For many students, if not most, a strong motivation for studying is entry or re-entry into work
and a career. The CSHE First Year Experience Survey found over a decade of surveys that
higher education ‘students continue to see university as an important means of preparing them
for a career’ (Krause et al. 2005:v). There is also some indication that when students do
undertake WIL, they generally find it beneficial. In a study at Griffith University, Crebert et al
(2004) concluded that most graduates recognised the opportunities work based learning
offered for the development of generic skills. In addition, they noted that ‘data gathered in the
course of the study suggested that there was a correlation between the graduates experience
of work placement and the relative ease with which they made the transition from university to
employment’ (Crebert et al. 2004:155). The background paper expands on this point in more
depth.
Despite the current emphasis on WIL in higher education, recent research has indicated that
the proportion of students who engage in this type of learning while at university in Australia is
relatively low. The AUSSE (ACER 2008) measured ‘the extent to which learners have blended
academic learning with workplace experience’ and found only 33.9% of Australia’s higher
education students reported blending academic learning and workplace experience. This varied
across institutions, and generally mature age and later year students reporting greater
blending. 1This is interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, it indicates how topical WIL is at
present. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, WIL is being framed within an ‘engagement’
construct as one of the activities and conditions likely to generate high quality learning. The
Director of AUSSE makes this point when he stated that the results “suggest that students feel
their educational experience has been most valuable when they are challenged to learn in a
supportive environment and have encountered work-relevant learning experiences.” (ACER,
2008)