Universal Journal of Educational Research Vol. 10(12), pp. 587 - 597
DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2022.101201
Reprint (PDF) (380Kb)

Students' Perceptions of Traineeships in a Greek University: Incentives and Barriers

Konstantinos Zafiropoulos ¹, Sofia Boutsiouki ^1,*, Dimitrios Skiadas ¹, Marianthi Karatsiori ², Vasileios Koniaris ^1
1 Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia, Greece
² Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, Greece

ABSTRACT

Higher education work experience programs offer students the opportunity to connect the theoretical knowledge of academic studies with the workplace and the acquisition of professional experience. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of the students of a Greek university regarding Work Based Learning (WBL) with a special focus on traineeships. The paper investigates the students' expectations and conceptions of such a program, the incentives for participation, the difficulties they might encounter during the program and their sense of attainment once it is completed. The data for this study were collected through a survey, which was conducted with an online questionnaire and constituted a case study. The paper used descriptive statistics for the analysis of the data. Students consider traineeships as a form of WBL that is an essential element of their learning and acknowledge that it creates strong linkages between theory and practice. The incentives towards such programs concern mostly the development of hard and soft skills. The existence of many barriers and, most importantly, the lack of relevancy and the mismatches between the content of the academic studies and the work duties are highlighted.

KEYWORDS
Higher Education, University, Students, Work Based Learning, Traineeship, Perception, Greece

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Konstantinos Zafiropoulos , Sofia Boutsiouki , Dimitrios Skiadas , Marianthi Karatsiori , Vasileios Koniaris , "Students' Perceptions of Traineeships in a Greek University: Incentives and Barriers," Universal Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 10, No. 12, pp. 587 - 597, 2022. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2022.101201.

(b). APA Format:
Konstantinos Zafiropoulos , Sofia Boutsiouki , Dimitrios Skiadas , Marianthi Karatsiori , Vasileios Koniaris (2022). Students' Perceptions of Traineeships in a Greek University: Incentives and Barriers. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 10(12), 587 - 597. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2022.101201.