Planning the journey to best practice in developing employability skills: Transnational university internships in Vietnam

Christine Bilsland*, Helga Nagy, Phil Smith

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Currently, there is little research into how Western universities can establish and implement effective WIL (Work Integrated Learning) in their offshore campuses. Given global concern with university graduates' general work-readiness, combined with a need for foreign universities to deliver relevant outcomes to its offshore students, greater insight is needed. This paper examines WIL in an offshore education context. It reports results from work supervisor evaluations of interns in a foreign university that delivers its WIL/internship program to undergraduate business degree students in Vietnam. Although preliminary results indicate that work supervisors are generally satisfied with intern performance on employability skill measures, the authors propose further research that would enable universities to deliver locally relevant WIL programs. The paper concludes by proposing WIL research initiatives aimed at incorporating richer communication and involvement with the company representatives/frontline supervisors; understanding relevant factors of importance held by industry; and building closer connections with industry.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)145-157
Number of pages13
JournalAsia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education
Volume15
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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