European experience in work-based learning as a challenging innovation for Ukrainian technical higher education

Abstract

Higher technical education today is one of the determining factors of reproducing the intellectual and productive human resources of the society, the future success in strengthening the authority of Ukraine as a sovereign, independent, democratic, social and legal state. Under these conditions, it is necessary to find the ways for new partnerships between higher education, enterprises, and students taking into account the needs of all of them. In this context, the study of the work-based models in European universities is of significant interest and may become an important source for comprehensive understanding and creative use of its positive ideas in reforming Ukrainian higher technical education. Participants of the project “Developing European Work Based Learning Approaches and Methods” (DEWBLAM) have developed the European platform for the work-based learning in institutions of higher professional education, which has become the foundation for the introduction of work-based learning models in European universities. The article analyzes various definitions of the work-based learning, the work-based learning models at universities in Germany and the UK, where they have a long history. Analysis of these models enabled defining features and benefits of work-based models, which make them perspective in the Ukrainian higher technical education.