Innovating the learning process in higher education throughthe integration of theory and practice in partnership with Industry and Students

Abstract: The VUCA (which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) conditions have overshadowed the national and global higher education systems, and social and economic systems are increasingly becoming dependent on knowledge and innovations. There is a call for the global higher education systems to attain a new set of quality standards (Waller et al., 2019). Traditional teaching methodologies and outdated pedagogical frameworks lowered motivation and engagement in the learning processes and fueled the rising of the gap between theory and practice (Ferns, Rowe and Zegwaard, 2021; Hays, 2014). Work Integrated Learning is a pedagogical framework that holds tremendous potential for bridging this gap through up to date alternative means while reinforcing a sustainable engagement between industry, students and academia (Hays, 2014). This study was investigating the cause of contemporary challenges and the impact of emerging VUCA conditions in the ecosystem of students, academia, and industry. In the following, the main features and potential utilities of work-integrated learning (WIL) as a framework for presenting interactive learning innovations were explored. Moreover, the paper was also looking at the concept of the knowledge economy as a growth paradigm under the influence of the emerging internet tools which pave the doors for conducting simulated or virtual work-integrated learning by changing the ways of knowledge creation and its delivery. The primary research is based on a quantitative survey shared with a sample space of 35 KTH masters students, who were purposively selected due to, firstly their remote education experience, and secondly their participation in the learning through a scenario-based gamified online course. The research aims to identify the main areas that VUCA threatening higher education while assessing the utility of work-integrated learning to bridge the theory and practice gap and form a sustainable partnership between industry, students, and academia.  This study indicated the learning process in the higher education systems needs to be innovated by replacing the traditional teaching methods with more interactive alternative means. Hence, learning transformation per se can be considered as a major stimulus factor increating turbulence and VUCA conditions which affect student life, the higher education systems and the economic system as a whole. Our findings confirm students' high level of satisfaction in the experience of learning throughthe scenario-based simulated game, students experienced more engagement and collaborationwhile acquiring knowledge and skills in a more practical way. They also expressed a positive adaptive behaviour toward increasing the deployment of these alternative learning methods. Despite unfulfilled students' expectations with respect to soft skills developement and the quality of remote learning experiences, most of these issues are falling within the scope of pedagogical capabilities and collaborative features of work-integrated learning and are resolvable through systematical deployment and quality supervision of innovative learnings under these pedagogical frameworks.