Riipen Wins Reimagine Education's "Nurturing Employability" Award

8,200 student experiences delivered across 12 Ontario colleges and universities

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2020 /CNW/ - Riipen, developer of a work and learning platform that enables postsecondary students to connect with real-world projects from companies, received the "Nurturing Employability" Award at the annual Reimagine Education Conference and Awards held in London, England in December. Riipen received the award for delivering 8,249 online work-integrated learning experiences to students at 12 Ontario colleges and universities.

Reimagine Education is a global conference and competition, open to those who are transforming education. The Reimagine Education Awards reward innovative approaches that improve student learning outcomes and employability.

Jack Moran, Reimagine Education Program Manager, said: "Employability has always been at the heart of the Reimagine Education mission — we know that students are trying to navigate an ever-more-crowded, ever-more-complex employment market, and the skills and experience that they need to succeed are reflecting that complexity. In choosing our winners, therefore, we are seeking to identify and reward initiatives that recognize, and adapt students to flourish in, this world."

"Riipen was selected as our Nurturing Employability Gold Winner because it is perfectly-placed to nurture a generation of highly-employable, twenty-first-century-adapted students. In particular, our Steering Committee commended it for its emphasis on complex project-based learning experiences, its near-unparalleled scalability among applicants in its category, and its prominent focus on serving students from underserved backgrounds. In improving both attainment and access, it was roundly recognized as a deserving winner, and we congratulate its team on their work."

Work-integrated experiential learning is a method of enhancing students' skills, career clarity, networks, and employability. Traditional methods, such as co-op placements and internships, are costly to scale and can be challenging for all students to access. Online work-integrated learning solves these challenges.

Riipen's accessible online platform reduces socioeconomic or geographic barriers by enabling students of all disciplines to pursue work and learning projects. And by subsidizing the participation fees for employers, and increasing access for non-profits and small businesses, Riipen was able to offer a greater range of experiences to students.

"Riipen is proud to be selected as the Gold Award Winner in the "Nurturing Employability" Category by Reimagine Education. This project, funded in part by the Ontario Government, was a great way to catalyze work-integrated learning in the province and get us closer to the goal of giving every student opportunities for skills development," said Dana Stephenson, CEO and Founder of Riipen.

About Riipen
Riipen is enabling transformative opportunities for companies to collaborate with post-secondary students on real-time, real-world challenges that are embedded directly into coursework. To date, Riipen has enabled 40,000 students at 150+ post-secondary schools to do 1.5 million hours of applied learning with 5,000 companies. Their mission: to help students of all backgrounds and geographies to boost their skills, gain career clarity, network, and find jobs they love.

SOURCE Riipen

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