The Park & Leisure (P&L) and University Collaboration project was established in 2023 to provide guidance to support park and leisure professionals and university [and eventually TAFE] staff to collaborate to improve student learning and applied research. Find further information here.
Rationale for P&L and University Collaboration
Ultimately, the collaboration is about increasing the number of high-quality people entering the P&L industry. With the current low unemployment rates there is plenty of competition for quality staff and our industry does not promote itself particularly well. The key benefit to universities is the provision of invaluable ‘on the job’ learning for students and the opportunity for universities to be involved in applied research.
Student Placement Arrangements
Students involved in a formal placement must have a contract signed by the student, host organisation and the university staff. The contract outlines: the duties and responsibilities of the student, workplace/academic aims while they are on placement, and the structure of the placement, i.e., dates, times of work.
Many universities provide a link to a Careers Hub as a starting point to recruit student placements. Links for the course careers are available from Section 4. Park and leisure Courses Excel file – see next section.
Contract examples:
Refer to Federation University placement agreement example – available from https://federation.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/310330/Organisation-Placement-Agreement.pdf
Uni Western Australia WIL Host Agreement
A LaTrobe University host organisation guide is available from https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1422099/WEB-PAGE-WBL-Host-Organisation-Guide-2023-pdf.pdf
More resources about student placements:
LaTrobe University Supervisor Manual
LaTrobe University Work Based Learning Student Placement Agreement
University of Western Australia HOST Handbook
Refer to Section 9 for case studies about successful student placements.
Building A Relationship Between Partners
Developing good ongoing relationships with P&L and university staff is an important outcome. It is important to develop trust on both sides. Relationships can be helped by P&L staff participating in networking events and / or presenting at University Open Days and Career Expos. PLA Regional Councils may function as a point of contact to provide P&L industry speakers for university courses and events. Email contacts for the PLA Regional Staff are:
- Victoria Tasmania Region – victas@parksleisure.com.au
- New South Wales / ACT Region – plansw@parksleisure.com.au
- Queensland Region – admin@parksleisure.com.au
- South Australia / Northern Territory Region – sant@parksleisure.com.au
- Western Australia Region – admin@parksleisure.com.au
Most universities provide a centralised careers hub that functions as a front door for industry groups to contact the university. The hub manages requests for student placements, graduate careers and potential research collaboration. The hub staff would make a connection to the relevant course Chair to help make the relevant connection for the relevant area. Although the point of contact is likely to be very different at every university, there is a trend to having this sort of model.
Contact information for university courses are provided in the section 4.
Database of Australian University Courses and Research Centres
Ultimately, the collaboration is about increasing the number of high-quality people entering the P&L industry. With the current low unemployment rates there is plenty of competition for quality staff and our industry does not promote itself particularly well. The key benefit to universities is the provision of invaluable ‘on the job’ learning for students and the opportunity for universities to be involved in applied research. Access the database
Risk Management Issues
There are minimal risks from a park and leisure organisation perspective, given the placement would go through a standard induction process and the work is relatively low risk. There does need to be some consideration of how insurance works and if there are any exclusions to tasks e.g., working independently, or working from home. The nature of the work may also require statutory requirements, e.g., Working with Children, First Aid, etc. (Section 2 provides insights about the student placement contract systems).
University placements usually provide public liability, professional indemnity and personal accident insurance. Organisations involved in a student placement need to be familiar with all the insurance and contract requirements. Most student placements will have detailed explanations for the student, host organisation and university staff.
It should be noted that students who are paid by the host organisation may not be covered by university insurance policy, so they would need to be insured by the host organisation insurance.
Benefits and Costs of Student Placements
The benefit of hosting student placements is mostly the contribution to the individual student’s career development, but this is complemented by the student’s contribution to host organisation’s projects and the contribution to increasing the overall quality of staff entering the park and leisure industry. A meaningful placement will help students develop their capacity to reflect analytically on their practice and develop their professional and personal skills. (Refer to Section 9 Case studies to see some of the benefits achieved by students and host organisations.)
Student placements often have no real dollar cost depending on the relationship. There are some time costs, e.g., 10 hours to induct someone and several hours per week supervising students; and there may be costs associated with travel expenses for the students. The level of supervision will vary depending on the individual and type of work.
Establishing a meaningful ongoing relationship between P&L host and university partners will require a commitment of time to create trust and confidence that everyone’s needs are being achieved.
Establishing P&L Graduate Positions
Many organisations have graduate positions to recruit graduates to gain insight about the nature of work, e.g., engineers, landscape architects, scientists, etc. Many P&L organisations will have tasks and projects that aren’t being delivered due to resourcing constraints. A graduate position is a good approach to recruit new staff who are able to gain insights about the work and contribute to the host organisations outputs. Graduates could work on a substantial percentage of time as a standard role, e.g., cover for seasonal allocations, sports club liaison, etc., and a smaller percentage for each employer to adjust according to business needs. It is likely that each graduate position would have unique requirements to meet the needs of the host organisation and graduate. Graduate positions are employed by the host organisation and paid according to the relevant award.
[A draft of a potential local government recreation graduate position is being developed – stay tuned for this resource to be included.]
Research Collaboration
The development of collaborative research projects needs to be based on establishing a relationship, so P&L industry and university partners understand their complementary needs and capacities. Research options include major projects like Masters and PhD research, student based projects, (e.g., Victoria University recreation management students used to conduct industry based research projects for both marketing and research subjects), and universities contracted to conduct research for a P&L organisation. The database provided in Section 4 provides a list of over 130 university research groups that may be able to conduct park and leisure research.
An example of a contracted university research project was conducted by City of Monash and Deakin University. The project required the Deakin staff to conduct a thorough literature review of issues related to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) sport and physical activity participation. A copy of the report from this project is available via PLA’s Park and Recreation Collection (PaRC) – https://parksleisure.com.au/parc-library/840-sport-and-physical-activity-participation-in-culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-cald-groups/ .
Case Studies
Several colleagues have provided comments about how collaboration with universities and students have contributed to their success:
City of Boroondara – The main focus of the internship was to further enhance a student’s skills and knowledge by completing a practical work-based experience in the sports management industry.
A student’s perspective – The placement allowed him to develop the necessary skills to pursue his career in the sport management industry.
Angela Dressler provided a good overview of a successful career and professional development program. Details of this case study are available from:
Dressler, Angela (2008) Career Placement Program: a journey from an empty to a full resume. WACE/ACEN Asia Pacific Conference 2008 E-Proceedings Ed. University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 141-147. Downloaded from https://acen.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/WACE_ACEN_Asia_Pacific_Conference_2008_E-Proceedings-1.pdf
Acknowledgements
A range of colleagues contributed to this project. A project working group was formed after the initial workshop at the 2023 PLA Conference. Members of this working group include Najmeh Hassanli, Katie McDonald, Carina Wittington, Mary Grant, Pam Kappelides, Fiona McColl, Anand Pillay, Dan Ferguson, Tara McConkey, Laura Shaw and Sam Taylor. Members of PLA Advisory who also contributed to this project include Cathy Kiss, Wendy Holland, Neal Ames, John Senior, Lucilla Marshal, and Steph McCallum.