Standards Academy: A New Way To Bring UL Safety Standards to the College Classroom

ULRI’s newest open-access, online education platform, Standards Academy, will empower students through real-world safety standards education.

In early September, UL Research Institutes’ Office of Research Experiences & Education in collaboration with UL Standards & Engagement launched StandardsAcademy.org. This online platform for undergraduate students and faculty helps bring real-world safety standards into the curriculum, bridging the gap between theoretical learning and professional practice.

Aimed at inspiring and educating the next generation of standards professionals and growing understanding of the critical role that standards development plays in building a safer, more sustainable world, the close collaboration between ULSE and OREE that led to the development of Standards Academy was recently featured in the United States National Committee of the IEC’s summer newsletter focused on education.

Real-world safety standards education

The goal of Standards Academy is to support the next generation of early career professionals in understanding the value of safety standards to ensure a safer world. The free, interactive online platform is designed for undergraduate students to learn more about what safety standards are, why they matter, and how safety standards are used to mitigate safety risks and hazards.

Why is this important?

58% of employers expect new hires to have a knowledge of safety standards at the time of hire, according to a 2010 study by Harding and McPherson. But, only 15% of standards professionals were exposed to safety standards in college, based on findings from the 2022 UL Standards & Engagement Next Generation Stakeholder Survey.

With this new knowledge of safety standards gained from Standards Academy, students will be able to increase their efficacy of standards implementation in engineering design.

Standards Academy utilizes an interrupted case study approach, where students will:

• Learn about safety standards and how they apply to real-world scenarios
• Grow their knowledge of safety hazards and risks addressed by safety standards
• Gain understanding of the standards development process, the role of UL Standards & Engagement’s technical committees, and see how consensus drives the outcome of a standard
• Have an opportunity to offer feedback that influences standards development

The case studies:

• Help students engage in active learning
• Encourage thought-provoking questions and collaborative problem-solving
• Lead to engaging classroom conversations
• Showcase standards professionals in action

Current case study themes include:

• Sustainability
• Electrification
• Fire safety
• Mechanical safety
• Electrical safety
• Human and environmental health, climate adaption

A collaborative beginning

The development of Standards Academy first began in 2022 as UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement partnered closely to develop this unique platform.

The partnership began with ULRI’s Office of Research Experiences & Education, which provides educational expertise in STEM to educators and students across the entire education continuum, along with programs that promote access to equitable opportunities and workforce development in safety science.

Alongside UL Standards & Engagement, a world-renowned leader in safety standards with more than 1,700 standards developed, OREE’s education experts began to explore the issue of safety standards exposure in college and university curriculums.

OREE took part in a nationwide university listening tour in 2022, engaging engineering faculty and administrators from 10 participating universities to understand the current state of undergraduate standards education. Based on those findings, OREE began building the content for Standards Academy.

The case studies were written in partnership with OREE’s education experts and subject matter experts across ULSE, including engineers and standards experts, bringing together diverse sets of knowledge, expertise, and experiences to bring Standards Academy to life.

Dozens of new case studies are currently in the works, along with supplemental case study resources, including videos and interactives.

A meeting of minds

In March 2025, OREE partnered with the Colorado School of Mines to host the Standards Education Summit in Golden, Colorado — bringing together experts from ULSE, ULRI, and award winners from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program. This summit convened experts across industry and higher education to share their curriculum practices that promote postsecondary standards education, and to increase collaboration and communication in the standards development field.

Together, attendees:

• Learned more from postsecondary faculty on successfully developing and implementing standards education curriculum in existing engineering courses
• Highlighted curriculum programs that already exist
• Enhanced the development of standards education programming for undergraduate students
• Discussed how to collaborate more and broaden participation in standards development and standardization

The discussions at the summit contributed directly to the development of resources on Standards Academy, with learnings incorporated into the case study approach.

The interrupted case study approach includes:

• A problem: why is there a need for a standard?
• Approach: how the technical committees are formed and their work
• Solution: the publication of the standard
• Interruptions: pause points to reflect on a question or prompt from the content

The future of standards education

Standards Academy is formatted to ensure that students reading the case studies aren’t lost in theory or hypotheticals — they’re engrossed in real-world situations that are relevant to their lives. Within each case study, students learn about the role that technical committee members and stakeholders play in the consensus process and are invited to take part in the standards development process themselves.

Empowering young adults with autonomy enables them to shape their own futures and take charge of their lives. Involving young people in the standards development process can bring valuable change, driven by their fresh perspectives and sharp insight into the world they live in. We’re excited to help be a part of that positive change.

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