Education Opportunities

Continuing learning and development are fundamental to career growth and satisfaction. Whether your learning goals include an academic degree, vocational certification or individual professional development courses, be sure your career strategy and action plans include professional and career learning activities.

UVa Education Benefits are available to employees who have successfully completed their probationary period. Links to the policy, forms and due dates is available at this site.
If you have specific questions on education policy and administration, please call the HR Service Center at 434-982-0123 or email askhr@virginia.edu

If you have questions about how to decide what education or professional development is right for you, contact Career Services at 434.924.4343 or Holly Heilberg at hollyh@virginia.edu.

In addition, the following is a list of educational organizations that U.Va employees are attending using their education benefits as well as a link providing information on accreditation for distant and e-leaners.

Information on Education Programs:

• A good place to start is Petersons. This on-line site provides a comprehensive guide to undergraduate and graduate programs

• Undergraduate and Graduate Education Index is a comprehensive and informative resource that systematically sorts out the available undergraduate and graduate programs available today in the U.S.

Undergraduate Programs:

• Virginia Colleges and Universities.

• U.Va Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

• Piedmont Virginia Community College.

• Other Virginia Community Colleges.

Additional Regional Programs:

• Averett College.

• Bluefield College.

• James Madison University.

• Mary Baldwin College.

• Old Dominion University.

• Virginia Commonwealth University.

Graduate programs

• University of Virginia - A number of UVa employees have matriculated in graduate programs in the Curry School, McIntire School Master's in Information Technology (MIT) degree, Nursing School, School of Medicine (Public Health), School of Arts & Sciences and the Engineering School. Research the programs in which you are interested; you may wish to consult with the graduate advisor in your Department/Program of interest to discuss your interests and whether the program can accommodate your work obligations.

• Grad View is another excellent site for information on graduate programs.

• Virginia Colleges and Universities.

• GradSchool.com is a database of graduate schools. It also provides information on financing your education and more.

Additional Graduate Schools:

• University of Richmond.

• George Washington University.

• Liberty University.

• James Madison University.

• Florida State University.

• Averett University.

G.E.D. Programs

• UVa's GED and ESL Program

• Virginia’s Race to GED.

• Charlottesville City School GED Program.

• Nelson County GED Program.

Other local programs:

• Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC).

• Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Human Resource Management.

• Charlottesville City Adult Learning Center for developing English skills.

• Piedmont Virginia Community College – Workforce Development.

• Valley Vocational Tech Center.

• Speak! Language Center in downtown Charlottesville provides one-on-one English/ESL training as well as one-on-one lessons in 10 other languages (including: Spanish, Italian, French, German, Mandarin). Education benefits can be used for language training at Speak!

Other Professional Development Opportunities:

• We have on-going career development workshops and services that may help you assess your skills and interests, network to uncover opportunities, write a resume, interview to get the job, etc. Please check these frequently as they are continually updated.

• UVa Human Resources Employee Development.

• Regional organizations

• Lending library

• UVa Library VIRGO - A search for “career” provides 4,783 results in the UVa library system!

• Information on UVa's Competencies and related SkillSoft training.

Other alternative learning and career development opportunities:

• Mentoring and “shadowing” opportunities - Or contact Holly Heilberg at hollyh@virginia.edu to discuss this possibility.

• Professional Associations.

• LinkedIN to connect with other U.Va professionals.

• Twitter – to stay up to date with current career development articles, tips and advice.

• The Career Services "Blog" Contact Holly Heilberg at hollyh@virginia.edu to discuss this possibility.

• Field trips to peer departments and institutions. Contact Holly Heilberg at hollyh@virginia.edu to discuss this possibility