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This article explores the extent to which students of different ethnicities, (dis)abilities, sexes, POLAR groups, and academic abilities undertake Year in Industry (YINI) placements and realise post-placement academic improvements, in comparison with non-YINI students. The benefits of work placements on student employability and graduate prospects are well-documented but less is known about which student groups gain access to placements. The study analyses secondary data relating to the sex, ethnicity, disability, POLAR group, grades, and degree classifications of 31,159 undergraduates graduating from a UK Russell Group university between 2016 and 2023, representing the largest study of its kind to date. The study found that students completing YINI programmes are significantly more likely to achieve first class (70.1% YINI, 28.5% non-YINI) and good degrees (97.7% YINI, 83.6% non-YINI). Importantly, the study found that YINI completion narrows awarding gaps found in the non-YINI population in relation to sex, disability, ethnicity, and POLAR group. The potential gains are greatest for male students, students with disabilities, Asian, Black and mixed ethnicity students, and students from low POLAR groups. However, access to placements is not proportionately distributed. Female students, students with disabilities, students from all ethnic minority groups and those of unknown ethnicity, and students from low POLAR groups are under-represented within the YINI population, suggesting placement access gaps in relation to sex, disability, ethnicity, and POLAR group. The paper concludes with strategies to encourage YINI participation amongst diverse student groups and calls for further research into lived experiences of YINI and non-YINI students.

Emerging research suggests that students from equity-deserving groups (EDGs) may experience barriers within work-integrated learning (WIL) that other students may not face, and such barriers may negatively impact students' participation in WIL. Guided by a social justice lens, this study used interviews of co-operative education (co-op) students (n = 30) from EDGs to explore barriers that such students experienced in one Canadian co-op program. Analyses of qualitative data showed that these students experienced non-structural barriers (those that are less explicit, such as internalized discrimination) and structural barriers (those related to policy and practice, both within their co-op program and their host organizations). While some barriers were specific to a given EDG, others were common across EDGs. These findings provide a fuller picture of the kinds of barriers experienced by WIL students within and across EDGs.

The University of Victoria, Canada, strives to enhance undergraduate students' labor market readiness through work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences. Students with disabilities have historically encountered low participation and success rates in WIL, potentially resulting in their under-representation in the post-graduation labor market. To address this issue, the CanWork program was created, aimed at eliminating participation barriers in co-operative education for students with disabilities. The program offered tailored support, including job development, one-on-one guidance at all stages, and the removal of grade point average (GPA) thresholds. As of its completion in September 2022, the CanWork program facilitated pre-employment training for 107 students with disabilities and 84 co-op work placements. Demographic-specific and personalized support mechanisms boosted participation and success rates for students with disabilities in work-integrated learning. Furthermore, an analysis of program data highlights that GPA requirements in well-resourced programs create unnecessary barriers for students with disabilities.

Dropout rates in engineering degree programmes at universities are high, and skilled workers are needed. Universities try to prevent dropouts with different offers one of which is attending bridging courses. Research on the effects of these programmes is rare, especially in subject-specific programmes and study formats like cooperative education. Furthermore, the results are contradictory. We focus our research on Germany and use data from the project "Study Process -- Crossroads, Determinants of Success and Barriers While Studying at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University", which included 963 participants from the first academic year and matched data from a survey with university administration data on dropouts two years after enrolment. Different propensity score matching algorithms and entropy balancing show small, non-significant negative effects. Results are reflected and embedded in the current state of the research. New research questions are discussed and practical implications are considered.

'Continuous meritocracy' was introduced in Singapore to redefine the concepts of talent and ability in Singapore society. This expanded meaning of meritocracy serves as another way to further support the SkillsFuture Singapore movement (Skillsfuture Singapore, 2023b), which was launched in 2016. 'Continuous meritocracy' complements Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) programs, which were to provide adult learners opportunities to integrate practical work experiences with academic learning. However, to fully operationalize WIL in the domain of adult learners, this paper points out that it is vital for the Singapore government and the different stakeholders to endorse the different forms of successes by making them more visible in the society. Utilizing Pierre Bourdieu's key theoretical concepts, this paper discusses the relationship between blue-collar adult learners' dispositions and WIL and proposes an ecosystemic approach that is based on work-integrated (adult) learning (WIAL) to transform the Singapore blue-collar workers' habitus with the aim to visualize 'continuous meritocracy' at the ground level.

