Career Development Practice: Facilitating Work-Integrated Learning in Higher Education (Careers FORUM‪)‬

Australian universities can no longer be seen as rarified educational institutions acting as society's repository and dispensary of higher knowledge and learning--if indeed, they ever could be. With the tide of global and national trends demanding universities better engage with the ever complex worlds of work, they are now prone to the vicissitudes of market forces, the vagaries of politics, the risks of securing and balancing private and public funding, the demands from employers for 'employable' graduates and, of course, the needs and desires of their primary interest: students. Indeed, there is an increased focus on learning outside of the academy, and recognition that workplaces can be rich sources of opportunity. This challenges traditional notions of academic work and the university constituency, but presents valuable opportunities for university career development practice. The Australian Government's Bradley Review of Australian higher education in 2008 brought these issues and more into sharp focus; and the review frankly asked no less a question than: 'What is the future of higher education in Australia?'. It is amidst this complex and dynamic environment that university career development practitioners contribute to institutional missions to produce positive graduate outcomes. To that end, this paper focuses on the role of career development practice in higher education. Using the example of the connection of career development learning to the mainstream delivery of work-integrated learning as our case in point, we show how career development practitioners in Australian universities make a significant contribution to the advancement of the profession and to reinforcing its place as a legitimate educational partner in the provision of higher learning.