PurposeThis paper's twofold purpose is, first, to present ZELPH ['sɛlf], a self-assessment instrument that enables those developing the pedagogy of work-integrating study programmes in higher education (HE) systematically to surface the intended and unintended outcomes of their programme's approach to integrating professional practice into an academic course. Secondly, the paper reports on a small pilot study with programme staff from five different HE institutions in various countries who tested ZELPH.Design/methodology/approachZELPH operationalises aspects of key theories on work-integrating learning pedagogy, and thereby enables a simplified depiction of the reality of combining classroom-based and worksite-based learning. Programme staff from Germany, the UK, France, South Africa and Taiwan applied the instrument to their respective work-integrating study programmes and evaluated its perceived value and feasibility.FindingsThe findings suggest that ZELPH offers value as a practical instrument, in particular to those less familiar with developing work-integrating learning pedagogy as well as to those keen to compare programmes across national, cultural and institutional contexts.Originality/valueZELPH contributes to addressing the lack of practically applicable instruments to support the design and international benchmarking of work-integrating learning pedagogy in HE.

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This chapter gives an overview of quality management activities in German universities engaging in lifelong learning. Projects funded within the German-wide funding competition “Advancement through Education: Open Universities” aim to open universities to lifelong learning and to increase permeability between vocational and academic pathways. They range from development of concepts for part-time courses, further education and blended learning study formats to new kinds of cooperation with institutions outside university. Quality management activities have to be developed and implemented in all projects. The chapter presents the findings of an action research process including a quality management workshop with different universities involved in the funding competition and the resulting recommendation paper, complemented by a document analysis, which show the variety of quality assurance and quality management activities within academic continuing education in German higher education.