This case study presents an educational initiative combining academic learning with practical collaboration between universities and industrial partners for workplace innovation. Developed within an engineering department in partnership with local trade unions and manufacturing firms in Northern Italy, the project aimed to foster employee participation while offering students a unique, practice-based learning experience.

Running across four annual cycles (2022–2025), the project brought together mixed teams of university students and workplace union representatives. These teams worked jointly to address company-specific challenges related to job quality and organisational performance. While initially structured as a formal training programme with participatory elements, the project gradually evolved into a more flexible, action research-oriented format, shaped by ongoing negotiation among the diverse actors involved.

Shifts in methodology gradually emerged from the need to respond to real-world constraints and dynamics. Early phases revealed tensions between the project’s formal structure and the lived realities of industrial settings: participation was voluntary and varied; time and resources were limited; and cultural differences between academic, union, and managerial actors led to blurred roles and expectations. In response, the research team adopted an adaptive approach combining structured planning with openness to emergent needs.

Over time, a distinctive educational and methodological pattern took shape. It was characterised by iterative design, shared ownership, and a constant balancing of pedagogical and organisational goals. The university researchers gradually moved from the role of external facilitators to embedded partners, building trust through ongoing communication, clarity of roles, and shared commitment.

The case highlights the value of participatory, context-sensitive educational approaches within engineering education, demonstrating how universities can embed student learning in real organisational settings while actively contributing to local socio-economic development. By involving students and union delegates in joint problem-solving, the project strengthened participants’ participatory capacity, particularly by equipping employee representatives with tools for collaborative decision-making. At the same time, the project advanced the university’s mission of societal engagement, showing how higher education institutions can act not only as spaces for academic learning but also as promoters for constructive dialogue among social partners.

Keywords: Participatory education, Workplace learning, University-industry collaboration, Action research, Experiential learning.