Effectiveness of Work-Integrated Learning Partnerships: Case Study of Cooperative Education in Agricultural Tertiary Education

The growing demand for promoting the role of higher education institutions in sustainability has contributed to creating new partnerships with other actors. In the field of education, the formation of cooperative education (co-op) partnerships was adopted as a strategy for work-integrated learning in cooperation with industry. This study investigated the effectiveness of co-op partnerships and the factors that influence them in the context of tertiary agriculture education in Saudi Arabia. A random sample of 130 co-op students was selected within the Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences delivered by the College of Food and Agriculture Sciences at King Saud University. The satisfaction level of students was explored in terms of four main areas, namely, the quality of the program design, organizational climate, personal and professional qualities, and program learning outcomes. The majority of students (70%) were highly satisfied with the quality of the program design, while they had a moderate level of satisfaction regarding the organizational climate of the co-op program (74.6%). Furthermore, 85.4% of students were highly satisfied regarding the learning outcomes they gained. The results also revealed that there were significant positive relationships between the level of satisfaction of students regarding program learning outcomes and their quality assessments of the program design, personal and professional qualities, and organizational climate. The measurement scale used in this study may assist in assessing the sustainability of co-op partnerships. Moreover, understanding the satisfaction level of students can help to identify areas that should be improved and, in turn, contribute to improving the governance and sustainability of co-op partnerships for all stakeholders.