Why This is Important
In November 2012, the Associate Vice-President Students prepared a detailed report on Experiential Learning opportunities and challenges at Trent University.
The benefits of Experiential Learning include:
- Increased student engagement and academic success
- Enhanced student employability on graduation
- Improved student retention
- New and strengthened community partnerships
- Robust and innovative undergraduate and graduate research programs
All of these Experiential Learning benefits contribute to Trent’s reputation as an innovative, high quality institution with strong student satisfaction and success rates. Experiential Learning opportunities are also an important element in Trent’s 2014 – 2017 Strategic Mandate Agreement, the document by which the Ministry of Advanced Training and Skill Development assesses Trent’s performance and, in part, determines funding.
In addition to the considerable benefits Experiential Learning offers, creating and managing a successful Experiential Learning program also brings challenges:
- Availability of effective community placements accessible by all interested students
- Time and cost of developing and administering experiential learning programs
- Managing specific risks posed by each experiential learning activity, including compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act
- Measuring the effectiveness of each experiential learning opportunity
Trent is committed to enhancing and expanding the range of Experiential Learning options available to Trent students.