Cooperative education (co-op) programs combine coursework and work internships and have become popular worldwide. Using over 45,000 performance evaluations collected separately for in-person (2019) and remote (2021) internship positions, this study uncovered the characteristics of successful co-op students. Each evaluation included an overall performance rating and written comments and recommendations provided by the supervisor. By using logistic regression and word frequency counting to analyze supervisors' general and recommendation comments, the most successful students were found to be excellent leaders and innovators, with remote students also being praised for their independence. Remote students were encouraged to be innovative and learn technological skills, while in-person students should improve oral communication and presentation abilities. These findings highlight important skills that students should acquire in their early careers.

Work-based learning (WBL) is used interchangeably with other concepts such as work-related learning (WRL) and workplace learning (WPL). Work-integrated learning (WIL) considers WBL a subset within WIL. Some scholars and practitioners argue that WBL as a mode of learning is pedagogically incompatible with WRL, WPL, and WIL. WBL and WIL practitioners work across the coexistence of many possible meanings of modes and disciplines within the Higher Educational space, something WPL and WRL does not do explicitly when applied outside of Higher Education by Human Resource Management (HRM) practitioners. This conceptual paper applies a critical, multi-perspectival, multi-theoretical and multi-methodological approach of inquiry to the concept of boundaries as it relates to WIL and WBL as a mode of learning within pedagogics. It emphasizes the unique raison d'être for WBL and WIL which is the liminality and tension as a mode of pedagogical practice, between, across, and through disciplines.

Workplace friendships have been linked to important employment outcomes. With the rise in remote work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences, there is concern about the implications of work mode for students' workplace relationships. Using a survey of co-operative education students, this study explored differences in the development of workplace friendships between work modes and the consequences of those friendships. Results suggest that students are more likely to develop friendships when they work in-person rather than remotely. Informal socialization occurred less in remote work, which partially explained why remote workers reported fewer friendships. Workplace friendships with organization members--but not fellow students--were positively associated with job satisfaction, career development, organizational commitment, and conversion intention. These findings indicate that remote work has implications for friendship development and the quality of a WIL experience. WIL stakeholders offering remote work should consider informal socialization opportunities to strengthen workplace friendships and improve the quality of WIL experiences. [Note: The page range (505-521) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 505-520.]

Youth unemployment remains a major political and socioeconomic challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, particularly given the region's young population. Literature points to two key barriers facing youth employment in the region, skills deficiencies and weak fundamentals that inhibit job creation and growth. Labor supply challenges are not unique to the younger population, and employment interventions adopted by the Nigerian government to combat these challenges in the formal wage sector, are primarily focused on graduates and non-graduates. This paper makes a case for encouraging the education system, employers, and governments to better prepare post-secondary students for the labor market before graduation through cooperative education. Cooperative education, a strategic policy response geared towards increasing youth employability and smoothing school-to-work transition, can help address the gap in the current suite of government intervention strategies and allow for a more proactive, dynamic and progressive response.

Using a cross-sectional survey of co-operative education students, this study explored relationships between students' gender, work experience, time spent on tasks with supervisors, and self-reported learning. Inexperienced men spent 50% more time on tasks with supervisors than inexperienced women. Work experience (completing at least one co-operative education work term) significantly reduced this gender-based gap. Further, time on tasks with supervisors was positively associated with self-reported learning among women, especially inexperienced women, but not for men. The findings are interpreted using the literature on gender roles at work and students' experiential learning outcomes. Early career women may be socialized into gender roles that limit access to supervisors' time. Work experience may help such women develop human capital such as confidence and social skills that closes gender-based gaps in learning opportunities.

Using data collected from co-operative education students at two different times over a four-month long work term, we test and find support for the hypothesis that students' approaches to learning explain the relationship between their lifelong learning characteristics and work adjustment. Students' lifelong learning characteristics were positively associated with a deep approach to learning and negatively associated with a disorganized approach to learning (and unrelated to their rational approach to learning), and these in turn influenced work adjustment. We conclude that the development of lifelong learners contributes to students' school-to-work transitions in work-integrated learning programs. The development of lifelong learning characteristics may be an important part of preparing students for organizational entry.

