Alternanza scuola-lavoro (work-based learning) as a resource for higher education

In Italy, Law no. 107/2015 made obligatory for all second grade secondary school students to spend a certain number of hours on alternanza scuola-lavoro activities (work-based learning). For Italian schools this opened up new horizons as well as new challenges on multiple levels: organisational, didactic and educational. Anyway Legal provisions and scientific evidence are in fact not sufficient to guarantee quality because school and work contexts are systems guided by different motivations, models and mechanisms. “Tailoring” and “co-designing” are the main characteristics of alternanza programmes offered by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; to investigate the quality of these experiences a survey has been launched. Whilst the study confirms the satisfaction of the participating schools, from the perspective of ongoing improvement, a number of areas for development emerged in relation to evaluation issue in particular. Beyond the experience itself, universities should consider alternanza a major topic for consideration, since it enhances their fundamental activities: research, education and the third mission; accommodating students on alternanza programmes is therefore a means of responding to local needs but also an opportunity to consolidate university development strategies.