Placements have the potential to contribute more effectively to the quality of higher education. The aim of this article is to discuss how placements can be made more worthwhile for individual students, while also contributing to the overall quality of teaching and learning at HEIs as well as to the development of workplace cultures that are conducive to learning. Work experience opportunities help students to build substantive relationships and apply what they are learning. Students’ overall view of their learning experience becomes more positive, their identification with their intended profession strengthens and academic performance improves, as do graduate employment rates. Introducing placements in the curriculum does not, however, guarantee these positive effects. Learning is likely to be greater if the experience is ‘intentional and recognised’ and tightly knit into the curriculum. Using evidence from research on workplace learning is one way to improve the quality of placements, as exemplified by a scholarly approach to the development of placements for pharmacy students at Uppsala University. HEIs’ interaction with employers through placements enriches both parties. Academics gain insights into practice which may inspire teaching on campus, e.g. by generating real life examples that trigger students’ motivation and by informing curriculum design. Practitioners supervising students on placements are often excellent educational development partners. Placements may also contribute to organisational development. Developing a reflective, deliberate approach to learning in the workplace may be as useful for the employees as for the students. Also, students may carry out projects of value to the employer, while also keeping the university informed of current practice. An increased engagement in students' work experience opportunities may improve the student experience, and contribute to bridging the academy-practice divide in a way that is as much about influencing the rest of society as being influenced by it.
The Swedish Quality Award (SQA) is one of a number of similar instruments to be used in self‐assessments. It is similar to, inter alia, the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award used in the USA, and to the European Quality Award. The intention is that it will provide support in working with continuous quality improvements. To investigate the possibilities of using this instrument in higher education, a study was performed during 1994. The study comprised two parts: assessments of different institutions and studies of experiences from similar organisations where the SQA has been used.
The results indicate that usage of this instrument could provide an effective way to reach a general picture of some important aspects in an institution, and that this picture can be a basis for further quality improvements. The study also suggests both suitable ways to conduct assessments and some possible pitfalls.
This case study of a university in Vietnam examines how professionalism is established and managed in the university context as manifested in institutional quality assurance policies and practices towards academic staff development. By looking at both ‘regulations and instrumentalities’, the research showcases the different political forces involving in the making of professionalism. The findings suggest that the professionalism emerging from the case study is informed by a managerialist ethos. This striving university with its globalised logic can, in turn, be interpreted against a backdrop of larger socio-cultural contexts. In constructing the contemporary professionalism, there exist several forces and together they form an ecology system that includes both internal and external pressures under the overarching globalisation. A better understanding of these forces raises other questions about how they might change the traditional relationship between university and academic staff members, the impact of globalisation and the nature of teacher work and autonomy in higher education.