This paper explores the idea that the variety of approaches to experiential learning, and the diversity of ways in which learning is accessed and facilitated, is contributing to the conventional world of the university being turned upside-down. Work-based and experiential learning acknowledge learning derived from outside the classroom; similarly, but differently, the flipped classroom encourages learning to take place elsewhere. This paper examines whether changes to the traditional locus of higher education delivery and to the production, storage and dissemination of knowledge represent philosophical challenges to the status of the university itself. To make formative connections between learning that is taking place through work, experiential and flipped learning, a small-scale research study was undertaken across two English universities. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data derived from desk-based research, electronic survey and semi-structured interviews, the paper demonstrates a range of understandings and applications of experiential learning.