Work

Bridging higher education and practice: a one-week live-case model supporting interdisciplinarity and lifelong learning

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Universities face the dual challenge of preparing full-time students for real-world work-life challenges and offering practitioners lifelong learning (LLL) opportunities. The purpose of this article is to develop and assess a small-scale live-case model that focuses on both full-time and LLL students’ learning, reflecting on its implications for students, practitioners, and universities to better understand how to simultaneously promote lifelong learning and work-life integration in higher education. The model addresses two key challenges in previous live-case literature: high resource demands and the tendency to focus on organisational rather than individual learning. By focusing on a shared, small-scale live case involving quality improvement in healthcare, the small-scale live-case model offers a resource-efficient and time-bound format promoting mutual learning and engagement between engineering students and healthcare practitioners.

Source: European Journal of Engineering Education

DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2026.2650623

Authors: Magdalena Smeds, Ida Gremyr, Patrik Alexandersson, Andreas Hellström, Hendry Raharjo

Institutions: Linköping University, Chalmers University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Biomedical and Engineering Education

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: VINNOVA