Work-integrated degrees: context, engagement, practice and quality

This review, conducted on behalf of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), aims to identify what can be learned about effective approaches to the development and delivery of employer-sponsored, work-integrated higher education (HE) programmes. The term 'work-integrated' is used both as a broader term than 'work-based', and to emphasise connectedness of learning as opposed to academic and workplace learning taking place in parallel but independently of each other. The review seeks to inform practice regarding degrees that include workplace learning and are sponsored by an employer, and particularly the development of degree apprenticeships. Its focus is on programmes that lead to an undergraduate or postgraduate higher education qualification and contain a substantial period of work-integrated learning that contributes to the accredited outcomes of the programme. It excludes programmes with short work placements, and it is not specifically designed to inform practice related to the provision of foundation degrees or level 4 or 5 apprenticeships, although much of the discussion will be relevant to them as well as, in part, to shorter collaborative programmes.