Research & development

Capacity Building Project: FlexWBl

Reg. Number: 610072-EPP-1-2019-LV-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Website: http://www.flexwbl.org/

Duration: 15.11.2019 – 14.11.2022

Erasmus+ 2019 call, Key Action 2: Capacity building in higher education

Project category: Developing the Higher Education sector within society at large – university-enterprise cooperation, such as support for students’ practical placement, entrepreneurship, employability of graduates etc.

“Work-based Learning refers to all forms of learning that takes place in a real work environment. It provides individuals with the skills needed to successfully obtain and keep jobs and progress in their professional development. Apprenticeships, internships, traineeships and on-the-job training are the most common types of work-based learning. These types usually – but not always – combine elements of learning in the workplace with classroom-based learning.

Apprenticeships provide occupational skills and typically lead to a recognised qualification. They combine learning in the workplace with school-based learning in a structured way. In most cases, apprenticeships last several years. Most often the apprentice is considered an employee and has a work contract and a salary. Traineeships and internships are workplace training periods that complement formal or non-formal education and training programmes. They may last from a few days or weeks to months. They may or may not include a work contract and payment. On-the-job training is training which takes place in the normal work environment. It is the most common type of work-based learning throughout an individual’s working life.”

In higher education sector the term “Work-Based Learning” is being used to describe a class of university programmes that bring together universities and work organizations to create new learning opportunities in workplaces, where students are full-time employees whose study process is embedded in the workplace activities and is designed to meet the learning needs of the employees and the aims of the organization.

For many HEIs work-based learning is already a vital and legitimate mode of learning which acts as a driver for innovation in the HE system. However, extending this legitimacy necessitates developing strategies for bridging learning and work, for addressing the issues and challenges throughout the higher education system, for wider applicability of work-based learning practices in the HE sector.

For higher education, it is necessary to determine how to participate in work-based learning, so that universities are related to practice, and at the same time generate a new type of higher education based on students’ individual learning paths.

Under FlexWBL the work-based learning is considered as the educational strategy of universities, providing students with the opportunity to study and work simultaneously not only in the form of apprenticeships, internships or other “imitations” of work (as a semi-skilled workers), but in the form of full-fledged employment at the enterprise.