Connecting Students With Internships & Apprenticeships
Germanna is participating in the Virginia Community College System’s (VCCS) Work-Based Learning (WBL) portal—a new, centralized platform designed to help students access meaningful work-based learning opportunities, while supporting faculty, staff, and employer partners across the Commonwealth.
WBL will support internships, apprenticeships, and other experiential learning by creating a consistent, data-informed way to connect students, employers, and colleges.
The WBL portal will officially launch on March 2, 2026.
What is the Work-Based Learning portal?
WBL is a Salesforce-based platform developed for the VCCS to manage, approve, and track work-based learning opportunities system-wide. It is fully customized to meet the specific needs of VCCS colleges, students, employers, and staff.
WBL will combine student, employer, and staff engagement in one system, supporting consistent data collection and transparent reporting at both the college and statewide levels. The system aligns with VCCS’s strategic goal to increase student participation in paid internships and apprenticeships by 25%.
Who is WBL for?
Students
- Express interest in internships, apprenticeships, and other work-based learning experiences
- Receive recommendations based on past interests
- Track placements and participation in approved opportunities
Faculty & Staff
- Identify, approve, and manage work-based learning opportunities
- Formalize employer partnerships and agreements
- Track student placements, progress, and outcomes using dashboards and reports
Employers
- Indicate interest in partnering with VCCS colleges
- Submit work-based learning opportunities
- Collaborate with colleges to support student placements
How WBL Works
Phase 1: Interest
Students and employers can “raise their hand” by submitting online interest forms available through the WBL portal. These submissions create work-based learning interest records, giving colleges a consistent way to capture and respond to opportunities. Dashboards help staff visualize trends in student and employer interest.
Phase 2: Approval
Once interest is identified, colleges move into the approval phase. Staff formalize employer partnerships by creating employer offering records, collecting job postings or opportunity details, verifying alignment with college offerings, and generating partnership agreements. This phase ensures opportunities are vetted and documented before students are placed.
Phase 3: Management
Colleges match students with approved opportunities, track placement records, and monitor progress. Dashboards display placement status, experience types, and completion rates, supporting student success and system-wide reporting.
Why WBL Matters
Grounded in VCCS’s Accelerate Opportunity agenda, WBL will help colleges:
- Expand access to work-based learning
- Increase visibility into internships and apprenticeships
- Streamline employer partnerships
- Enhance data sophistication through performance dashboards
- Measure progress toward statewide workforce goals
Project goals include:
- Increasing apprenticeships by 7% in the first year
- Increasing apprenticeships by 25% by 2030
- Creating a single environment for work-based learning across VCCS
Support for Faculty & Staff
The Career & Transfer Center will hold weekly office hours for faculty and staff interested in learning more about the system.
- Fridays at 1 p.m. from March 6 until August
Meeting ID: 261 393 045 473 65
Passcode: Uf3BE9jy
How WBL Fits With Existing Tools
WBL does not replace Germanna Works; however, we advise students to first register their interest through WBL to take advantage of the expanded capabilities of the new platform.
The initial WBL rollout will focus on paid internships, and a second phase will expand to additional work-based learning options.