-, or 16-month full-time term.
Academic internships differ from co-op programs in a few ways: academic internships that are connected to a course are typically unpaid while the significant majority of co-ops are paid; organizations who hire students from accredited co-op programs are eligible to apply for the Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit; academic internships typically have a more defined pool of students from a single course or discipline of study, while the pool of candidates for a co-op placement tend to be larger. There are also key differences related to the guidelines and procedures associated with these types of placements.
We hope you will consider yourself a co-educator as you engage students in placements and projects. External partners play an important role in helping students clarify their goals, develop and use their disciplinary skills, and gain industry-specific competencies. We encourage you to work closely with the University instructor or staff member coordinating your experiential learning opportunity to determine how you can best support students.
This will depend on the type of experiential learning opportunity you engage with. Our Guidelines & Procedures page can provide you with these details.
There are many ways to recruit University of Toronto students for employment opportunities within your organization. You can post positions on the Career and Learning Network (CLNx) by creating an account, these opportunities would be visible to all students at the University of Toronto. Conversely, if you have a more targeted audience, you may wish to review the full list of career services on campus in order to connect directly with students from a specific area of study. Many career service offices will also support on-campus recruitment activities, such as career fairs, information sessions, and on-campus interviews.
Yes, there are tax credits, wage subsidies, and project grants that may be available to your organization. Visit the Propel Initiative’s website for an overview of what is available.
Check with the student to learn if they are affiliated with a co-op program or taking a course that includes an internship component. If they are, there will be specific administrative steps to follow, based on the course or co-op program to which they are connected. In this instance, request that they put you in touch with the University staff person or instructor coordinating the opportunity or program.
If the student is hoping to complete a work term with your organization independent of a co-op program or a course, you would simply hire them as an employee through your regular HR process. This would happen without any interventions from the University.
With over 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate programs, including more than 60 professional graduate programs, University of Toronto students have a broad range of skills, knowledge, and experiences that can enhance the work of your organization.
There are various ways to approach finding the appropriate students to support your experiential learning opportunity.
- You may wish to start by considering the goals of your organization and the type of experiential learning opportunity with which you want to engage. We have developed a decision tree to help you with this process.
- Alternately, if you know the core areas of study that best align with your project or work, you may wish to start by contacting the Faculty or academic unit associated with those areas of study. You can find an overview on our Find page.
Connecting with University of Toronto students through experiential learning opportunities gives you the opportunity to:
- help shape the next generation of leaders
- build your own talent pipeline of future employees and partners
- work with some of our top faculty and students to get support and fresh insights on projects that address the needs of your organization, our communities, and society
- foster dialogue between the University and the larger community
- potentially access tax breaks and financial incentives for your organization