The purpose of this article is to explain the process and benefits of, as well as the obstacles and keys to, the success of education management in the Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education Program (CWIE)in Thailand's higher education system. This study employs secondary data, which we analyze using content and descriptive analysis. Data analysis showed that cooperative education courses are taught in a coproduced manner between higher education institutions and business establishments (public, private, and community) so that graduates are ready to enter the real world of work immediately, develop competencies that match the needs of the labor market, and prepare for future job positions. In addition, cooperative education encourages students to gain professional, self-development, and academic skills from the knowledge they receive. Cooperative education is an activity or operational process that includes an effective planning process and cooperation from all parties, including the business establishment, as well as quality cooperative education, including educational standards, curriculum teaching, supervision standards, student's standards, and measurement and evaluation standards. However, problems arise in cooperative education; for example, students should receive job training, and advisors do not receive much support. For the development of cooperative education, academic institutions should create a digital platform specifically for the management of cooperative education.

Management educators have developed a wide variety of approaches to ensure students develop job-ready skills, resilience, and other forms of career capital to gain and retain employment in an ever-changing, competitive job market. Yet, concerns about the employability agenda's consequences for students' self-concept and wellbeing have gained urgency amid a crisis of confidence in capitalism. Humanistic approaches to management education map an alternative path, starting from students' unique values, voices, and experiences, and leading to the pursuit of a personal purpose. In this essay, we explore the tensions and potential synergies of the career capital and personal purpose approaches to career preparation and support. Building on our experiences at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Business and Economics, we discuss how integrative learning experiences can combine these two approaches to (1) encourage students to recognize the mutual influence of career capital and personal purpose; and (2) provide rich opportunities for external stakeholder involvement to contribute to students' career capital and personal purpose development efforts. We believe that our proposals for embracing both career capital and personal purpose considerations can help management educators recalibrate their efforts to help students develop personally meaningful and sustainable careers.

Purpose: Climate change poses risks to society and the demand for carbon literacy within small and medium-sized enterprises is increasing. Skills and knowledge are required for organizational greenhouse gas accounting and science-based decisions to help businesses reduce transitional risks. At the University of Copenhagen and the University of Northern British Columbia, two carbon management courses have been developed to respond to this growing need. Using an action-based co-learning model, students and business are paired to quantify and report emissions and develop climate plans and communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on surveys of businesses that have partnered with the co-learning model, designed to provide insight on carbon reductions and the impacts of co-learning. Data collected from 12 respondents in Denmark and 19 respondents in Canada allow for cross-institutional and international comparison in a Global North context. Findings: Results show that while co-learning for carbon literacy is welcomed, companies identify limitations: time and resources; solution feasibility; governance and reporting structures; and communication methods. Findings reveal a need for extension, both forwards and backwards in time, indicating that the collaborations need to be lengthened and/or intensified. Balancing academic requirements detracts from usability for businesses, and while municipal and national policy and emission targets help generate a general societal understanding of the issue, there is no concrete guidance on how businesses can implement operational changes based on inventory results. Originality/value: The research brings new knowledge to the field of transitional climate risks and does so with a focus on both small businesses and universities as important co-learning actors in low-carbon transitions. The comparison across geographies and institutions contributes an international solution perspective to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

English language acquisition is a major challenge for Chinese students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) cooperative educational programs. The general academic English courses in China serve as preliminary courses for future advanced Content and Language Integrated Learning with science and engineering in the programs. The present general academic English courses are often criticized for form-focused instruction and language skills training rather than focusing on developing cognitive skills and social awareness. Additionally, present English courses are faced with an excessive number of students and limited time and resources, thereby, constraining effective course implementation. This comparative research study investigated the effects of different instructional models (face-to-face, blended learning [BL], and flipped learning) in three groups of 100 Chinese undergraduate students each majoring in STEM. A quasi-experimental design and student engagement questionnaires were used for data collection. The Kruskal-Wallis test and an analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between experimental group 2 and the other two groups, while no significant differences were found between the first two groups. The findings indicate that flipped BL, along with modified teaching strategies and activities improved the participants' learning results and engagement levels.

