Khampirat, B., & McRae, N. (2016). Developing global standards framework and quality integrated models for cooperative and work-integrated education programs. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 17(4), 349-362.
Cooperative and Work-integrated Education (CWIE) programs have been widely accepted as educational programs that can effectively connect what students are learning to the world of work through placements. Because a global quality standards framework could be a very valuable resource and guide to establishing, developing, and accrediting quality CWIE programs, this study was aiming at the development of a global standards framework, implementation strategy and a quality evaluation model for CWIE programs. A focus Group comprised of practitioners and researchers of CWIE programs in Thailand, South Africa, Namibia and Canada came together to develop such a framework using Activity Theory. Content analysis and text data mining methods were employed to establish the evaluation model. The authors believed that this standards framework and a well-tested quality evaluation model could act as a valuable resource and guide, as well as a tool, for CWIE practitioners and administrators across all disciplines on a global scale.