Connecting with industry to deliver Work-Integrated Learning in partnership

Work-Integrated Learning is a pedagogical approach that allows universities to provide context-responsive, fit-for-purpose education through industry partnerships. However, genuine experiential and workplace learning must also be actively supported by industry. The Graduate Certificate and Professional Honours (Clinical Redesign) courses are practically applied in the workplace; delivered in a blended learning model within healthcare organisations. As part of our courses, students actively participate in their own work setting by undertaking a health service improvement project. Projects have industry-based project sponsors and expert coaches, who provide organisational oversight and on-the-ground coaching. This practice ensures that industry partners are closely involved in many aspects of the course, such as feedback, project design, content development and assessment. A mixed-methods approach, comprising online surveys and semi-structured interviews, was used to explore the experiences of coaches and executive sponsors as key facilitators of workplace-based projects (Van Dam et al., 2020). Fifteen (54%) coaches and 37 (20%) sponsors completed the online survey. Ten coaches and six sponsors participated in interviews. The survey data revealed overall positive experiences for coaches and mixed experiences for sponsors. Interview participants expressed a sense of fulfillment that came from working with project teams to deliver successful project and educational outcomes. However, concerns were raised about the skills required to effectively coach and sponsor. Coaches and sponsors sometimes felt under-valued and may benefit from cohort-tailored and evidence-based professional development. There is an opportunity for UTAS to develop educational programs to further support partner organisations to deliver sustainable, best-practice Work-Integrated Learning.