Fresh approaches to trades training are essential for decolonizing educational access and success for Indigenous people. Holistic approaches to supporting student success are needed for the unique learning needs and contexts of Indigenous learners. Community-based training presents opportunities for this type of innovation. Using a Canadian case study and an Indigenous storytelling approach of "witnessing," this paper introduces an Indigenous work-integrated learning conceptual model to support apprentice access and success through a community-based program. This student-centered approach ensures the apprentice is grounded in culture and Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being. Key features are described in a medicine wheel, which includes community, training providers, funders, and industry, and has the apprentice at the core.

Despite increases in Indigenous enrolment in post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in British Columbia, Canada, there are significant disparities in Indigenous student access, retention, and success in work-integrated learning (WIL) programs. By analyzing Indigenous-specific WIL literature, this article identifies existing barriers to Indigenous WIL as well as unrealized opportunities to expand and transform WIL approaches and practices. Based on these findings, the paper offers 10 recommendations for the development of resources and strategic Indigenous WIL initiatives, recommendations that also served to guide the creation of a publicly-accessible Indigenous WIL Resource Hub (IRH). However, the literature review also revealed limitations to academic publishing and challenges in institutional reporting. Accounting for these scholarly limitations and recognizing the value of on-the-ground and community-held knowledge, the directives guiding the IRH and shared in this article's conclusions are based on the understanding that initiatives to act on opportunities and address barriers must be needs-based and community-specific.

Co-operative education is a form of work-integrated learning that includes academic study and paid work experience. This provides new learning opportunities for students and a talent pipeline for employers, but also requires participation in a competitive job market. This paper studies competition through a unique dataset from a large North American co-operative program, in which students and employers rank each other after a round of interviews, then a matching algorithm assigns students to jobs based on the ranks, and finally, they evaluate each other at the end of the work term. The results suggest that less experienced students and small employers are more strongly affected by competition and consider more options in their rankings, whereas senior students and large employers often only identify their top choice. Additionally, competition appears to affect satisfaction since students and employers give higher work term evaluations when matched with their top choice.

In late 2020 the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Advanced Education sent a guidance document to Alberta post-secondary institutions to lay out how work-integrated learning was to be conducted. This document also informed the institutions that work-integrated learning should be included in all future program proposals. The guidelines were sent without the context or purpose stated. This paper applies Carol Bacchi's "What's the Problem Represented to be" post-structural policy discourse analysis to the Ministry of Advanced Education guidelines. There is a broad consensus in work-integrated learning research that work-integrated learning is beneficial for participants beyond employment outcomes. However, this analysis shows the Ministry of Advanced Education's representation of the problem displays an assumption that the purpose of work-integrated learning is to improve labour market outcomes. The analysis also spotlights that the likely effects of the policy have more to do with making work-integrated learning programs easier to assess than to improve student education. This paper proposes an alternative framework that would integrate the constructivist and humanistic origin of work-integrated learning and allow institutions to develop appropriate experiential learning components for their programs while still standardizing work-integrated learning components across and within institutions. This proposed framework can improve work-integrated learning programs in Canada by widening the focus beyond human capital theory.

One of the key problems of training a new type of specialist is the problem of forming appropriate inclusive competencies among students of pedagogical colleges. The article deals with the scientific and pedagogical bases of inclusive training of future specialists in the conditions of dual education. The work is based on the idea that the introduction of elements of the dual system of teaching students of pedagogical specialties will contribute to the qualitative development of student's general and inclusive training in the specialty, as well as the acquisition of practical skills in the relevant field directly in the educational organization. The study collected data through an experiment that included128 students and 10 representatives of employers. Data were analyzed using percentages and a pie chart. Results proved that the dual training system as a product of social partnership is an effective and flexible mechanism for training highly qualified specialists who can solve complex production tasks.

This study conducted a scoping review of publications in mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning for mathematics. Papers published between 2007 and 2021 inclusive were retrieved from research databases to achieve this goal. Twenty-eight papers met the inclusion-exclusion criteria of the study. It was shown that two papers were published on average over the last 15 years. The majority of the papers were published in peer-reviewed journals. Intending to improve mathematics pedagogy, the two most popular math mCSCL contents were general elementary mathematics and geometry. The review also revealed that math mCSCL benefited elementary students the most. The majority of math mCSCL software was custom-built and designed for synchronous sharing. The research designs were consistent with the existing reviews. The effects on social and attitude skills, as well as mathematics competency, were the most frequently mentioned benefits of math mCSCL. Usability issues, device unfamiliarity, inability to track students' activities, synchronization, and coordination concerns were among the problems highlighted during the implementation of math mCSCL. The implications for future research are discussed.

