International Residential Learning Communities

Gone are the days when campus housing simply provided students with a place to eat and sleep. Now, residence halls are an extension of the overall campus mission, purposely designed, staffed, and programmed to help students safely live, learn, and grow as citizens.

No part of campus residence halls epitomizes this spirit better than the development of living-learning communities. Since the concept was introduced in the 1980s as an avenue for facilitating meaningful interaction between peers, faculty, students, and staff, these living-learning communities have furthered students' educational and personal development in dramatic fashion, regularly being shown to positively impact assessment factors such as grade point average, retention, and student satisfaction.

In that spirit, ACUHO-I is proud to support the Residential Learning Communities database. This international listing of living-learning communities was conceived originally by Bowling Green State to collect and disseminate detailed information about current living-learning programs. Collected in one easily-accessed database, this information will inform and inspire other campuses in the creation and support of their own LLC initiatives.

Please submit your campus residential learning community to the database or update the information for your program if it is already listed.

Many residential learning communities from around the world have already submitted this information to the Residential Learning Community database. In order to make this resource even more valuable, though, we need your participation. If you are the director of such a community, please complete the online form today.

About This Database

Originally created by faculty and staff at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and currently supported by ACUHO-I, this database defines a residential learning community as a residential education unit in a college or university that is organized on the basis of an academic theme or approach and is intended to integrate academic learning and community living. The unit may or may not be degree granting and may involve collaboration with formal academic departments outside the unit.

Programs to be included in this list provide formal and/or informal educational opportunities such as courses, seminars, tutorials, or presentations. These programs may or may not provide academic credit to participants. Residential freshman year experience programs (FYEs) are included in this definition. Participation is usually voluntary.

Examples of programs to be included are:

• Residential colleges at Northwestern University
• Collins Living-Learning Community at Indiana University
• Unit One at the University of Illinois
• Human Sexual and Gender Development Living-Learning Community at SUNY-Stony Brook
• Chapman Learning Community at Bowling Green State University
• Chadbourne Residential Community at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
• The College Park Scholars Program at the University of Maryland
• Residential First Year Experiences at Gettysburg College