Sustainability themed work-based projects: An opportunity with challenges

Recent revisions to accreditation standards are a driving force for encouraging Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to pro-actively seek out work-based learning opportunities that develop students’ practical employability skills. As ethical and sustainability considerations gain increasing importance in methods for evaluating institutional performance, work-based projects with a sustainability theme have been gaining traction. Yet within this opportunity for inspiring the next generation to make meaningful impact through their study and future careers, what challenges do Programme Leads at HEIs that seek to take this path face? From programme review procedures, reservations towards marking methodology, to access to relevant business network, this presentation seeks to explore the challenges from a design perspective, within a context of facilitating incremental improvement and wider adoption.