1.    Policy Statement

The University of Florida (the “University”) seeks to prepare all students, regardless of their field of study or academic level, for work, citizenship, and life. The University also recognizes that industry engagement and experiential learning are a transformational component of a student’s journey that exists in a variety of curricular and co-curricular forms and has been shown to aid students in developing in demand career competencies, establishing professional connections, and gaining confidence in navigating their career pathway. 

As such, the University is committed to tracking student engagement with industry leaders to improve the experiential learning landscape, increase student employability, promote safe environments and ensure equitable access to work based learning resources, and programs.  In doing so, the University follows the standards set forth by the NACE Principles for Professional Practice and the NSEE Eight Principles of Good Practice for All Experiential Learning Activities. 

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines regarding the reporting and tracking of such experiential learning activities and the entities with which the University is preparing students for postgraduation pursuits. This data is integral to the University highlighting the unique experiences afforded to students and its commitment to student success. This policy is inclusive of undergraduate, graduate, and professional student experiences at the University.

Documentation of industry and experiential learning engagement is administered by the Vice President for Student Life or their designee(s), who is authorized to develop policies governing the tracking reporting and compliance of UF student career readiness, industry engagement and well-being experiences. Accordingly, the Division of Student Life designates the senior leader of the Career Connections Center (the “C3”) to manage a University wide repository to document students’ involvement with site hosts and experiential learning while promoting the safety of students and integrity of the experience for all within the University community.

2.    Applicability

This policy applies to all University students as well as all faculty and staff that connect and/or require students to participate in curricular or co-curricular internships, practicums, work based and experiential learning activities with host sites on behalf of the University. 

3.    Definitions

Experiential Learning (“EL”): a wide variety of personal and professional growth activities that engage students beyond the classroom and provide practical insight into becoming “world ready” while building their knowledge and skills and establishing professional connections. 

Work Based Learning (“WBL”): is a form of experiential learning that engages employers to extend classroom learning by connecting it to the workplace. WBL provide students with the opportunity to build skills in the context of an industry or occupation. These experiences can be credit bearing or noncredit bearing and take place on or off campus. 

Host Site (the “Site”): is an entity that agrees for a student to be temporarily placed at their organization for the purposes of experiential learning. Host sites could be employers, industry partners, non-profits, or governmental organizations.

The following represents a list of expected experiential learning activities in conjunction with host sites that should be tracked and reported from this policy for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at the University: 

*Student Employment within the University of Florida will be tracked and reported by the University’s Human Resource Division. Individual University departments are not expected to report this information in compliance with this policy. 

The University will highlight these experiences on an Experience Hub webpage in its commitment to elevating the unique offerings available at the University through the C3 and other avenues. (See: Experience Hubs)

4.    Policy Specifics

Work Based and Experiential Learning Reporting

Faculty, staff, and departments are expected to report student and host site participation in EL and/or WBL opportunities provided in partnership with the University through curricular and co-curricular experiences created by units for students in the University community.

Departmental Responsibility

4.1     All Faculty and Staff, as defined by Section 2 – Applicability, must ensure that all industry partner host sites providing EL or WBL opportunities to their students are registered in Gator CareerLink as required by the University’s Regulation 4.010 (Employer Registration for On Campus Recruitment)

4.2    Each department must provide host sites with a Host Site Agreement approved by the University’s Office of General Counsel. (See: University of Florida Student Internship Agreement Template in the C3 Guide to Creating Meaningful Experiences).

4.3       All Faculty and Staff, as defined by Section 2 – Applicability, are required to report the following Site information to the C3 no later than two weeks after the Drop/Add period for each semester in which they have students participating in an experiential learning activity (see Section 3).

4.4     All Faculty and Staff as outlined by Section 2 – Applicability, must ensure the following: 

Student Responsibility

4.6     All students should report their engagement with EL or WBL within the University’s Graduation Survey, assigned as a graduation requirement for all graduates. 

4.7    All students as outlined by Section 2 – Applicability, must ensure that 

5.    Questions

Please direct any questions concerning this policy to ufcareercenter@ufsa.ufl.edu.  

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