Refers to an educational approach that intentionally integrates academic learning with practical experiences connected to work, occupations, or professional practice. Work-integrated learning enables learners to apply knowledge and skills developed through education in authentic or simulated workplace contexts while using those experiences to deepen learning and develop career-relevant competencies.

Work-integrated learning may include internships, cooperative education (co-ops), apprenticeships, clinical placements, practicums, field experiences, service learning, employer-sponsored projects, consulting or capstone projects, and other forms of experiential learning connected to professional practice. Experiences may occur in a workplace, educational setting, community organization, or through virtual or simulated environments.

A defining feature of work-integrated learning is the intentional connection between curriculum and work-related experience: the work component is not simply employment or exposure to a workplace but deliberately incorporated into the learner’s educational experience. Work-integrated learning typically includes structured learning objectives, reflection, assessment, or other mechanisms that connect workplace experience with academic learning.

Work-integrated learning overlaps with the term, work-based learning, and these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Work-integrated learning generally emphasizes the integration of academic curriculum and workplace or professional practice, while work-based learning is often used more broadly to describe learning that occurs through or in connection with actual work experiences.

Terminology and usage vary across countries and education systems. Work-integrated learning is the term particularly common in higher education and in countries including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.