UiA as a beacon for practice placements

‘How to succeed with students in practice placements’ was the theme when NOKUT (the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education) held a breakfast seminar at UiA this week. The report ‘Praksis i høyere utdanning – gode eksempler’ (‘Practice placements in higher education – good examples’) was presented.

The practice placement scheme at UiA’s nursing education is one of the good examples in the NOKUT report, and the scheme was presented through panel talks. As was Humanists in Practice, an elective 10 credit course for bachelor students at the Faculty of Humanities and Education.

NOKUT Director General Terje Mørland was clearly inspired by what he heard, and he encouraged UiA and the region to be more proactive about sharing best practices with others.

“You are far ahead in this field, so you must reach out further”, Mørland says.

Vice Rector for Education Astrid Birgitte Engen pointed to the strategic objective to give students practice opportunities and that there is an overall idea behind the practice strategy.

 The NOKUT breakfast was live streamed and can be seen here.

Challenges NOKUT and the Ministry of Education and Research

NOKUT asks higher education institutions to think quality over quantity.

“Should all students get practice placements, or should every study programme offer one?” Eggen asks.

All the students will enter the job market after they complete their studies.

“That is why it is a social responsibility to equip them the best we can for life after university. Work placement is important, and we need to be challenged on that – both UiA, NOKUT and the Ministry of Education and Research”, Eggen says.

Quality in practice

Work placements in education is a priority area for NOKUT, and they are now working on the project ‘Operation work placements’. Here they gather information that can be used for quality assurance and quality improvement of work placements.

“We need to ask ourselves what work placements are meant to solve, what kind of learning outcomes they produce and whether other forms of learning could have given us the same results. Knowledge about these aspects is important when developing new practice placement schemes that give students a good learning outcome”, Mørland explains.

The NOKUT breakfast filled the house at UiA.

Challenged by the students

During the breakfast meeting, there was a conversation between Gunvor Andresen, deputy head of the Department of Health and Nursing Sciences, and Bente Jahnsen, department head of Education and Development at the Hospital of Southern Norway (SSHF). Jahnsen coordinates the practice placement collaboration between the hospital and the university for around 1000 students every year. The collaboration is governed by a general agreement between SSHF and UiA, and there is close contact between the university and the various hospital departments. Both parties stressed the good and long-term cooperation between the university and the hospital as a prerequisite for good practice placements.

“The students feel they are expected and wanted when they start their practice placement, and that there is a clear plan for them. That means that we get very good feedback on our practice placements”, Andresen says.

 “Education is one of our four focus areas, and practice placements are educational for us as well. The students challenge us and force us to reflect on what we are doing and how we perform our tasks”, Jahnsen says.

“Practice placements provide an important recruitment arena, both for us and the students”, Jahnsen says.

Quality student placements was the theme of NOKUT’s breakfast meeting. Here is Andreas Aase (from left) in conversation with Gunhild Aaby, communications manager at Vest-Agder Museum; history student Helle Kirkhus; Bente Jahnsen, department head at the Hospital of Southern Norway; Gunvor Andresen, deputy head of the Department of Health and Nursing Sciences; and moderator Gard Sandaker-Nielsen, director of communications at NOKUT.

Get to know yourself

Associate Professor Andreas Aase is responsible for Humanists in Practice and spoke about the experience gained over two years, providing practice placements to students who traditionally only have theoretical studies.

“The students wonder what they will do in life. During a week of theoretical preparation ahead of the practice period, the students are trained to reflect on who they are, what their strong suits are, and what they have to work on”, Aase says

Helle Kirkhus is a student of history and had her practice period at Vest-Agder Museum. She found the theoretical part very useful.

“I developed as a person and was able to reflect on myself and what I can contribute. It broadened my perspective on what opportunities I have, gave me new contacts and a professional network”, she says.

Transferable value

Mørland challenged the educational institutions to become better at sharing knowledge and experiences, both between the institutions and within the individual university and college.

“There is not enough curiosity across disciplines. This is where the management must be better at getting people to talk together,” Mørland says.

Both Aase and Andresen accepted the challenge and would like to meet other colleagues to exchange experiences.

“We have to create an arena for learning across disciplines”, Aase says.

“We need a place where we can talk about work placements”, Andresen says.

“Let’s establish that right here and now”, moderator Gard Sandaker-Nielsen says, who is also director of communications at NOKUT.

Many people followed the debate.