Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning at UC San Diego builds bridges--between academic and co-curricular, theory and practice, college and career--by creating opportunities for students to “learn by doing”. Students explore, build community, and develop the competencies to lead in a global society through engagement in experiential learning both on and off campus.

Types of Experiential Learning

Community Engagement

Community engagement activities, also known as service learning courses, are ones that combine learning goals and community service in ways that can enhance both student growth and the common good. Community engagement is incorporated into a course or series of courses by way of a project that has both learning and community action goals. Projects are designed via collaboration between faculty and community partners.

Co-Curricular Experiences

Co-curricular activities are structured learning activities that complement the formal curriculum by developing career-readiness skills that are transferable to post-graduation experience. Co-curricular opportunities are connected to the institution (via a faculty or staff mentor or supervisor), occur beyond the classroom, and foster intentional learning and development. Track your engagement in student leadership, peer mentorship and campus employment on your Co-Curricular Record.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship refers to an individual or a small group of partners who strike out on an original path to create a new business. An aspiring entrepreneur actively seeks a particular business venture, and it is the entrepreneur who assumes the greatest amount of risk associated with the project.

Student innovation through entrepreneurship is supported through various programs led by The Basement.

Internships (academic and professional)

An academic (credit-bearing) internship is a supervised, on-site learning experience for academic course credit that generally is 10-16 weeks long. The primary purpose of an internship is to give students an opportunity to apply disciplinary knowledge in a real-world setting.

Research

Research experiences enable students to earn course credit for working with a faculty member to create new knowledge. Research opportunities can be either on-and off-campus. Students who participate in research courses learn more about the research process in their discipline, and gain invaluable experience examining, creating, and sharing new knowledge. Students often have the opportunity to present their research work at professional conferences in their field.

Study Abroad

Learning opportunities at a university in foreign country. These learning experiences are generally one-semester or one academic year but may take place over the summer or intersession. Study abroad programs through University are managed entirely by Global Initiatives.