Your partner in work-integrated learning
As faculty and staff, you talk with students every day and play an important role in shaping their experience at VIU. If a student asks you about work-integrated learning (WIL) or you need support with tools to manage your student work placements more efficiently, we’re here to help.
At the Career Studio, we know you have a lot to manage. We want to make sure you have the right tools and support to help students get high quality, real-world work experience so they’re ready for the future.
Current news
2026 VIU WIL Awards - Nominations Open!
Know someone who has made an outstanding contribution to work-integrated learning at VIU? Nominate them for a 2026 WIL Award!
📅 Deadline: October 15, 2026
Submit a nomination today!
New: Ready for WIL - Student Health, Safety, and Rights
Faculty and instructors can now assign Ready for WIL: Student Health, Safety & Rights, a new approximately one-hour asynchronous VIULearn course designed to help students prepare for WIL. The course provides foundational information about workplace health, safety, rights, responsibilities and where to seek support. It includes three modules, knowledge checks and a completion certificate, and can also be used as a classroom resource.
Keep scrolling for more information.
In-class workshops or events
We’d love to visit your class and share what we know about careers and job trends. We can run workshops on:
- writing resumes
- getting ready for interviews
- searching for jobs
- using LinkedIn
We can also set up industry roundtables and panels with alumni and industry experts.
You can book a presentation by filling out our consultation form.
Ready for WIL: Student Health, Safety, and Rights
What is it?
A new asynchronous course is available through Discover on VIULearn to help students prepare for work-integrated learning (WIL) and the workplace.
Ready for WIL: Student Health, Safety & Rights takes approximately one hour and covers foundational workplace health, safety, rights, and responsibilities through three short modules. Students complete a knowledge check after each module and receive a completion certificate.
For Faculty & Instructors
Assign the course to students as part of their WIL preparation, or use the videos as part of your class instruction.
The course can be used with students preparing for practicums, internships, work experiences, community-based projects, and other WIL experiences.
- One-Page Overview — Course overview and key information
- PowerPoint Slide — Ready-to-use slide for introducing the course to students
- VIULearn — Access and assign the course through Discover
WIL quality checklist for faculty and staff
If you oversee a work experience, internship, field placement, practicum, clinical placement, community and industry project, co-op or other WIL course, these important steps will help you meet quality standards in BC and across Canada.
- Get support. Fill out the Career Studio Consultation Form to get help when starting a new WIL program or making changes to an existing one.
- Check quality. Use the PEAR Quality Indicators for WIL and the WACE Global Quality WIL Framework to help guide meaningful student learning experiences.
- Vet opportunities. Review and approve WIL positions to ensure reasonable working conditions, employer suitability, mentorship, and alignment with learning objectives. The Staff and Faculty WIL Experience Approval Checklist and Reference Guide provides comprehensive guidance.
- Provide oversight. Make sure a faculty or staff member is assigned to supervise WIL placements, support students and employers and grade learning.
- Track experiences. Work with the Centre for Experiential Learning to set up a workflow in Experience Hub to track WIL placements and records.
- Know insurance rules. Be familiar with WorkSafeBC and UCIPP insurance policies, including what’s covered and when extra insurance may be needed. 10 things you should know about risk management is a great starting point.
- Use agreements. Complete a work-term or other WIL agreement for most placements. Where an existing practice education, affiliation, or partnership agreement applies (e.g., Nursing, Education), follow that agreement. Templates are available through Contract Services.
- Plan for health and safety. Know your role in keeping students safe. Use WIL Health and Safety Checklist and the Ready for WIL training in VIULearn Discover.
- Prepare employers. Share the VIU Employer Toolkit and ACE-WIL BC Employer Resources to prepare employers to mentor students.
- For research projects with partners. If students are doing research or projects with a community partner, check in with VIU’s Student Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity team.
- International students. Ensure international students are compliant with government regulations. Starting April 1, 2026 , Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) no longer requires students to have a co-op work permit. However, there are conditions that need to be met for international students to participate in WIL. Talk with an immigration advisor at VIU International for support.