There is limited research available that examines students with disabilities' participation rates and perceptions of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) while in post-secondary. This is problematic as universities in Canada are growing their WIL programs to improve school to work transition rates. This research finds that 23% of students who are registered with the Disability Services Office for academic accommodations have engaged in WIL. For those who have not engaged in WIL, almost 50% strongly or somewhat agreed that their disability was a factor. Furthermore, students with mental health disorders are 3.3 times less likely to have had a WIL experience. Participation in WIL increases students with disabilities' probability of reporting more positively that they understand the accommodations they may need in WIL. However, only 17% of students with disabilities in a cooperative education program reported requesting accommodations in a co-op work term.

Student performance evaluations are a traditional method for assessing a student's skills during a work-integrated learning (WIL) experience. While these assessments provide students with feedback on the development of their skills, little documentation of student performance exists after the WIL experience. This paper explores the role of microcredentials in evidencing student competence in a particular skill through two studies conducted at the University of Waterloo. First, students and employers were surveyed to investigate their perceptions of microcredentials. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students who had the opportunity to earn a microcredential based on their performance in their co-operative education (co-op) work term and in the professional development courses that accompany their work term. Findings suggest that awareness of microcredentials remains limited. In terms of their value, there is evidence consistent with Bourdieu's theory of capital. Microcredentials appear to signal value to employers and students through the credential itself. However, aligning with human capital theory, microcredentials appear most valuable when they demonstrate both knowledge acquisition and competency. Finally, the value of obtaining a microcredential appears to motivate students to exert greater effort towards content mastery.

There is growing focus on graduating global citizens who can advocate for and operationalize sustainable futures by advancing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the high volume of internships the University of Waterloo facilitates, there was need to better understand how these internships might be contributing to the SDGs in deeper, more meaningful ways. The researchers conducted a pilot study to classify a sample of international internships in terms of their impact on one or more of the 17 SDGs (Ivkovic et al., 2020). A key outcome of the study is that there is need to build greater awareness of the SDGs and better assess actual impact on the SDGs. This paper explains the design and development of a low-resource activity, based on a guided-conversation exploration instrument for interns and organizations to recognize how their roles could contribute to advancing the SDGs.

Cooperative education and principles associated with learning ecosystems appear throughout the literature. However, the application of cooperative education and learning ecosystems to work-integrated learning has not been fully examined. Furthermore, the applicability of learning ecosystems within work-integrated learning to specific professional practice domains has similarly not previously been examined. The development of domain-specific work-integrated learning ecosystems and an explanation of how they might apply to cooperative education in higher education, the purpose of this paper, are explored from three sequentially related conceptual levels: Level 1), a proto-theoretical model of cooperative education > Level 2), a functional model of a work-integrated learning ecosystem > Level 3), an example of an applied model of a work-integrated learning ecosystem. Specifically, the paper explores how policing, presented here as a working example of a socially important practice domain, has been developed into a work-integrated learning ecosystem within the Australian higher education context.

Cooperative education is a form of work-integrated learning that includes both classroom study terms and paid work experience. Prior work has studied the benefits of cooperative education for students, employers, and academic institutions. In contrast, this article studies the impact of co-operative education on students' mental well-being. This is done by mining the Reddit social media platform, which includes, among many other topics, discussion communities for major U.S. and Canadian colleges. This analysis reveals that students report feelings of self-doubt resulting from a competitive co-op job market, especially when placed in entry-level jobs that are not related to their academic programs, and anxiety due to job interviews, especially when they coincide with exams and other academic deadlines. Additionally, recent discussions frequently point out cancelled work terms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating even more competition, financial hardship, and pressure to make alternate academic or employment arrangements.

