Professional application projects: work-based learning in the curriculum

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the experience in a Mexican private higher education institution of implementing credit-bearing student placements and projects (interventions) in organizations, as a mandatory part of the curriculum for all undergraduates. The university-wide program, called professional application projects (PAPs) has been running for ten years and has two main aims: to develop work-based professional skills in students and to deliver services to organizations and communities of diverse types. All undergraduate students get involved in PAP when they have completed 70 percent of the required program credits. This amounts to approximately 2,000 students per year. The paper reports the results of an investigation into the learning outcomes of PAPs in the Business School, which comprises six undergraduate programs, a center for liaisons with businesses, and a center for management of technology and innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative analysis of students’ final reports of their PAP experience, from the period 2015-2016 was done.

Findings

The report analyses and clusters the main categories of learning outcomes reported by students. The analysis shows that the PAP experience has been mostly successful in terms of student learning.

Originality/value

There has been scarce reporting of the results of PAP at the reported institution, or of other similar experiences of work-based learning in Mexico on this scale.

Citation

Toledano-O’Farrill, R. (2017), "Professional application projects: work-based learning in the curriculum", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-07-2016-0047

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