This paper examines the disconnect between academic thoroughness and real-world relevance, highlighting the implications within the context of a Rigour/Relevance Framework developed by Finch, particularly in its application to Professional and Executive Education. The paper also introduces the idea that balancing academic rigour and industrial relevance can be enabled by incorporating the concepts of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model, which learners ideally progress through to transform their experiences into practical and useful knowledge.

A composite framework integrating Finch's concepts with the Experiential Learning Model is proposed as a first step towards developing a tool to help educators achieve a more balanced curriculum. To test this idea, three different case studies currently used in Professional and Executive Education are evaluated for rigour and relevance, using the conceptual composite framework. While the data reveals some important conclusions, further consideration is needed to develop the prototype composite framework into a comprehensive evaluation tool.

Keywords: Education, academic rigour, industry relevance, practical, professional programmes, executive education, composite framework.