Impact
The innovative approach of Vertically Integrated Projects is more effective in advancing student success compared to the conventional lecture model.
VIP’s Global Community
4,500+
Students
50+
UNIVERSITIES
13
COUNTRIES
6
CONTINENTS
VIP’s Proven Impact
Access
VIP closes equity gaps in higher education, increasing access to high-impact, experiential learning that boosts graduation rates and improves learning outcomes.
Career Readiness
Participation in VIP prepares students for successful careers by enhancing both disciplinary and intangible skills.
Innovation
VIP generates new knowledge through highly productive collaborations among faculty and students, often involving external industry or community partners.
Everyone Benefits from Teamwork
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE FUTURE
The collaborative, long-term nature of VIP mimics the experience of employment, preparing students to contribute to meaningful, outcomes-driven projects. Participating in VIP catalyzes academic and post-graduate success: VIP produces students who are broadly competent across disciplines, highly capable in team settings, and prepared to lead complex professional endeavors.
ENHANCING FACULTY RESEARCH
Faculty create Vertically Integrated Projects around their own scholarly interests, so they bring both expertise and enthusiasm to each team. The team’s efforts help advance faculty’s long-term scholarship and research and support the work of their graduate students. In many cases, VIP teams achieve real-world research breakthroughs.
CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP AND SELF-DIRECTION
The long-term nature of VIP creates a unique environment of mentorship: faculty and graduate students mentor teams, experienced students mentor new members, and students move into leadership positions as others graduate. This structure provides opportunities for students to develop interpersonal skills, as well as disciplinary expertise. This vertical integration also reduces faculty workload, allowing more time for meaningful engagement with many students.
“VIP has quickly become my favourite thing about my 4+ years of uni so far. It is a project that it is grounded in the real world with incredible industry exposure and gives students a unique learning opportunity...It feels more like an exciting start up company rather than a university project.”
Benjamin Heina, Mechanical Engineering Student, University of New South Wales
VIP Keys to Success
Structured to support student achievement, the VIP Model is designed to be:
EQUITABLE
Projects are open to all students, and applicants are not screened by interviews, resumes, or prerequisites, removing the systemic barriers that stand between underserved populations and high-impact learning experiences.
ACCESSIBLE
Projects equip undergraduates to engage directly in research typically reserved for graduate students and faculty. Accessibility yields diversity among teams and allows for faculty and graduate students to mentor undergraduates.
SCALABLE
Each university adapts the model to its own unique environment using the Consortium's essential elements and specialized tools for program assessment. Through the Consortium, the VIP model has been implemented in a variety of academic settings, including public and private, large and small, and residential and commuter universities.
Transforming Higher Education Worldwide
VIP leverages hands-on, collaborative, multidisciplinary problem solving as an approach to higher education. The VIP Model has been rigorously evaluated for more than two decades and is proven to yield better learning and achievement outcomes for students, with underrepresented minority populations experiencing the greatest impact.
VIP Consortium’s primary goal is replicating and scaling these results to reach higher education institutions on a broad scale. By doing so, we remove systemic barriers to high-impact learning experiences, creating pathways for students of all backgrounds to succeed in college and beyond.
Learn how you can become part of the movement to transform higher education worldwide.