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There were two aims of the study described in this report:
The project focused on two major policy issues:
There is increasing pressure on universities to show that they are responsive to employer, government and community demands for greater accountability. This pressure is particularly felt in areas of vocational relevance. Although there are many studies indicating that work-based education is effective in developing competent and professional graduates, it is unclear how much and what aspects of these programs contribute effectively to this end. Although some existing studies have approached this question (such as Gardiner & Singh 1991 and Crebert 1995) there is still no set of clear guidelines on how to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of these programs.
Twenty years of research into student learning in higher education has established that students learn more effectively when they experience supportive teaching, high quality feedback, a challenging but not over-heavy workload, and clearly-stated goals and standards. It might be assumed that there would be a parallel relationship in work-based programs. Crebert (1995) found that there were many in which objectives were unclear to both students and supervisors and where support, particularly from the university, was seen by students to be inadequate. An investigation by Martin & Bowden (1992) of work placement in five professional areas indicated that ignorance by academic staff and employers about how to develop appropriate criteria and standards in workplace learning environments, as well as how to give useful feedback on achievements, often led to the squandering of supervisory time, a feeling of lack of achievement by some students, and dissatisfaction among employers.
The present project compared the different ways in which eight programs in four fields of study (Business, Engineering, Social Work, and Biological Sciences) were conceptualised, planned and practised and assessed the impact of these programs on students' learning and employers' reports of satisfaction with placement students.
The hypothesis that workplace learning may be supported in ways similar to on-campus learning was tested using a questionnaire developed specifically for this project. The Work Experience Questionnaire (WEQ) is based on the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), which, following the recommendations of the Linke Report (1991), is now used nationally to provide information about graduates' experiences of the quality of their courses. The WEQ was used in all eight of the courses in the present study. In four of the courses, one in each field of study, case studies using in-depth interviews of academics, employers and students were carried out.
Chapter 2 overviews the literature on work-based components of university courses. Chapter 3 describes the sample and methods used in the study. Chapter 4 gives a brief description of each of the courses involved, while Chapter 5 discusses the results of the questionnaire survey and Chapter 6 presents an analysis of the qualitative data. Chapter 7 reports on a separate phenomenographic analysis of the qualitative data. Chapter 8 presents the conclusions of the report and a set of recommendations.