Revising the HR curriculum: an academic/practitioner partnership

Abstract

In an effort to revise an undergraduate human resource management (HRM) curriculum and improve the relevance of the students’ learning, a collaborative effort between human resource management practitioners and HRM faculty was launched. The result was the design of a project‐based, action learning curriculum blending the knowledge acquisition that has historically been the outcome of university classroom training with the application that is so critical to effective functioning in the HRM work world. The paper provides guidance for others planning to improve the relevance of their curricula. The template presented in this paper emphasizes practitioner input, a willingness to adopt creative approaches to student learning, development of specific measurable outcomes, observable demonstrations of the learning of those outcomes and the creation of relevant, appropriate projects. Follow‐up comments after one year of experience with the newly revised curriculum are also included.

Citation

Thacker, R.A. (2002), "Revising the HR curriculum: an academic/practitioner partnership", Education + Training, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 31-39. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910210416228