Career development practice: facilitating work-integrated learning in higher education

Abstract

Australian universities can no longer be seen as rarified educational institutions acting as society’s repository and dispensary of higher knowledge and learning—indeed, were they ever? With the tide of global and national trends demanding universities better engage with the ever complex worlds-of-work, they are now prone to the vicissitudes of market forces, the vagaries of politics, the risk of securing and balancing private and public funding, the demands from employers for “employable” graduates and, of course, the needs and desires of their primary interest: students. Indeed, there is an increased focus on learning outside of the academy, and recognition that workplaces can be rich sources of opportunity. This challenges traditional notions of academic work and the university constituency, but presents valuable opportunities for university career development practice. The Australian Government’s Bradley Review of Australian higher education in 2008 brought these issues and more into sharp focus; and the review frankly asked no less a question than: “What is the future of higher education in Australia?”.