Job-ready: Swinburne’s bold move to industry placements for all

Swinburne University’s new plan is to give every undergraduate real job experience and an edge in a tough employment market.

Swinburne University’s massive new work integrated learning project is the brainchild of vice-chancellor Pascale Quester.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, Swinburne University is promising real-world work experience to all of the estimated 3000 undergraduates who will start degrees next year.

The move, aimed at meeting the demands of the changing workforce and economy, and an attempt to differentiate the university in the competitive higher education market, will require a vast expansion of job placements, internships and industry-linked projects for students.

Approaches will be made to research partners, companies with which the university has relationships in various communities, local government departments and alumni networks.

“We know how to scale this up,” interim deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Chris Pilgrim said. “It’s consistent with our tradition, but it’s absolutely aligned with the future.”

Not all students will be assigned work experience in their first year; it may come in their second or third year.

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At the moment, Swinburne offers work-integrated learning in most degrees and in various ways: for example, 300 students in its “professional degrees” undertook a year-long paid placement this year. Most students already have access to optional placements and internships, and a large proportion of degrees already have industry-linked projects.

The plan is the initiative of Swinburne vice-chancellor Pascale Quester, who said the university had been one of the first to offer industry placements as far back as 1963, when it had a partnership with GM Holden.

“Swinburne will build on this legacy and be the university where solid industry experiences are more readily accessible for students,” Professor Quester said.

Professor Pilgrim said cranking up the scheme would require a team effort between his portfolio and that of the deputy vice-chancellor of community and global engagement.

The goal is to embed industry experience at every stage of a student’s degree, “in increasing levels of authenticity, complexity and autonomy”.

First-year students will receive a lot of guidance and assistance before progressing to internships and placements.

“Then there will be a final capstone course, which is a unit which involves an industry project where students are effectively consultants for the project,” Professor Pilgrim said.

All of it would be assessed as part of a student’s degree. “The benefit of a placement is giving students experiences where they can see how workplaces operate, how professionals operate, and opportunities to understand how they have the skills, professional judgment, teamwork and communication that can be practised,” Professor Pilgrim said.

Funding has been approved by the university council, but Swinburne will also take advantage of funding in the federal government’s recently introduced Job-ready Graduates package that can be used for this purpose.

This year, because of COVID-19, many student work placements at Swinburne have been virtual.

“We’re expecting next year that there will be a hybrid, that as many workplaces are returning to their offices students will also return, but we’re ready and able to deliver the virtual placements as we have this year,” Professor Pilgrim said.

His confidence has been reinforced by students’ experiences during the COVID-19 shutdown.

“We started the year with approximately 400 students doing a 12-month paid placement as part of our professional placements program and they had to quickly transition to online, as the rest of us have with our work.”