Work engagement is defined as a positive work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. The engagement of staff has been associated with their performance and efficiency, productivity, safety, attendance and retention, customer service and satisfaction, and several other organizational success factors. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus and is now a pandemic that is affecting many countries globally. The literature surrounding the employment of measures and strategies to increase work engagement amongst clinical research staff during pandemics is scarce, and to date, focuses primarily on health care and community health workers. The Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) Network of Dedicated Enrollment Sites (NODES) is a clinical research consortium of ten medical centers that are embedded within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System. The consortium developed and implemented strategies during the pandemic that were intended to maintain work engagement amongst clinical research staff at each of the sites within the consortium. In this manuscript, we describe the development and deployment of these strategies to clinical research study teams in our clinical research consortium. It is our hope that the opportunities, successes, and challenges described here will serve as a useful resource for other clinical research consortia that are working to identify approaches to keep their staff members engaged during the current pandemic, as well as in other potential future situations in which their primary operations may be altered during other times of crises.

Cooperative education programs are usually based on a partnership between companies and universities. Dropouts have a particular impact here, for example the loss of junior staff in the companies. Most dropouts in cooperative education occur in the first academic year. In this multicausal dropout process, the influence of the cooperation partner is less pronounced in research. Consequently, we shed light on perspectives of organizational commitment to the company and motivational aspects in the academic fields of economics and engineering. We analyze collected data using a cross-sectional study design and estimated cox regression analysis on 2263 first-year students at Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) in Germany with 149 dropouts. Our analysis presents associations between affective commitment to the company, relatedness and competence at the university, and demographic and performance control variables with dropping out. Findings are contextualized within the current state of research. Practical implications are discussed in our study.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the relationship between the number of co-operative (co-op) education work terms that students completed and the importance they attach to employer and job attributes (i.e. work values). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a large cross-sectional survey of co-op students (N = 2,097) from one Canadian university. Findings: Of the 19 work values measured, only six were related to work experience. Whereas work experience was related to several of the least important work values, such as geographic location, it was unrelated to many of the most important work values, such as work-life balance. Further, evidence suggests that changes in work values occur when work experience is first introduced in the curriculum (e.g. first co-op work term), not at subsequent work experiences. Research limitations/implications: The findings extend the understanding of how work-integrated learning (WIL) prepares students to make decisions about their careers in the future of work and provide insights to address the challenge of scaling WIL. However, the study draws on cross-sectional data from one single Canadian university and does not explore potentially confounding factors including time itself or critical events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implications: WIL educators may leverage these findings to improve their understanding of how students' work values evolve as they complete WIL experiences. They may also use insights from the study to align students' needs and employers' understandings of those needs. Originality/value: This study is the first to explore how work values might change throughout a WIL program, particularly among Gen Z students whose work values seem divergent from those of previous generations.

The idea of dual vocational education and training (VET) has developed almost since VET education in Poland was established when the nation became a sovereign country in 1919. VET reforms -- during the 20 years before the Second World War and after 1945 -- were carried out to support rising industry and other developing areas of the economy. Recent reforms (passed in 2015 and 2017) strengthen significantly the meaning of the dual character of vocational education in Poland. This article presents Polish data from the international project 'Improving Expertise on Labour Relations' Impact on Youth Employability in Central and South-Eastern Europe' (EaSI grant VS/2016/0104). The research concerned the improvement of vocational education and the employability of students and young workers, especially regarding the idea and practice of dual VET education. The data were gathered using individual semi-structured and focus group interviews. The use of SWOT analysis has highlighted the multilevel nature of the VET learning environment and its advantages and disadvantages perceived from the perspective of many stakeholders -- school representatives, employers and also students. The central question of the analysis is about the possible pathways of changes that could improve the existing system.

With the development of globalization, transnational higher education is gradually becoming an essential means for many countries to achieve internationalization. Nowadays, Sino-foreign cooperative universities and programmeshave been turned into an important form of internationalization of Chinese higher education, increasingly attracting the attention among policy-makers and academic researchers. This paper focuses on student satisfaction with Sino-foreign cooperative universities by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Based on the case study, the development trend of Sino-foreign cooperative universities is discussed. Therefore, this paper is of far-reaching significance in improving the student satisfaction of Sino-foreign cooperative universities and promoting the internationalization of other ordinary public universities in China. Through the mixed empirical methods and case study approach, this paper found that the student evaluation of Sino-foreign cooperative universities shows the characteristics of "integration" that effectively absorbs the maternal resources and characteristics of both Chinese and foreign parties, and also realizes self-management and education innovation.

