Abstract
This chapter addresses the question of how higher education is seen in relationship to the demands of work life, from the students’ perspective. It builds on empirical studies, accomplished within an EU-project, the ‘Journeymen’ project of how students from four different European universities and study programmes in four European countries; Sweden, Norway, Poland, and Germany, understand their university culture, envisaged work and the relationship between study and work. There is also a focus on how students and novices conceive of themselves as professionals, and how the new professionals view their university education, particularly related to their professional work. Data was collected from freshmen and seniors with the senior students also interviewed after their first year of work life experience. The results indicate that professional programs in higher education, as well as classical liberal arts studies, seem to produce a discipline-based identity among the students. The development of a professional role seems to be accomplished during the later, sometimes applied, parts of the studies.
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Dahlgren, M.A. (2011). Higher Education and Becoming a Professional. In: Scanlon, L. (eds) “Becoming” a Professional. Lifelong Learning Book Series, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1378-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1378-9_4
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