Work Integrated Learning: Benefits, Skills & Career Development

This essay discusses the benefits of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) for undergraduate students. WIL integrates academic learning with practical workplace experience, fostering skill development, increasing workplace awareness, and enhancing soft skills like teamwork and communication. It also provides opportunities for students to gain practical knowledge, develop career strategies, and build professional networks. The essay further highlights the advantages for employers, such as access to dedicated resources, opportunities for recruitment, and fresh ideas. Ultimately, WIL prepares students for the workforce by providing real-world learning experiences and improving their confidence and knowledge within their chosen profession. It bridges the gap between theory and practice, equipping students with the skills and experience needed to succeed in their careers. Desklib provides a platform for students to access more resources and solved assignments.

Running Head: WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING 0
WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING
BENEFITS TO THE UNDERGRADUATES
System
3/31/2019

WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING 1
Work integrated learning is a word that is used to define the educational activities that promotes the
academic learning with a practical application use in the workplace. The aim of this is to make sure that
the students develop learning with both academic and activities related to work. Work integrated
learning is a very formal element of a degree course (Jackson, 2017). In this the learning activities are
designed in such a manner that the students are required to apply the previous knowledge and learning
to make good decision in work related context. Nowadays employers seek graduates who can become
good creative members of the organization or a business.
Benefits of work integrated learning for the students are they get to Work in a setting where they ae
able to put their theory into practice , it helps in increasing awareness of the workplace expectations
and the culture, it also helps in developing soft skills like team working, communication (Trede, 2012), It
also gives opportunity to the students to develop practical knowledge of the profession chosen, it helps
in developing skills which can help the student in future studies, it helps the students to obtain practical
knowledge for developing career strategies and it gives students mindfulness of opportunities in
business and helps in building network.
Work integrated learning has a lot of Benefits to employers as well such as they get a dedicated
resource to handle the specific tasks and project ,they can get a chance of recruit and trial without any
obligation, they get new ideas, It also gives them staff development opportunities which they seek from
mentoring the students and they get some of the potential recruits who have some knowledge or
general awareness of the workplace culture
Apart from this work integrated learning have benefits on academics as well such as it provides student
with the opportunity to see their area of interest, enhances the skills of students, helps in networking
with wide range of employers, using the employers contact in order to ensure industry learning
teaching, they can use the links to reassure the employers in order to contribute on the development
proof panels for the development of the specific areas.
There are a lot of benefits of work integrated learning that for the students, the host organization, some
of the benefits of work integrated learning such as financial rewards, career enhancement and
interaction between the academic institution and the employers (Papakonstantinou et al ,2013)
Some of the studies show that with the help of cooperative education, the students graduate gets a
head start on their peers who have never been a part of such programs. Such programs help in providing
dedication and direction to the students which they cannot find at a school. Workplace learning is
something which is new and has also become a very important part of skill development of students.
It is seen that the students can develop better understanding of how the world works or operates. It
has also been seen that the cooperative students get good and better job and faster they are also known
to be productive citizens than the students who did not undergo WIL programs. A lot of resources are
available at a workplace which allows the students to understand the casework in a better way. The
Students also feel that they learn more in the workplace and are able to learn more skills.

WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING 2
It is concluded that Work Integrated Learning in education is a very important and one of the most
valuable part of the prospectus that helps the students in providing the real life learning experience
even before they enter the workplace. The essay also shows that WIL is a very good and helpful an
educational model which prepares them for workplace. It has also been seen that the students who are
determined like to work while studying; it is one of the ways that help the students to take care of their
financial needs along with studying. Work integrated Learning is a program that provides helps in
providing the students access to the real-world experiences. It also allows the students to apply the
theory they learn into practice. Work integrated Learning has been found to be one of the best ways to
improve the confidence of students along with their knowledge within their profession.

WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING 3
REFERENCES
Jackson, D. (2017) Developing pre-professional identity in undergraduates through work- integrated
learning. High. Educ. 74, 833–853
Papakonstantinou, T., Charlton-Robb, K., Reina, R. D. & Rayner, G. (2013) Providing Research- Focused
Work-Integrated Learning for High Achieving Science Undergraduates. Asia-Pacific J. Coop. Educ. 14, 59–
Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education
Trede, F. (2012). Role of work-integrated learning in developing professionalism and professional
identity. Asia-Pacific J. Coop. Educ. 13, 159–167