In this blog Joy Perkins (Associate Professor, Learning and Teaching Academy) unlocks the potential of work-integrated learning (WIL), to enhance student employability.
What is Work Integrated Learning (WIL)?
As higher education evolves to meet the demands of a changing workforce, the integration of employability into curriculum design has never been more critical. One of the most effective approaches to bridging the gap between academic learning and professional practice is work-integrated learning (WIL). WIL is an educational approach (pedagogy) that enables students to apply their academic learning in authentic contexts, often this involves an external employer partner. The diverse range of WIL approaches include:
- work placements,
- service learning,
- internships,
- degree apprenticeships,
- international exchanges and
- non-placement WIL, such as industry projects, remote internships, enterprise and entrepreneurial learning, Hackathons, or simulations with industry engagement.
Since the COVID pandemic, there has been rapid growth in types of non-placement WIL, as these enable greater flexibility and inclusivity to be embedded in programme-level WIL approaches (Irwin & Perkins, 2021).
What are the benefits of WIL?
For academic staff, incorporating WIL provides opportunities to enhance student engagement, sharpen their career thinking, and prepare graduates for the dynamic needs of today’s job market. These benefits extend to the University as WIL can enhance links with businesses and charities for other partnerships and ventures. For external organisations, there are potential benefits such as access to new perspectives and fresh ideas from students, links to future student talent pipelines, as well as additional resource to progress projects.
That said, WIL isn’t just about sending students into workplaces for yearlong placements or summer internships. It is about thoughtfully and purposefully embedding WIL into the curriculum to help to develop students’ capabilities and skills such as problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and adaptability. These skills, combined with disciplinary knowledge and enthusiasm are often cited as top workplace priorities that Senior managers, HR recruiters, and employers consistently value.
How to implement WIL?
Academics can play a pivotal role in the WIL process as they can bridge the gap between subject knowledge and its application in professional contexts. By fostering internship partnerships with industry, designing authentic assessments, and facilitating reflective practice, educators can transform traditional curriculum design into a WIL-focused learning experience. Even small changes, such as including an industry guest lecture, or offering an employer-led real world consultancy project, or authoring a workplace case study can make a significant impact on the student learning experience.
Integrating employability into the curriculum enhances students’ awareness of their skills development, supports career planning, and is more equitable as students are all included in these employability-development opportunities (Scott & Willison, 2021; Jackson et al., 2023). The pedagogical value of embedding subject-specific employability learning in degree programmes is well established, and there are numerous examples of effective practice across Heriot-Watt. These include, but are not limited to:
- Engaging employers in student learning activities such as student presentations, participating in discussion panels or contributing to viva voces (School of Textiles & Design).
- Embedding yearlong industry placements in undergraduate degrees such as Chemistry and Physics.
- Incorporating ‘advanced practice’ components in the MSc Business Analytics & Consultancy and MSc Digital Marketing programmes where employers offer students short, real-world projects.
Through these Heriot-Watt curricular initiatives, students gain practical experience, develop a broad range of professional competencies, and enhance their socio-cultural capital: all are instrumental in supporting successful graduate outcomes (Jackson & Tomlinson, 2021).
So, what’s next?
As we work to prepare students for an ever-changing future employment landscape, WIL offers a practical and purposeful way to connect academic learning with workplace settings beyond Heriot-Watt University. The challenge and the opportunity lie in how we, as educators, design and deliver curricular for that future.
Further reading
Staff interested in initiating WIL in their own teaching or exploring WIL further are encouraged to engage with, ‘The Routledge 3rd International Handbook of Work-Integrated Learning’ (internal login required). Available in the HWU library, it is a worthwhile read that may spark new ideas or verify your current WIL practice.
References
Irwin, A., & Perkins, J. (2021, Jun 15). Are online internships the future of work experience, or just a pandemic remedy for student employability? Wonkhe. https://wonkhe.com/blogs/are-online-internships-the-future-of-work-experience-or-just-a-pandemic-remedy-for-student-employability/
Jackson, D., Dean, B. A., & Eady, M. (2023). Equity and inclusion in work-integrated learning: participation and outcomes for diverse student groups. Educational Review, 77(2), 329–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2182764
Jackson, D., & Tomlinson, M. (2021). The relative importance of work experience, extra-curricular and university-based activities on student employability. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(4), 1119–1135. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1901663
Perkins, J., & Durkin, S. (2025). Developing student employability through formative assessment and virtual project learning in the social science curriculum. In S. Elkington, & A. Irons (Eds.), Formative Assessment and Feedback in Post-Digital Learning Environments: Disciplinary Case Studies in Higher Education (1st ed., pp. 42-49). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003360254-5
Scott, F. J., & Willison, D. (2021). Students’ reflections on an employability skills provision. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(8), 1118–1133. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1928025
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