Filling the Gap: Defining a Robust Quality Assurance Model for Work-Based Learning in Higher Education

This paper, which is one of the outcomes of the EU co-financed Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project, Integrating Entrepreneurship and Work Experience in Higher Education focusses on the recognition and quality assurance mechanisms related to modes of Work-Based Learning (WBL), in particular placements. When discussing quality assurance, process and content related aspects should be distinguished. Content – development of subject specific and generic competences - can be phrased in terms of whether the evidence – the intended level of learning - is actually offered. A well-defined process for quality enhancement and assurance is perceived as a requirement to build trust and confidence. It checks whether the conditions for learning are up to standard. Both - conditions and level of learning – are key ingredients for recognition. An inventory made by ENQA at the beginning of 2018, shows that very limited work has been done by Quality Assurance Agencies so far to assure the quality of WBL. For this paper the work established by the UK Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Agency for the Quality of the Basque University System (Unibasq) has been analysed. This work has been aligned with an analysis of the applicability of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education
Area (ESG) and the insights offered by the WEXHE project. The paper answers the question which elements are thought necessary to build a robust and reliable quality assurance model for WBL.