Title: Enhancing Employability Skills: Evaluation of the Student Experiences of the Work-integrated Learning Internship Program
Stream: Learning Experiences, Student Learning & Learner Diversity
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Chengeto Chaderopa, International College of Management - Sydney, Australia
Abstract:
Globally, the value of education is increasingly being measured against the extent to which it succeeds in producing work-ready graduates. The increasing marketisation of higher education, reflected in students’ investment of money and time in their education, places a moral responsibility on education providers to equip their graduates with highly sought-after employable skills. This has led to higher and vocational educational providers presenting Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities to their students. At the same time, despite the fact that the students are the ones who intimately engage with and experience all aspects of the WIL teaching/learning situation, research has established that their voice is rarely captured. There is underreporting of students’ WIL educational experiences, an occurrence that threatens the effectiveness of some WIL internship programs to help students develop employability skills. Whilst the volume of studies examining the importance of the student voice is burgeoning, there is still room to further investigate the perceptions of students about their WIL placements before, during and post-placement. Therefore, this qualitative study investigates the students’ perceptions of the role of the WIL internship program in helping them to integrate classroom theory and concepts with their practical application in the workplace as well as develop the highly sought-after employability skills or professional competencies.
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