Work integrated learning at a university of technology: Assessment and management

Many universities of technology offer undergraduate diplomas in engineering that includes a Work Integrated Learning component. Many academic staff members may be involved in the assessment of this component due to student numbers and field expertise. The research question which arises is "What guidelines should academics follow in assessing Work Integrated Learning to ensure a consistent quality of assessments"? The purpose of this paper is to present a structured rubric which was designed at a university of technology to effectively assess Work Integrated Learning of senior engineering students, while at the same time ensuring consistency of quality. The rubric incorporates a report, an interview, an Industry evaluation and syllabus coverage section. The final grade marks obtained by students for the Work Integrated Learning component is correlated to each of the main sections within the rubric to establish its reliability. 100% of students enrolled for these modules have successfully completed their Work Integrated Learning over the past two years and have thereby finally obtained their National Diploma, having become qualified technicians in Industry.