- Career support. Send students to the Career Studio for help with job search and career planning. You can also request in-class career development workshops.
- WIL abroad. If students plan to go abroad for WIL (even to their home country), ensure they start VIU-mandated pre-departure steps at least 90 days prior to travel.
- WIL outside of B.C. but within Canada. If students are doing WIL in another province, ensure they complete the work readiness out-of-province planning workflow in Experience Hub.
- Remote or hybrid WIL. If students are working remotely, have them complete the VIU Remote Work Safety Guidelines and Checklist.
- Set learning goals. Have students create learning goals for their WIL experience, working together with their employer.
- Student orientation. Ensure employers are aware of their legal responsibility to provide workplace health and safety orientation for all WIL students.
- Check in with students and employers. Make sure to check in at least once during the placement. This can be done by phone, Teams, or in person.
- Embed reflection. Add activities or assignments that help students reflect on what they’re learning while they’re on their WIL placement.
- Get employer feedback. Ask the employer to fill out an evaluation of the student’s performance during the WIL placement (use templates on Experience Hub).
- Final reflection. Have students complete a reflection assignment to help them look back on their experience and connect it to what they’ve learned.
For a downloadable pdf version of this checklist, click here.
Additional faculty and staff resources
To help make it easier to manage WIL placements and keep track of data, we’re asking faculty and staff to use Experience Hub for their records.
Why use Experience Hub?
- It’s a simple, easy-to-use system where you can keep track of student placements and employer partners all in one place.
- It helps us understand how placements are going across VIU, so we can keep improving our WIL programs and meet our goals.
- It also supports institutional accountability by ensuring accurate and consistent records of placement activity, which may be required in the event of an insurance claim or other institutional review.
We’re Here to Support You
Reach out to the Centre for Experiential Learning at cel@viu.ca to see if Experience Hub is right for your WIL programs.
Life is getting harder for students and many struggle to afford to take unpaid time off to complete WIL. Where possible, we want to encourage paid opportunities for students. Thankfully, there are many funding opportunities to make this happen.
Funding for Workplaces:
- ACE-WIL BC list of federal and provincial funding to hire WIL students
- SWPP funding provides funding for employers to hire students for paid work-integrated learning experiences related to a student's field of students. Funding covers 50% of student wages to a maximum of $5,000.
- Check our this SWPP Program Guide for more detailed information about the program.
- Share our SWPP rack card with potential employers
- Use our Student Work Placement Program Letter for students to share with employers.
Funding for Institutions:
- CEWIL ihub: Find out how to apply for CEWIL ihub project funding.
This graphic was created to help faculty and staff understand the different types of experiential learning, both curricular and co-curricular that we offer at VIU.
FUSION is a national collaboration among Canadian universities committed to helping students build the transferable skills they need to thrive in learning, work, and life.
FUSION has created 13 modules to support students learning and reflection on key essential skill. These modules can be integrated into academic courses and work-integrated learning experiences to enhance student development and career readiness.
In addition to the online versions available through the FUSION website, instructors can integrate expanded versions of the modules into VIULearn. These versions include additional written activities that guide learners to apply the skills introduced in each module and reflect on how their behaviours may be changing.
Faculty and instructors interested in incorporating one or more FUSION modules into your courses can contact the Centre for Experiential Learning at cel@viu.ca for information on accessing and uploading the modules to VIULearn.
Professional development
Community of Practice
The WIL Community of Practice brings together faculty members, instructors, and staff from across VIU who are involved in the development and delivery of work-integrated learning opportunities for students.
- Connect with colleagues across VIU who are involved in WIL to share experiences, insights, and strategies.
- Co-create and access shared resources, including templates, tools, and best practices, all designed to support and enhance WIL efforts.
- Participate in workshops, webinars, and peer-learning opportunities to further develop your WIL expertise.
Join the VIU WIL Practitioners Community of Practice on teams to connect with other members and exchange resources.