What is Work Life Relevance in Discipline-Oriented Study Programs and How Can We Connect Academic Learning and Workplace Learning?

Discipline-oriented study programs do seldom lead to one specific profession such as in medicine, law or research; therefore, it is not easy to identify specific practical skills. Furthermore, Nordic studies of employers’ demands in relation to competences seem to point to the importance of academic skills supported by generic skills such as the ability to solve problems, collaborate and communicate, curiosity and most important the ability to learn (lifelong learning) (DJØF Analyse 2018, Støren et.al. 2019). Specific, practical skills range lower than academic skills. Therefore, the studies should not necessarily exchange academic courses for practical oriented courses but aim to both make the students aware of the academic skills as well as work with different ways of connecting academic knowledge with practical questions. This often requires other teaching methods such as activation of students during class. I.e. as Fung writes, elaborate ways of connecting academic learning with workplace learning departing from the understanding of a connected curriculum framework (Fung 2017). In my paper I will elaborate on the discussion about different types of skills (generic, specific and long term) and different ways of balancing different demands at the university. I will include experiences from a course I run where I collaborate with the Union about the Future Work for political scientists as well as the knowledge I gain from participating in a Norwegian Evaluation Committee about Work Life Relevance in discipline-oriented study programs. DJØF Analyse (2018). Udviklingen i kompetenceefterspørgslen på Djøf-arbejdsmarkedet – hovedresultater. DJØF. København. https://www.djoef.dk//-/media/documents/djoef/u/udviklingen-kompetenceeftersp-oe-rgslen-p-aa--dj-oe-f-arbejdsmarkedet-hovedresultat.ashx Fung, Dilli (2017). A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education. UCL Press. London. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1558776/1/A-Connected-Curriculum-for-Higher-Education.pdf Støren, Liv Anne, Rune Borgan Reiling, Siv-Elisabeth Skjelbred, Marte Eline Ulvestad, Tone Cecilie Carlsten og Dorothy Sutherland Olsen (2019). Utdanning for arbeidslivet Arbeidsgivers forventninger til og erfaringer med nyutdannede fra universiteter, høgskoler og fagskoler. NIFU Oslo, rapport 3. https://nokut.sharepoint.com/sites/P360/1906680/Delte%20dokumenter/Evaluering%20av%20arbeidslivsrelevans%20i%20disiplinfag/Kunnskapsbase/Relevante%20dokumenter%20og%20rapporter/NIFUrapport2019_Utdanning%20for%20arbeidslivet.pdf