Effective work experience: an exploratory study of strategies and lessons from the United Kingdom's engineering education sector

Abstract

There are number of advantages to be gained from work-experience programmes. For the enterprise they provide a cost effective source of skilled or semi-skilled labour and a means of screening potential employees. Whilst for the education institution they offer a ready source of practical experience for young people, enabling institutions to develop employability skills. Traditionally, work experience programmes formed part of a sandwich course in which a young person would spend a year in industry obtaining relevant work experience. However, the nature of these programmes are beginning to change in response to policy reforms in the education system and due to the demands of the workplace. This article presents the findings of a study that investigated how work experience programmes are coping with these pressures. Using a series of case studies it identifies how programmes in the field of engineering at the Further and Higher Education level are responding to the varied needs of industry. Overall, the study finds that these programmes are undergoing changes and the traditional year-long sandwich programme, involving a year placement in industry, is not always the typical route followed by engineering students in the United Kingdom today. On a theoretical level the article argues that the market orientated reforms introduced into country' s education and training system over the past two decades, has done little to encourage industry-education links at FE or HE institutions. Moreover, when such links do occur they are a result of the innovative approaches adopted by individual departments, as well as the commitment of staff working in these institutes.