WPI’s distinctive project-based educational model has been praised by the most recognized and valued resources in the academic world, as well as by those who know the benefits of a WPI education firsthand — WPI students and alumni.
While we’ve never had any doubt about the value of this method of education, we now have powerful empirical evidence of its effectiveness—an extensive study of more than 2,500 WPI alumni has confirmed that there are lifelong professional and personal benefits of experiential, hands-on learning through project work.
The survey also revealed that alumni who completed a project off-campus at one of our domestic or international project centers reported more positive impact than alumni who did not. This was true in almost all areas, with notable differences in interpersonal and communication skills, world views, and personal impacts:
Of the more than 2,500 alumni across a span of 38 years who responded to this 2012 survey on the impact of their off-campus project experiences:
These WPI alumni confirmed the findings of a 2014 Gallup-Purdue index poll that showed students who undertook long-term college projects report more career satisfaction and stronger connections to professional satisfaction, advancement, and personal enrichment.
In the News
Worcester News Tonight covered the Stigma Free app, designed by WPI students, which will help people battling addiction and other struggles anonymously. The City of Worcester and WPI students teamed up to get the app off the ground.
Fabio Carrera, teaching professor and director of the Venice Project Center for 30 years, was interviewed for a lengthy feature story in The Guardian (UK) about the negative impact of tourism on Venice. In this article, Carrera, who tracks tourism flow and believes Venice’s maximum capacity for tourists per day should be better managed, noted that “no other city faces a bigger tourism challenge.”
