University-Business Collaboration for the Design, Development and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project

Hugo Rebelo; Panagiota Christodoulou; Rita Payan-Carreira; Daniela Dumitru; Elena Mäkiö; Juho Mäkiö; Dimitrios Pnevmatikos

doi:10.20944/preprints202308.1992.v1

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preprints.org > social sciences > education > doi: 10.20944/preprints202308.1992.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

University-Business Collaboration for the Design, Development and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project

Hugo Rebelo

^* ,

Panagiota Christodoulou

Dimitrios Pnevmatikos

Version 1 : Received: 28 August 2023 / Approved: 29 August 2023 / Online: 30 August 2023 (04:07:19 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Rebelo, H.; Christodoulou, P.; Payan-Carreira, R.; Dumitru, D.; Mäkiö, E.; Mäkiö, J.; Pnevmatikos, D. University–Business Collaboration for the Design, Development, and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 1041. Rebelo, H.; Christodoulou, P.; Payan-Carreira, R.; Dumitru, D.; Mäkiö, E.; Mäkiö, J.; Pnevmatikos, D. University–Business Collaboration for the Design, Development, and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 1041.

Abstract

University-Business partnership for collaborative curriculum design, development and delivery is possibly the less explored dimension of University Business Collaboration (UBC). Even if some models for curricular design and development might be available, scarce information exists on how the partnership is constructed, the new curricula are designed, developed and how they are implemented. This article intends to present and discuss the experience obtained during a three-year European funded Project, namely Think4Jobs. This project exemplifies the significance and benefits of UBC in the design, development and delivery of curricula that meet the evolving demands of the labour market while promoting Critical Thinking (CT) as a foundational 21st century skill to contribute to graduates' employability. Think4Jobs project brought together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and business organisations from five European countries (Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania) with interests in promoting and developing CT and mitigating eventual competence gaps. The project's success was attributed to key practices, including defining a common conceptualization of CT, employing participatory co-design, and providing common training for university and business partners. Clear objectives, explicit roles, effective communication, and ongoing evaluation further enhanced the collaboration. Experiential learning, real-work problems, and case studies reinforced the curricula, bridging the gap between academia and the labour market. By embracing these insights, future UBC initiatives can empower graduates with the necessary skills to stand out in an ever-changing labour market, contributing to enhanced education and successful careers.

Keywords

university business collaboration; critical thinking; curriculum co-design, development and delivery; employability; research project; labour market; higher education; soft skills

Subject

Social Sciences, Education

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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