CEWIL Innovation HUB (iHub) Funding

During a given term, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada can call for project proposals as part of the CEWIL Innovation Hub (iHub), funded in part by the Government of Canada's Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative (I-WIL).

The CEWIL iHub seeks to fund innovative curricular work-integrative learning (WIL) opportunities in the areas of applied research/industry projects, entrepreneurial WIL, field placements, and community-engaged learning, offered in specified semesters for undergraduate and graduate courses.

This grant-based funding is intended to enable and promote the following types of curricular WIL: community and industry and research projects, entrepreneurial WIL, field placements, and community-engaged / service-learning WIL. All projects must address one or more of the following key outcomes:

  • Expanding access to WIL opportunities, particularly for under-represented students (i.e., the iHub project has a focus on supporting Indigenous students, racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities, women in STEM, newcomers, and rural and remote students)
  • Removing barriers for students to participate in work-integrated learning
  • Leveraging technology to enhance programming or extend access, including the use of technology to support virtual or remote WIL experiences
  • Innovating work-integrated learning through new partnerships and new models for curricular WIL

Proposal Requirements:

  • Funding must be used to create new and innovative WIL experiences, enhance existing WIL experiences and/or expand access to WIL experiences. Project proposals must clearly articulate how the funding meets these core objectives.
  • All iHub experiences must provide some direct student benefit (e.g., salary, stipend, fee reimbursement or other direct benefit). Student compensation will depend on the nature of the opportunity (length, duration, intensity, and output) and should be clearly explained in detail in the application and the budget template. However, iHub experiences must involve some remuneration or benefit with attached monetary value to the student.

*NOTE: International students with student visas or work visas are not eligible to receive iHub funding.

The deadline to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) to the EEU is March 13, 2024. Applicants will be advised to put forward their application to CEWIL iHub directly.

For inquiries regarding the EOI submission form, please contact the Dakota Pinheiro, Experiential Learning Developer, at dakota.pinheiro@utoronto.ca.