Industry-related cooperation in media and design-oriented education - Internship and business involvement get high score from students

The cooperation between higher education and the world of work has been emphasized more strongly in recent years. This is seen through reports to the Parliament, NOKUT reports, and NIFU reports. This focus shows the need for research into this area to discuss how different activities work. This study explores and examines industry-related collaboration on three bachelor’s degree programs in media and design. The intention is to describe the educational activities that could be a part of industry-related collaboration and the students’ experience, and, as a result, identify challenges and opportunities. Our aim is to contribute to a fact-based discourse on such practice-related educational activities. The paper is anchored in both pedagogical methods and relevant theory. On this basis, six learning activities perceived as important in an industry-related collaboration are defined. Students’ perceptions of these learning activities are mapped through analysis of data from the study barometer, documentation in the institution's quality system, and qualitative and quantitative surveys. The findings in the article are based on analysis and assessments of data collected against the six defined learning activities, and some of the activities appear to lead to higher student satisfaction and can therefore be considered more important than others.