För att Sverige ska kunna konkurrera i den globala ekonomin måste våra studenter med examen från högre utbildning vara redo för en karriär i arbetslivet. För Högskolan Väst innebär detta att våra utbildningar ska utvecklas i samverkan med partners från omgivande samhälle för att kunna erbjuda ett relevant och attraktivt utbildningsutbud, som svarar mot arbetsmarknadens långsiktiga kompetensbehov. Vid Högskolan Väst görs detta strategiska arbete inom ramen för vår profil arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL). För oss bygger AIL-profilen på att avancerad kunskap skapas på många håll i samhället och att teoretisk och praktisk kunskap är lika viktiga. Vi vill att våra studenter utvecklar förmågor och färdigheter som gör att de kan ingå i och driva hållbar samhällsutveckling i praktiken. För att uppnå en strategisk och kvalitativ utveckling av AIL beslutade Högskolan Västs styrelse att AIL-certifiera alla utbildningsprogram med ett tydligt hållbarhetsperspektiv. Kvalitetsprocessen kallas AIL-certifieringsprocessen, vars syfte är att säkerställa att alla studenter möts av och kritiskt kan reflektera kring till AIL, dess innehåll, värde och utmaningar utifrån ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Denna studie presenterar erfarenheterna från två omgångar av AIL-certifieringar där 11 utbildningsprogram genomgått processen. Arbetet har inneburit utformning av kriterieområden för att kunna kvalitetssäkra kursplaner och utbildningsplaner utifrån olika kunskapsformer. En initial vägledningsmodell med kompletterande inspiration och stödstruktur till kriterieområdena har tagits fram. Resultatet visar på att det finns ett flertal olika typer av AIL-aktiviteter som återspeglar mångfalden av AIL i undervisningen och de sätt som utbildningar vid Högskolan Väst har relation till och samverkar med arbetsgivare och organisationer. Processen kom att präglas av kollegialitet och erfarenhetsutbyte vilket även resulterat i kvalitetsutvecklande aktiviteter inom program och kurser. Det långsiktiga bidraget är att ta fram ett kvalitetsramverk för AIL i högre utbildning med tydlig koppling till hållbar utveckling. Ett sådant kvalitetsramverk ska kunna spridas till fler lärosäten som systematiskt vill utveckla AIL som en tydlig kvalitetsdimension i högre utbildning. 

For Sweden to be able to compete in the global economy, our students with a degree from higher education must be ready for a career in working life. Today's work life is facing a major ongoing transformation, characterized by increased complexity, higher specialization, and digitalization. This demands competencies beyond traditional theoretical knowledge, such as preparing for uncertainty and unknown outcomes (Barnett, 2000; Vallo Hult & Byström, 2021). Therefore, it is essential to engage students in learning to learn, i.e., lifelong learning so that the tools and methods for learning in higher education can also be developed through future work (Billett, 2014; Islind, Norström, Vallo Hult, & Ramadani Olsson, 2021). For University West, this means that our education programs must be developed in collaboration with industry partners from the surrounding society to provide arelevant and attractive education, which corresponds to the labour market's long-term competence needs. We want our students to develop abilities and skills that enable them to be part of and drive sustainable societal development in practice.

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is University West's overarching profile, based on the concept of advanced knowledge – characterized by complex problem solving – and the mutual acknowledgment of advanced knowledge within the academy and among its partners. What characterizes WIL at University West is that we have developed and refined a combination of different approaches over a long period, including research -based WIL, through fundamental learning concepts such as socio- cultural, critical and action-oriented learning theories. These influences have shaped WIL at University West into a dynamic and academic area of knowledge and subject. 

In order to achieve a strategic and qualitative development of work-integrated learning, the University West Board decided to WIL-certify all educational programs with a clear sustainability perspective. The quality processis called the WIL certification process. It has now been developed at the university fortwo years.Experience andrefinements are ready to mature into an overall quality framework worth conceptualizing and disseminating to more universities that systematically want to develop WIL as an explicit quality dimension in higher educa tion. The project is still ongoing but have generated some preliminary findings and outcomes from the initial phase. Data collection activities include workshops and focus groups with selected participants from the target groups at the university (managers/prefects and teachers) as well as at the collaborative partner organization (managers and supervisors/mentors). The focus of the workshops was placed on capturing the participants understanding and perspectives on WIL as a concept, and to map the conditions for and experiences of conducting WIL in teaching and learning at work. We aim for identifying good (or less good) examples of WIL, what they are, how they are understood and why they are (or are not) important.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the lessons learned so far and present a conceptual quality framework for WIL in higher education with a clear connection to sustainable development. The quality framework may function as a mediating “support object” between higher education institutions, industry partners, and actors in the surrounding society to promote WIL concepts and experiences in collaboration strategies.

In contemporary digital society, information literacy is increasingly important and viewed as a necessary life skill for all ages, social groups, and professional sectors, hence also affecting higher education. Universities need to develop strategies and approaches to integrate these skills into course syllabi, assignments and assessments based on close library-faculty collaboration. However, librarians and faculty members in higher education traditionally often have separate agendas and limited collaboration. This paper illustrates the background and process of constructing a successful librarian-faculty partnership, as a shared framework entitled the ‘Scientific Wave’ throughout a bachelor’s program in business administration to enhance students’ critical thinking, research skills and information literacy in particular. A case study approach was applied, and data collection was conducted during 2014–2019. The outcomes of a shared framework and library-faculty collaboration are discussed from the perspectives of students, library, and faculty. Findings show that a shared framework based on close collaboration between librarians and faculty, strategic anchoring and visualization in curricula, syllabi, course objectives and assessments developed in line with the mission of the university have an impact on students’ information literacy skills during their education and after graduation. The Scientific Wave is a co-designed continuous framework based on the separate but complementary skills of librarians and faculty to provide students with tools for critical and creative thinking, research skills and lifelong learning in today’s digital society.

In 2017, 120 University West nursing students wrote a scientific report as an examination. Merely 30 students passed on their first attempt and one of the identified shortcomings concerned information literacy. In collaboration with the course coordinators, the liaison librarian modified the course design adding new contents as well as new assignments to create a kickstart for the students who lack the information literacy required in higher education. The module in information literacy training was extended to provide the students with the skills needed for successful results and thus making them better equipped for the rest of their studies, as well as for lifelong learning. This best practice article accounts for the course development, focusing on library instruction. Furthermore, it posits that the principles of andragogy, student activating methods and the united effort to meet the students where they are, have enhanced their learning process and consequently their information literacy. In 2020 and 2021, the students who passed the scientific report examination on their first attempt more than doubled. Due to librarian involvement, new pedagogical approaches, and a fruitful collaboration with course coordinators, these students’ information literacy skills seem to have improved.