A new paradigm for the online management of global placements using OPUS

There is a growing awareness that graduates for a global economy need to have a greater emphasis on work-integrated learning (WIL) in out-of-country locations. Such experiences develop the student in many aspects beyond their study specialism. Many leading Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have developed strong international relationships with employers over a long period, but realise that new relationships must be developed continually. Many other HEIs need to develop similar relationships, but need time and resources to achieve similar success. However, it is recognised that every HEI has well-developed relationships with many employers in their immediate hinterland, many of which are global operators. Further, from year to year each HEI may have an imbalance of WIL opportunities and students seeking a WIL experience.This paper presents a new paradigm for an agreed online sharing of WIL opportunities among participating HEIs so that their students may apply for and gain a placement overseas. The participating HEIs support the incoming student and undertake identified responsibilities on behalf of the sending HEI. This proposal is a new feature of the open source product, OPUS (Online Placement University System), which has been developed at the University of Ulster to manage all aspects of WIL placements online. The paper presents the concept for placement exchange managed online and early implementation by participating universities from three countries around the world. This new paradigm for the online management of global placements is shown to present students and providers with a global marketplace.