Flagship program for full-time high school educators
A transformative one-year journey empowering educators to lead impactful counseling within schools.
Empower is IC3’s flagship one-year certificate program that trains full-time high school educators to become career and college counselors within their schools.
Through the program, educators develop the knowledge, tools, and global perspective needed to guide students in making informed decisions about higher education and careers.
Empower is delivered through IC3’s Counseling Laboratory® pedagogy, combining experiential learning, global expertise, and practical implementation within school environments.
The program is offered at no cost to participating educators through philanthropic support and a global volunteer faculty network.
Empower is designed for full-time high school educators who are either building counseling functions within their schools or already serving in counseling roles.
For practicing counselors, the program provides an opportunity to deepen knowledge, strengthen counseling competencies, and engage with a diverse global peer network of educators and counseling professionals.
Participants benefit from learning alongside peers with varied experiences, school contexts, and roles across the world.
Participants in Empower will achieve tangible competencies to transform school counseling:
Structured across one year combining intensive residential immersions, virtual learning, and global collaboration.
One-week residential learning experiences hosted at partner universities in India, held approximately once each quarter with intensive full-day programming.
Regular online sessions, webinars, and practical project work scheduled between residential weeks to ensure continuous development and school implementation.
Direct mentorship and collaboration with peers and volunteer faculty from universities, high schools, and educational organizations across the world.
Attendance expectations tailored to applicant locations:
Participants are required to attend all four residential weeks in person at partner host universities in India. Peer engagement, collaboration, and immersion are fundamental pillars of the program.
Participants may attend residential weeks virtually via live stream. They are welcome and warmly encouraged to attend in person, but in-person travel is not mandatory for international participants.
* All participants are expected to actively engage in the full one-year program and maintain an active IC3 membership throughout.
Empower is offered at zero tuition cost to participants through philanthropic support.
Applications to Empower are open exclusively to IC3 Members.
Note: A maximum of two educators per school per cohort may participate.
The Empower program is offered at no cost to participating educators and schools.
Program costs are supported entirely through philanthropic funding and the generous contributions of partners and volunteer faculty globally.
Travel & Stay: Accommodation and meals are provided by the host university during residential weeks. Travel to and from residential locations is covered by the participant or their school.
Empower is taught and mentored by an accomplished global network of volunteer leaders, including:
Select a cohort below to view complete dates, residential locations, and online module timelines.
| PROGRAM PHASE | DATES & LOCATION |
|---|---|
| Orientation Week | 03-06 August 2026 (Monday to Thursday) |
| Residential Program Week 1 | 16-20 August 2026 |
| Online Series 1 | 08 September 2026 - 03 November 2026 September: 08, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29* (Educators University Exchange - *Date will be reconfirmed closer to the virtual event) October: 01, 06, 08, 13, 15, 22, 27, 29 |
| Residential Program Week 2 | 16-20 November 2026 |
| Online Series 2 | 01 December 2026 - 12 January 2027 December 2026 - 01, 03, 08, 10, 15, 17, 22 January 2027 - 05, 07, 12 |
| Residential Program Week 3 | 19-23 January 2027 |
| Online Session 3 | 02 February - 13 April 2027 February 2027 - 02, 04, 09, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25 March 2027 - 02, 04, 09, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30 April 2027 - 01, 06, 08, 13 |
| Residential Program Week 4 | 19 - 23 April 2027 FLAME University |
| Capstone Project Presentation (Stage 2) | May 2027 |
| Capstone Project (Stage 3: Impact Report Presentations) | End of July 2027 |
| Graduation | August 2027 |
Get a firsthand look at how educators come together during residential weeks across university campuses for intensive learning, community building, and transformative counseling workshops.
Find answers to common questions about eligibility, accommodation, curriculum, and application requirements.
Accommodation and meals during the residential weeks are taken care of by the host universities. The travel cost is to be borne by the applicant or the school.
For the residential week, the host universities provide on-campus accommodation to the cohort. In some cases, they may arrange for hotel accommodation on a twin-sharing basis.
Yes, it is. Peer learning, interaction, and community building is core part of the program.
You will receive a certificate from the IC3, upon successfully meeting the graduation requirements.
The program is offered at no cost to high school employees. The program costs USD 3600, and the IC3 currently offsets this cost through philanthropic donations and volunteer support. In the event of a participant leaving the program mid-way, the school will be liable to pay USD 500 to the IC3 as administrative charges within 30 days of the participant’s discontinuation from the program.
Through the year there will be four residential weeks, wherein the programming will be from 9 am-6 pm IST on a university campus, in-person. The three online series comprising fifteen virtual sessions each, in between the residential weeks will be 90-120min per session (usually between 4:30 pm -6 pm IST), twice a week, online.
You will be required to inform us and a decision will be made on a case-to-case basis.
Application has to be submitted online through the application link on this page.
The IC3 Flagship Program includes a combination of assessments (objectively graded quizzes) which help to recall important information needed when counseling students, and assignments - these are practical / application-oriented projects which help us implement techniques we learn, with our students, other teachers, and school leadership. Some examples include linking school subjects to careers, mindful self-reflection, and more.
The following documents will be required to be submitted at the time of filling out the application form:
After successfully submitting your application, you will be required to submit an approval letter from the school principal/management consenting to your participation in the program.
All aspects of the program are designed to enhance your knowledge, skills, and core competencies as a career counselor. Each assessment and assignment is designed to contribute towards one aspect of the counseling practice in the school, i.e. ongoing professional development, curriculum, resources, process management, etc. The end of the program project includes a holistic plan for the counseling practice.
Yes. The school will need to provide an approval letter confirming that the participant will attend all four residential weeks in person and 3-5 hours of online work every week throughout the program. The school should agree and confirm that if the participant leaves the program mid-way, the school will be liable to pay USD 500 to the IC3 as administrative charges within 30 days of the participant’s discontinuation from the program.
It is imperative that schools support their teachers’ participation in the program since the learnings from the IC3 program will subsequently be implemented at the school to improve student outcomes. You can download a copy of the sample approval letter to be printed on your school’s letterhead here.
The teachers who participate in the IC3 are key to advancing the mission of the IC3 Movement. As a part of the IC3 Movement, you can spread awareness about the importance of career and college counseling in schools in and around your region. Your school can be a host for the IC3 Regional Forums, through which you will get an opportunity to interact with faculty and counselors from across the globe and also generate awareness toward college and career counseling in your region. You can participate actively in the Annual IC3 Conference, and inspire more counselors to join the IC3 and to become thought leaders in career counseling in your region. We also encourage our graduates to join the IC3 as faculty. You will need to fill out the application form to volunteer as IC3 faculty, and receive necessary permission from your school.
In that case, you can apply to the next cohort. There are three intakes every year spread over January, May, and September.
It is a one-year program.
Only full-time school employees including (but not limited to) high school counselors, teachers, and principals of the school are eligible to apply.
It is a blended program with four residential weeks (in-person) with full-day programming, one per quarter at a partner host university in India, and three online series, each comprising fifteen sessions with two sessions scheduled per week between the residential weeks. The sessions in Online Series 1 and Online Series 3 are 90 minutes on designated days. The sessions of Online Series 2 are 120 minutes on specified days of the week.
For applicants from India: It is mandatory to attend a minimum of TWO residential weeks in person at partner host universities. (For schools with limited resources, exceptions will be made on a case-to-case basis)
If a Residential Week is happening outside of your home country, you will be permitted to join the Residential Week virtually.