UCLA For Life
Overview
UCLA for Life is the university’s incubator for lifelong learning, an R&D arm that pilots disciplined experiments for how to serve learners across their entire lives. Proven pilots grow into programs that scale, preparing the university for the horizon ahead and the most dynamic labor market in human history.
Leveraging UCLA’s assets and excellence, UCLA for Life exists to deliver learning that lasts for life: preparing every learner not just for a first job, but to navigate the most dynamic labor market in human history, lead a meaningful life, and be a constructive member of their community.
By embracing innovation and inclusivity, UCLA for Life positions the university as a global leader in accessible, forward-looking education.
This initiative advances the fourth goal of our strategic plan: Elevate how we teach.
Goals
We’ve identified three priority horizon challenges to focus our first pilots.
Navigating deep career and pathway uncertainty.
As the workforce, technology, and world change faster than ever, people lack a trusted partner to help them navigate and prepare. Whether it’s a life transition, a technology shift, or a new ambition, they know they want to move, but not how, or whom to trust to guide them.
How can we use emerging technology and UCLA’s existing assets to help more people Navigate, Learn, and Validate the skills they need today?
Broadening access to UCLA’s quality learning.
Demand for UCLA-caliber learning far exceeds what a single degree pathway alone can reach. Alongside its flagship degree programs, UCLA has an opportunity to extend meaningful learning to alumni, career changers, and lifelong learners who seek a genuine connection to the university.
How can we build on UCLA’s existing strengths and assets, to serve more of these learners while upholding the rigor and quality that define a UCLA education?
Bridging degree to career.
UCLA undergraduates graduate with deep knowledge, but a rapidly changing world leaves some feeling unprepared for the workforce they are walking into.
How can we build on the strength of a UCLA degree, with clearer signals on what employers need now, more meaningful work experience, and future-ready skills, to give every student an edge before they graduate?
Degree Plus
Sign up for Degree Plus, the very first pilot from UCLA for Life, launching Fall 2026. Earn a professional credential and real internship experience alongside your UCLA degree, at no extra cost.
Expected Outcomes
- Validated models, ready to scale: a growing body of pilots showing which new approaches can scale
- Measurable learner impact: validated skills, credentials, and stronger paths to meaningful careers.
- A self-sustaining engine: reach that grows through earned revenue and external funding, not core university budgets.
- A globally recognized lifelong-learning identity that positions UCLA as a trusted partner for career advancement and continuous education at every stage of life.
- A premier, technology-integrated learning ecosystem that uses AI and strong instructional design to personalize education, supported by modernized hubs like UCLA Downtown and 21st-century classrooms.
Progress in Motion
- Establishing a One UCLA partnership across campus – including with the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), UCLA Extension, academic units and UCLA Health – to share pedagogical resources and offer flexible learning formats that support Bruins in achieving their lifelong educational goals.
- Providing new spaces to support active and collaborative learning approaches, hybrid course delivery options for faculty and fully accessible educational experiences for students by opening the new Bruin Collaborative as part of UCLA Downtown and modernizing general assignment classrooms.
- Expanding educational access across the lifespan by offering courses for retirees and alumni through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), UCLA Second Act, the UCLA Age-Friendly University Initiative, the Senior Scholars Program from UCLA Health, and other workshops, seminars and courses across campus.
- Expanding education access for Angelenos by removing tuition barriers through the UC Excelerator program; fostering partnerships across Los Angeles between UCLA Extension, LAUSD and SoLA Impact; and developing affordable professional alternatives, such as professional programs from UCLA Theater, Film and Television or the joint UCLA Health and UCLA Extension Medical Assistant Program.
- Establishing a cohesive AI strategy for teaching and learning with the launch of the UCLA Teaching Symposium: Adapting Instruction in the Age of AI on June 10, 2026, engaging campus stakeholders to explore effective ways both agentic and generative AI could enhance the student experience and support faculty in the design and delivery of instruction.
- Evolving the ways teaching is evaluated and improving student feedback used to improve instruction, in particular through the Holistic Evaluation of Teaching (HET) framework and Student Experiences of Teaching (SET) program.
Meet the Leads
Ann Wang, Senior Advisor on Innovation, leads UCLA for Life. Former President of the UCLA Alumni Association, Emeritus UC Regent, and technology entrepreneur, she pairs deep entrepreneurial experience with a lifelong commitment to UCLA’s public mission.
Meets Goal 4: Elevate how we teach
In response to a changing world — and an evolving teaching and learning landscape — the time is right for UCLA to modernize its instructional practices to stay at the forefront of excellence in education. Leveraging expertise and motivation, UCLA is well positioned to advance inclusive teaching practices by strengthening programs that support and incentivize continuous improvement and innovation in instruction, making intentional, research-informed, and equity-affirming changes to our teaching and learning enterprise, and re-envisioning how we evaluate and celebrate teaching excellence.