Student dropout in higher education is a challenge for higher education systems. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on analyzing motivational aspects in order to counteract dropout. However, the detailed impact mechanisms and processes of motivation on dropout have not been sufficiently researched. For example, there is very little research analyzing the preconditions of motivation and their influence on motivation as well as their eventual influence on dropout. From the background of self-determination theory and the person-object theory of interest, this study analyzes the effects of satisfying the three basic psychological needs on dropout via subject interest. We use data from a cross-sectional design with N = 2662 cooperative students in their first academic year. Our analysis identifies a direct effect of relatedness and subject interest on dropout. Furthermore, indirect effects of satisfying basic psychological needs, specifically, autonomy and relatedness, on dropout via subject interest are noted. We evaluate our results in the context of the current state of research and discuss implications.

The aim of this study is to examine the main cooperative educational programs from past to present; to illustrate the design, components, operational process and the learning environments of the Cooperative e-Certificate Program designed for lifelong learning and carried out through open and distance learning; to investigate relevant experiences and problems encountered during the execution of the program; and to provide possible solutions. A cooperation protocol has been signed between Anadolu University and Directorate General of Cooperatives which is connected to the Ministry of Trade, to design and to implement the Cooperative e-Certificate Program. The aim of this cooperation is to increase the education level of people, especially the youth, who directly or indirectly work in the cooperative sector and to raise awareness of cooperatives in the society. Within this context, the Cooperative e-Certificate Program was prepared in cooperation with Anadolu University and the Ministry of Trade in order to expand the cooperative enterprises, which are economically and socially important and a great power, and to help existing cooperatives to continue their activities in a more successful and efficient manner. The Cooperative e-Certificate Program is designed to reach and contribute to a wide target audience, such as lawyers, accountants, cooperative managers, employees, partners, public officials working in cooperatives, members of cooperative management, audit and liquidation board. The unique content and e-learning materials of the educational program consists of 13 units which includes several topics such as organizational structure of cooperatives, contract procedures, rights and obligations of partners, general assembly, board of management, duties and authorities of the supervisory board, accounting, reporting, audit, budgeting, analysis of financial statements, preparation of annual reports. For a while now, some efforts have been made to make it compulsory for those who want to take part in the managerial positions of cooperatives.

Universities around the world face a common challenge -- producing graduates with the necessary practical skills for employment. Cooperative education and work-integrated learning (WIL) make a valuable contribution to increasing graduate employability, however, there are differences in the level of cooperation from industry and government commitment. A comparative study of WIL in Germany, Australia, and South Korea, focusing predominantly on three universities, showed differences in the approaches to achieving practical experience and increasing graduate employability. The data underlying the research was derived from questionnaires, a focus group session, and the development of a descriptive, multi-case study. This allowed comparisons and contrasts between the three universities to be identified. The results and conclusions outlined in this paper aim to highlight best practice in cooperative education and WIL and provide recommendations for the future development of cooperative education, in order to improve graduate employability.

Universities around the world seek to increase their students' learning abroad in forms like international co-op and exchange. The authors build on findings in a 2016 publication by Behrisch in this journal to focus on the correlation of perceived risk with students' completion of a learning abroad experience. Using binary logistic regression analysis, findings suggest that students' perceived risk is negatively correlated with their likelihood of completing a learning abroad experience. Drawing on approach/inhibition theory and sensation seeking literature, the authors form a picture of how risk perception interacts with other factors to influence students' completion of learning abroad. Risk is typically regarded at the institutional and student levels as something negative to avoid. Reframing risk within the university as a conversation about learning, opportunity, and cognitive processing is recommended, since learning and teaching are essential elements of universities. The goal is to increase student engagement in learning abroad.

Students in psychology are often surveyed for personality. Empirical results show relevance of this topic, because personality influences academic success. In contrast, we know much less about the personality of students of cooperative education. So, we collected data from 5,863 students at Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in August 2016. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that gender (partial n[superscript 2] = 0.06), academic field (partial n[superscript 2] = 0.01) and covariate university entrance scores (partial n[superscript 2] = 0.05) have an effect on Big Five personality traits controlling age and social class. The results can be used for selecting students in cooperative education for academic fields and compare them with other types of study.

