We consulted internal and external data sources to compile this year's University Awards. We scored each institution on three factors: student engagement, faculty involvement, and institutional characteristics. 

To calculate student engagement, we examined the percentage of students enrolled in a Forage program and the Forage program completion rate in the past year at each institution. Student engagement made up 50% of an institution's overall score.

To calculate faculty involvement, we calculated the percentage of faculty who are registered on Forage. Faculty involvement made up 25% of an institution's overall score.

Institutional offerings are an important component of the experiential learning experience. We referenced the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to retrieve institutional characteristics to incorporate into our ranking. These characteristics included whether each institution offers an occupational program, continuing professional education, credit for life experiences, placement services for program completers, and/or credit for military training. The institutional characteristics component made up 25% of an institution's overall score.

Our ranking represents the schools that scored the best across these three factors out of over 6,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.

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