WIL Impacts Framework: Measuring the Socio-Economic Impacts of WIL programs
Project Information
Institution(s): University of British Columbia
Partner(s): BCIT, Capilano University, College of the Rockies, Langara College, Northern Lights College, Simon Fraser University, Thompsons River University, University of Victoria, Vancouver Community College and Vancouver Island University
Original Project Name: The role of WIL in strengthening businesses and supporting economic development in British Columbia #406
Status: Complete
Project Dates: July 6, 2020 — October 28, 2022
Project Contact:
Julie Walchli, University of BC
604.827.5194
julie.walchli@ubc.ca
Project Contributors:
This project was led by a Steering Committee composed of: Darrel Bethune, Andrea Giles, Muriel Klemetski, Robyn Leuty, Dr. Shaun Longstreet, Stephanie McKeown, Rachel Warick . Dr. Camilo Pena, from UBC’s Planning and Institution Research team, was the Research Analyst on the project.
The WIL Impacts Framework was developed by the BC Work Integrated Learning Council, which is composed of WIL leaders at each of BC’s 25 public, post-secondary institutions (PSIs). The objective of the Council was to develop a framework that PSIs could use to gather valuable data regarding the impacts of work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences on host organizations and the local BC economy.
The WIL Impacts Framework has been designed to capture data beyond the numbers of students and organizations participating in WIL. The Framework is focused on the impacts and benefits of WIL programs and allows PSIs to benchmark their WIL programs across five domains: talent development, productivity, innovation capacities, diversity and equity, and community development and economic impacts.
Impact data has several benefits: it allows PSIs to tell the story of their WIL programs beyond just student participation numbers, with a focus on the socio-economic benefits to employers and the economy more generally. This data has the potential to allow individual programs and/or PSIs to advocate more effectively for support for their WIL programs, greater integration with institutional priorities, and to be clearer on the value proposition of WIL engagement with employers and community partners, ultimately creating more WIL experiences for students.
In future, the Council hopes to use the framework periodically across multiple PSIs to capture snapshots of the socio-economic impacts of post-secondary WIL in BC, which will be valuable when advocating for WIL with senior PSI leaders, government, and other external stakeholders, advocacy which will benefit all PSIs in BC.
This came to fruition in 2024, when the BC WIL Council implemented the first-ever WIL Impacts Framework Survey. Discover the top impacts of WIL, detailed results, and recommendations at the WIL Impacts Framework Survey Project.
WIL Impacts Framework Modules
The WIL Impacts Framework includes a series of documents, featuring each of the domains. Tools for measuring impacts are included, with survey questions for host organizations and post-secondary institutions as well as interview questions. As well, the Framework provides a recommended project plan and timeline, analytic best practices, a listing of works consulted and actual survey samples.
The Framework was designed to be flexible, so that PSIs would have the option of focusing on one or more domains. Although it’s recommended to repeat the data collection periodically to measure changes over time, it is not a requirement.
Tips for Implementing the Framework
Full Surveys
What follows are the full survey covering all five domains, for you to take and use. It includes a suggested introduction to kick-off the survey and demographic questions. By implementing the survey as-is, without editing the questions or responses, your data will be comparable with any future BC-wide surveys conducted by the BC WIL Council, which will provide additional context when evaluating your WIL programs.
Supporting documentation
What follows are the full survey covering all five domains, for you to take and use. It includes a suggested introduction to kick-off the survey and demographic questions. By implementing the survey as-is, without editing the questions or responses, your data will be comparable with any future BC-wide surveys conducted by the BC WIL Council, which will provide additional context when evaluating your WIL programs.