Studies exploring engineering students' experiences with cooperative education (co-op) typically utilize traditional quantitative and qualitative methods to focus on overall outcomes as opposed to individual voices. As a result of this, women's experiences in a co-op environment are rarely captured. Historically, women are underrepresented in engineering undergraduate programs, and this can lead to feelings of isolation and low self-efficacy, which, in turn, can lead to attrition. Participatory action research (PAR) not only highlights marginalized voices, but also empowers participants. The current study implements group-level assessment (GLA), a large-group PAR method, to study the co-op experiences of women in engineering at a large US research institution. During the GLA, participants developed an action plan to improve co-op experiences for women in order to improve retention and help future women succeed.

Focussing on a specific higher education online learning environment (OLE), this study aims to investigate and analyse instructional designs that employ Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Teaching Presence, Authenticity and Group Skills Development as educational strategies to mitigate group work issues and subsequently encourage collaborative group work. Group work is a challenging learning space for both participants and facilitators in the higher education sector. Known issues such as free riding, unfair marking and a lack of existing group work skills in the student cohort, create a catalyst for conflict which can lead to negative perceptions and avoidance of group work. Isolation and the resulting independent learning culture typifying online study contexts further challenge collaborative and active learning pedagogies required in contemporary online adult learning and assessment contexts.

In response to COVID-19 the Division of Experience-based Learning and Career Education at the University of Cincinnati embraced flexibility and innovation to expand on the existing practice of facilitating cooperative education employment experiences for students to re-envisioned opportunities that considered student wellbeing as the paramount tenet. This process created opportunities for faculty-scholars, administrators, and students to work collaboratively considering new forms of work-integrated learning while maintaining the academic rigor of the founding program of cooperative education. This case study describes the broad offerings of WIL at the University of Cincinnati and outlines the process of re-contextualizing WIL responding to limitations dictated by a global health crisis. New curricular offerings within the Experiential Explorations Program including the ServeIT initiative, virtual apprenticeship initiative, upskilling initiative and micro-co-op model are discussed. The authors comment on innovative forms of WIL born out of unprecedented circumstances and share recommendations for ways in which WIL educators can continue facilitating rich work-integrated learning.

Postsecondary cooperative (PSE co-op) education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience, for which Ontario is termed a "hot bed." Adopting a mixed-methods design, this study explores the status and characteristics of Ontario's PSE co-op in the national and the global contexts through the knowledge map analyses. Then, with three case studies at University of Waterloo, Brock University, and University of Victoria, it examines particular aspects of Ontario's PSE co-op concerning some significant questions such as what exactly distinguishes PSE co-op in Ontario, what can be done--especially with new "work-integrated learning" ideas and approaches--to continuously improve this type of experiential education, and how co-op education can be steered to better meet the changing needs in the 21st century.

From the first co-operative trust school at Reddish Vale in Manchester in 2006, the following decade would witness a remarkable growth of 'co-operative schools' in England, which at one point numbered over 850. This paper outlines the key development of democratic education by the co-operative schools network. It explains the approach to democracy and explores the way values were put into practice. At the heart of co-operativism lay a tension between engaging with technical everyday reforms and utopian transformative visions of an educational future. A new arena of debate and practice was established with considerable importance for our understanding of democratic education within the mainstream.

The increase in the number of adults returning to complete their university education as 'non-traditional students' brings more attention to the challenges of a standard degree format. This paper examines the experiences of seven non-traditional students undergoing a cooperative education programme in Singapore, where students would alternate spending a few days in a week at a university while working full-time for the remaining days, in relation to the challenges and opportunities of the programme. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we discovered four themes greatly affected by the programme design -- motivations for enrolling, transferability of knowledge, work-study balance and coping mechanisms. Overall, some obstacles hindering adults from continuing education were addressed by this cooperative education programme. The strong integration of work and study roles ensured that adults did not need to leave their job before starting university, reducing time and money-related pressures while increasing their commitment level to education. Additionally, rigid institutional practices were mitigated by the flexibility given by teaching faculty and work supervisors. We suggested several improvements to better suit the rising number of adults wanting to attain a degree. With the research results and recommendations proposed herein, this paper is useful to various universities willing to adopt cooperative education.