Mid Sweden University

Supplying work-life with a well-educated workforce is important for higher education. This task links to societal challenges such as digitalisation, globalisation, and regulation changes. Nevertheless, even if higher education institutions must educate to avoid competence shortages and match-making problems in work-life, such institutions must collaborate with employers. Higher education institutions and employers can meet up to this challenge by developing work-integrated learning programmes collaboratively. Work-integrated learning approaches integrate theoretical knowledge in the workplace by embracing pedagogical methods and strategies based on a specially designed curriculum. The current study discusses and analyses try-outs of a lifelong and work-integrated learning approach in a Business Administration program. The first stage of the project included developing and designing a preliminary framework, including content and activities and pedagogic principles to be applied in a lifelong and work-integrated learning approach. The preliminary framework embraced the following activities: 1) Exchanges of experiences and knowledge between the university and collaborating organisations, 2) Guest lectures from collaborating organisations, 3) Integration of authentic assignments in terms of a Bring-Your-Own-Data from collaboration organisations, 4) Dissertation work at collaborating organisations, 5) Creating hourly paid posts to combine studies and work, and 6) Mentorship to create opportunities for students to get access to work-life settings during their studies. The second stage included the implementation of the preliminary framework. The third stage evaluated the approach to suggest alterations of the preliminary framework. The paper reports and discusses early preliminary results from the try-outs.