Experiential Education
Custom Programs
Bring experiential, learner-centered education to your campus. HECUA partners with colleges and universities to create customized domestic and international learning experiences that connect students, faculty, and communities.
From short-term field experiences to immersive academic programs, HECUA works with institutions to develop meaningful educational opportunities aligned with their curricular goals.
Institutional Collaboration
Experiential Learning Designed Around Your Institution
HECUA specializes in an experiential, learner-centered approach that connects students, faculty, and institutions of higher education with communities.
In addition to its regularly scheduled academic programs that are open to all students, HECUA can provide programming at its domestic and international sites to individual institutions on a contract basis.
HECUA program faculty are available to co-develop curriculum around a variety of topics to suit a diverse range of campus curricular needs.
Program structures range from short-term embedded programs to full-fledged immersions in January, May, or summer terms.
In addition to credit-bearing coursework, HECUA provides workshops and training related to community-based and experiential education, poverty and social justice, and the place of the arts in social change.
Experiential, Learner-Centered Education
Connect academic learning with real-world experience and community engagement.
Customized Curriculum
Co-develop coursework around institutional goals and campus curricular needs.
Domestic and International Sites
Create educational experiences at HECUA's domestic and international program locations.
Workshops and Professional Training
Explore community-based education, experiential pedagogy, poverty and social justice, and the arts in social change.
Custom Program Options
Flexible Program Formats
HECUA works with individual institutions to develop programs suited to different academic schedules, student needs, and curricular objectives.
Leadership and Student Development
Leadership and student development training.
Develop customized learning opportunities that support student development, leadership, experiential education, and engagement with communities.
Short-Term Embedded Experiences
A one- to two-week experience at a HECUA site as part of a course on your campus.
Integrate a focused domestic or international field experience into an existing campus course, connecting academic learning with direct engagement in a local context.
Complete Short-Term Programs
A complete short-term program during January, May, or summer term.
Develop a customized short-term academic program that fits your institution's calendar and educational objectives.
Historical Collaborations
Custom Programs in Action
HECUA has collaborated with consortium institutions to develop customized academic experiences at domestic and international sites. The following historical examples illustrate different ways institutions have incorporated HECUA expertise into their educational programming. They are not guarantees of current operation or availability.
St. Catherine University has offered a field experience at HECUA's Ecuador site co-taught by St. Catherine faculty and HECUA's Ecuadorian teaching staff.
The course enables students to fulfill a core requirement by examining social, political, and economic issues related to women and work in a non-U.S. context.
At the same time, St. Catherine's non-traditional students gain a short-term study-abroad option that fits their needs.
The college has contracted with HECUA numerous times using this model and had plans for additional programs, according to the supplied historical source. Those plans are presented as historical context, not as current commitments.
HECUA staff delivered a 12-day interdisciplinary program to a group of Viterbo faculty who wanted a model of international programming for a new Spanish minor they were developing on the Viterbo campus.
The thematic aim was to examine the roles of civil society and historically marginalized or nontraditional actors in Ecuador's economic and political development.
Students examined and engaged with Indigenous groups, women's-rights organizations, and environmental movements.
Visits to public health facilities were also arranged for participating health care faculty.
HECUA staff designed the program, and HECUA and University of Minnesota faculty co-taught a 23-day program examining the impacts of Norway's modernization and rapid economic growth over the preceding 40 years.
Particular emphasis was placed on Norway's social welfare model, the continuing place of traditional industries in Norwegian culture and the economy, and the large-scale extraction of oil from the North Sea.
The program also explored tensions between oil extraction and concerns about environmental stewardship.
Students were based at HECUA's site of activity in Oslo and took side trips to several other Norwegian cities.
Learning Across Contexts
Explore Our Program Sites
HECUA's established program locations provide diverse contexts for experiential education, community engagement, and interdisciplinary learning. Institutions can use these locations as a starting point when exploring customized academic opportunities.
These locations represent potential contexts for customized programming and do not guarantee current availability for every contract.
Ecuador
A South American context shaped by Indigenous communities, environmental diversity, community participation, global trade, and resource politics.
Ecuador is a South American country with a large Indigenous population that is gaining political power, a diverse natural environment, and a history of community participation.
It has been strongly affected by the long war in Colombia, the economics of global trade, and the politics of oil extraction.
Topics
- Community participation
- Social movements
- Gender issues
- Globalization
- Indigenous peoples' movements
- Afro-Ecuadorian communities
- International development
- Oil extraction and environmental justice
- Human rights
Italy
Explore sustainable food systems, rural innovation, culinary culture, agricultural economics, and European food policy.
