Work integrated learning (WIL) aims to strategically inspire students to embrace prospective future careers, thereby contributing to economic innovation and growth. Higher Education is mandated to integrate WIL into curricula and qualifications in order to promote student career development. This is an invaluable opportunity for academics to not only integrate theory and practice, but to expose graduates-to-be to the world of work and assess their experiential learning. Most academics seem to shy away from WIL implementation due to perceived increase in workload, denying themselves and their students the benefits of WIL, especially for student career prospects.This empirical article reports on a transdisciplinary exploration into the benefits of two discipline-specific WIL projects using a mixed model analysis approach. A comparative, triangulated study of the Marketing qualitative and Human Resource quantitative data reveals that the students enjoy their WIL experience, gain additional knowledge and skills, and are exposed to various career opportunities.

Orientation: Organisations face productivity and efficiency challenges brought on by global pressure. To cope with the challenges, they seek to develop and enhance their human capital as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Evidence suggests that less than 10% of what is learned on training courses is applied effectively to enhance performance and business results.Research purpose: This abstract research critically examined existing training evaluation models to propose a new model.Motivation for the study: Smart investment in scarce and critical skills development by means of training is expected to enhance human capital; however, the challenge lies with the uncertainty in whether the return on these investments are measured and whether training risks are managed.Research design, approach and method: Theoretical, abstract research was conducted to understand existing measurement and evaluation models of training with regard to costs, benefits and risks.Main findings: This conceptual paper resulted in a new business model to measure training return on investment and risks. The proposed model adapted and built on the Kirkpatrick-–Phillips training evaluation model, adding a sixth, risk evaluation step and specifying measurement factors for each step.Practical and managerial implications: Training and line managers must note that although the evaluation of trainee’s satisfaction, learning, application, impact and financial return is imperative and must be measured, ignoring the measurement of risk factors such as learning barriers and challenges may jeopardise the ability of leaders and managers to predict how investments in human capital development will impact business results.

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Orientation: Employee performance is a vital aspect within organisations in South Africa (SA). It is argued that poor performance can be addressed through training and development. Performances should be evaluated before and after training interventions to ensure that training was beneficial to the employees.Research purpose: The study intended to establish whether training evaluation conducted after training in the SA financial sector measures employee performance improvement.Motivation for the study: Most businesses invest in training and development interventions anticipating that employees will use what they have learned to improve their performance. There is limited recent empirical research on SA financial sector training evaluation tools, especially those that indicate employee performance improvement after training.Main findings and discussion: The findings of this study indicate the following: SA financial organisations frequently use levels 1–3 (satisfaction; learning; application) of the Kirkpatrick-Phillips training evaluation tool; continuous employee performance improvement needs to be assessed more regularly, especially after training; and levels 4–5 (results; ROI) of the Kirkpatrick-Phillips evaluation model are seldom measured due to a lack of skills, motivation, and resources.Implications and contribution: There are significant implications for Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals and managers within the SA financial sector. Since there is a positive significant association with training evaluation and employee performance, relevant stakeholders must be aware that the purpose of training must be to improve and measure employee performance. This paper contributes theoretically to HRD management practices, training evaluations, and performance improvement. The practical contribution is the proposed Training Evaluation Framework for Performance Improvement for stakeholders to use to ensure that HRD evaluations measures performance improvement.

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