Work-integrated learning as re-mapping the spaces and places of learning?

It is increasingly common place for university students to have opportunities for real world, practical experiences during the course of their programme. These opportunities were once most closely associated with disciplines such as the health sciences, engineering and teaching, where professional accrediting bodies required and defined particular types of work integrated learning (WIL)(e.g. clinical placements and practicums). However, for other disciplines, such as literature, politics, history and geography, WIL is increasingly being embedded within curricula to increase students’ employment prospects upon graduation. In these types of disciplines, WIL comes packaged in a variety of forms, and experiences vary across disciplines, HE institutions and level of study. However, they share in common ‘the intentional integration of theory and practice knowledge’, one that may, or may not, include a placement in a workplace (Orrell 2011, p.1).