HECUA's partner site is a working farm and winery based on a seventeenth-century castle estate in a town of 20,000 people, less than an hour from Florence.
The Tuscany region of Italy possesses an international tourist brand that celebrates medieval and Renaissance art and architecture, beautiful landscapes, and high-quality food and wine.
Less widely known are the individuals and communities in Tuscany revitalizing rural and urban food production through creative and innovative techniques and building new food systems for a sustainable future.
Topics
- The intersection of culture and food
- Sustainable agriculture
- Food systems
- Organic agriculture
- Food tourism and agritourism
- The economics of food production in the European Union
- European Union food policy
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Study community organizing, public policy, urban life, the arts, inequality, and environmental justice in a diverse metropolitan area.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is an urban community with a history of progressive and liberal politics, including support for community organizing, the arts, and environmental issues.
The area is home to a vibrant arts community, an extensive nonprofit sector, and some of the largest communities of Asian, African, and Latino immigrants in the United States, according to the supplied source material.
The region's vitality and emerging diversity make it an ideal context for studying issues facing the nation's urban centers.
Topics
- Experiential pedagogy
- Design of learner-centered programs
- Civic engagement
- Organizing and advocacy
- The arts and social change
- Human rights
- Gender issues
- Ethnicity
- Education and inequality
- Environmental justice
- Urban agriculture
- Community building by and for communities of color, immigrant communities, and people in poverty
New Zealand
Explore post-colonial identity, Māori perspectives, environmental sustainability, and the tension between environmental ideals and global trade.
New Zealand is geographically isolated in the southwest Pacific Ocean and is a post-colonial nation with an ongoing process of truth and reconciliation between New Zealanders of European and Māori heritage.
The country has compact, dense cities, stunning rural landscapes, and protected natural areas.
New Zealand wrestles with a contradiction between its “clean and green” national image and its reliance on global trade and polluting industries such as dairy production and mining.
Topics
- Māori perspectives
- Pluralism
- Sustainability frameworks
- Climate change
- Environmental policy
- Local environmental initiatives
- Colonization
- Truth and reconciliation
Northern Ireland
Examine conflict transformation, reconciliation, and efforts to build a sustainable democracy in a region shaped by violent conflict.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and has a history of violent conflict. Communities continue to work to overcome centuries of division and build a sustainable democracy.
Topics
- Conflict transformation
- Education systems in a post-conflict society
- Social movements
- Human rights
- Gender issues
- National identity and community building
- Relationships with the European Union and the rest of the United Kingdom
Norway
Explore human rights, immigration, national identity, welfare policy, globalization, environmentalism, and social justice.
Norway is a Scandinavian country with a strong tradition of grassroots citizen participation and state support for health care, education, and economic security.
It is associated with innovative approaches to environmental sustainability and is home to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Since the 1990s, Norway has experienced immigration from countries with significantly different cultures, religions, and racial identities. More recently, the global displacement crisis has brought about policies involving both exclusion and inclusion.
Topics
- Human rights
- Gender issues
- Immigration and national identity
- Peace and justice
- The Scandinavian welfare state
- Globalization and migration
- Environmentalism
- Social justice
Programming and Learning Opportunities
More Than Coursework
HECUA's custom programming can extend beyond traditional classroom teaching by connecting curriculum, community involvement, and experiential learning.
Curriculum Co-Development
HECUA program faculty are available to co-develop curriculum around a variety of topics to suit diverse campus curricular needs.
Community-Based and Experiential Education
HECUA provides workshops and training related to community-based education and experiential learning.
Poverty, Social Justice, and the Arts
HECUA provides workshops and training related to poverty and social justice and the role of the arts in social change.
Custom Program Planning
Let's Explore a Custom Program
HECUA works with individual institutions on a contract basis to develop programming that fits specific curricular needs. Whether your institution is exploring a short-term embedded experience, leadership development, or a complete January, May, or summer program, HECUA can help explore an appropriate experiential learning structure.
- Leadership and student development training.
- One- to two-week experiences at HECUA sites embedded within campus courses.
- Complete short-term programs during January, May, or summer terms.
- Curriculum co-development with HECUA program faculty.
- Workshops and training focused on experiential and community-based learning, poverty and social justice, and the arts in social change.
Institutional Partnerships
Start a Conversation About Custom Programs
Explore how HECUA's experiential education model could support your institution's academic goals.
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