In Sweden a national network for cooperation and collaboration on research and pedagogical development related to Work Integrated Learning in higher education has recently been formed.

Higher education is based on key concepts such as a scientific way to look at knowledge and knowledge production, critical thinking and reflection. To achieve academic credibility WIL needs to develop both a strong link to research but also to scholarship of teaching and learning. To do this in collaboration and with several universities involved is doubtless a way forward.

As a first step in such collaboration a course focusing on different aspects of WIL has been developed. The course will have a national spreading and teachers, tutors and other interested parties from universities in Sweden are invited to participate. Key areas in the course are the theory - practice nexus and its importance for the learning process, coaching and tutor rationality, exam problems and the relationship between the university, the work place and the student. The starting point for the course is experiences from the participants' own teaching practices.

The benefits of a national course are several:

Through a national collaboration we can invite researchers and teachers with a high competence in different field related to WIL to lecture in the course

The course provides opportunities for a unique exchange of experience among teachers, trainers, tutors and other interested parties

The course is designed to encourage cooperation on research and educational development projects both within the course framework and after its closure.

The course is mainly net-based but with the opportunity to meet in appropriate geographic formations. The participants are examined trough a project based on there own pedagogical theory and practice and will be reviewed by the other participants who act as critical friends. For the project to get a wider distribution they will be presented in the coming year s national WIL conference. Accepted contributions imply that the participant pass the course.

The session will discuss the importance of the research teaching nexus regarding WIL. The point of departure is the importance of national network building for cooperation and collaboration on research and pedagogical development and the importance of starting the process in teachers, trainers and tutors own pedagogical practice. The course presented is one way to bring these different issues together.