Towards the development of Industrial Placement in Higher Education

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Towards the development of Industrial Placement
in Higher Education

• Ince Trisnawaty Wangsa (incetwangsa_at_yahoo.co.uk)
• Lorna Uden,
• (l.uden_at_staffs.ac.uk)
• FCET, Staffordshire University,
• Beaconside, Stafford. ST 18 0AD, UK

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Talk

• Integrating work with Learning
• Placement
• Placement and learning
• Experiences
• Conclusion

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Integration of work with learning

• Different models of work-integrated learning.
• Sandwich course is the most common.
• Industrial placement, practical placement or work
  placement is usually part and parcel of study
  programme.
• Opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into
  practice.

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• Widespread utilization in UK higher education.
• Positive effect of industrial placement schemes
  participation on academic attainment.
• Students likely to find employment with
  industrial experience.
• Students participating in industrial placement
  experience having better academic performance in
  the completion of related coursework, better
  attendance, and higher graduation rates.

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Work

• Studies are often seen as too theoretical,
• New stress is put on competencies which refer to
  employees capacities in specific contexts and
  these provide the students a chance to further
  develop the employability skills that employers
  are seeking.
• Incorporation of industrial placement into the
  course intends to set a new balance between the
  acquisition of knowledge and actual experience.

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Models of placement

• Laissez-faire model
• Student is given an indication of what he /she is
  expected to derive from placement
• May include guidance on the compilation of a log
  book or diary tasks given to the student in the
  work environment is at discretion of the host.

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• Formal-structure model
• Whole placement environment from initial
  information sessions, preparation of the CV,
  instruction and practice in interview techniques,
  through to the interview and selection by the
  host firm (placement co-ordinator) and the work
  experience itself is systematically controlled to
  achieve pre-determined outcomes.

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• Decentralized model
• Program is organized as part of an academic
  department and functions totally within it.
• Centralized model
• Functions by means of a single department or
  group that is responsible for all the students
  across subject disciplines.
• Centralized-decentralized model
• Consists of coordinators housed within their
  departments, but the program is overseen by a
  central group that serves to set policy that
  applies throughout the institution.

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Effective Placement

• The structure of the placement
• The role of the coordinator within the programme.
• The roles of supervisors in the programme
• Academic supervisor
• Industry supervisor.

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• The weak integration of theory and practice.
• Access to quality learning environments.
• Establishment of appropriate risk management and
  minimisation processes.
• Systematic evaluation for monitoring the quality
  of learning outcomes.
• Involvement partnerships among diverse groups
  with clear agreements.

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• Most effective placement management occurs where
  the host organisation is involved from the
  beginning and where the organisation is committed
  to student learning.

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Placement and Learning

• Workplace offers informal and incidental
  learning.
• University tends to teach declarative knowledge
  or knowing-about-things.
• Sequence of learning process used in work based
  learning which requires the application of
  relevant knowledge or theory as follows
• Definition of the problem.
• Analysis and understanding of the problem.

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• Generation of possible outcomes to solve the
  problem.
• Implementation of a chosen solution.
• Evaluation of the result.
• Learner, in this learning process, engages in
  reflection of experience, self-management and
  individual responsibility for personal and
  professional development.
• Students who have acquired these skills are
  likely to be able to carry out a placement which
  fully integrates theory and practice.

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Benefits of placement

• For students
• Having opportunities to further develop
  understanding and mastery of the abstract theory.
• Exposure to a diverse range of working styles and
  cultures.
• The opportunities to enrich both generic and
  discipline specific skills.

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• Experience the day-to-day operations of a real
  business and have access to real business
  resources.
• Establishment of work history which may enhance
  future employment opportunities.
• Access to an employers reference.
• Establishment of network of professional
  contacts.
• Develop workplace maturity, and increase
  motivation to learn.

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• For Industries
• Input of fresh ideas by the student.
• Opportunity to monitor student performance with a
  view to longer term employment.
• An opportunity to train students with specific
  skills suited to the organisation, access to
  resources and facilities of the university,
  access to specific academic staff networking
  events, employment flexibility, establishment of
  a working relationship with the university and an
  opportunity to engage with bright, energetic and
  focussed young people with new ideas to boost
  creativity and innovation in the workplace.

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• For Universities
• Offers positive impact on the degree programme as
  it makes it more attractive to prospective
  students and provides a relatively uncomplicated
  mechanism to form new partnerships with industry
  which often lead to further involvement of the
  industry partner in terms of recruitment of
  students and of teaching staff, of research
  funding and consultancy.

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Personal experiences

• Wide variety of work involved.
• Modules and subject taken during my first and
  second year, were useful stepping stones.
• However understanding how to fully integrate the
  theories or knowledge learnt at university into
  the practical world, is one of the skills that I
  need to build up in order to successfully meet my
  employers requirements
• Skills such as problem solving, critical
  thinking, communication and team player skills.

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Problem Based Learning (PBL)

• The learning which results from the process of
  working towards the understanding of, or
  resolution of, a problem.
• PBL is a way of constructing and teaching courses
  using problems as the stimulus and focus for
  student activities.
• Took up PBL upon my return to university.
• I wish I had taken it before I went on placement.

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Conclusion

• Work integrated learning in the broad sense can
  be described as an attempt by educationalists to
  provide a pathway to support the employability of
  the graduates.
• Important for the community involved on the
  placement programme to be aware of the key issues
  that will support the programmes more effective
  delivery.
• Academia and industries to get together to
  identify the types of skills that students need
  to work in real life.
• Should be synergy of curriculum between
  university and industry.