VIP Consortium

The VIP Consortium is a nonprofit alliance of higher education institutions with Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) programs. In VIP programs, teams of undergraduate students – from various academic years and disciplines – work with faculty and their graduate students on ambitious, long-term projects. Undergraduates are directly involved in the research and innovation process, applying their own knowledge and insights to unsolved problems.

The VIP model has been studied and refined for more than 20 years. Unlike many other high-impact programs in higher education, VIP is accessible, equitable, and scalable. In 2015, a $5 million multi-institutional grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust helped spread the program to a wide variety of institutions, which collectively became known as the VIP Consortium. The VIP Consortium won the 2019 ABET Innovation Award for its efforts to advance the VIP model and build community among VIP institutions.