Placements and academic performance

Citation

(2009), "Placements and academic performance", Education + Training, Vol. 51 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2009.00451cab.008

Placements and academic performance

Article Type: Research news From: Education + Training, Volume 51, Issue 3

A research paper by Richard Mendez (University of Leicester) considers the view held amongst many work based learning practitioners that students undertaking an industrial work placement, often graduate with a higher degree classification. The abstract of the paper “The Correlation between Industrial Placements and Final Degree Results: A Study of Engineering Placement Students” is noted here:

This paper builds upon results from more comprehensive longitudinal studies (e.g. Mandilaras (2004). Through an institutional study of engineering undergraduates at the University of Leicester, it explores whether students that undertook an industrial work placement as part of their engineering degree, outperformed their non-placement counterparts. The statistical analysis offers evidence that suggests a causal link between completing a placement and achieving higher academic performance in the final year of an engineering university degree.

Additionally, the paper scrutinises the assumption that placement students outperform their non-placement counterparts scholastically. The full paper can be accessed at: www.asetonline.org/documents/TheCorrelationBetweenIndustrialPlacementsandFinalDegreeResults.pdf

ASET, The Placement and Employability Professionals’ Body. published their final research report on innovative methods in the assessment of work-based learning in 2008. The rep[ort “Are E-Portfolios an Asset to Learning and Placement?” is available at: www.asetonline.org/advice.htm#assessment

The following web link cites a recent article (“Graduate Jobs Crunch Magnifies Placement Students’ Advantage”, Sunday Times, 18 January 2009) about how placement students are far better equipped to cope with the current economic climate: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article5535766.ece