In the early 1990s when Middlesex University was first formulating its approach to accrediting learning in the workplace against academic standards there was talk of ‘the curriculum in the workplace’. The language was deliberate to differentiate the context in which learning took place from the traditional ‘subjects’ taught in the University’s various schools. Thereafter the debate has tended to move towards the quality control systems the University needed to put in place to ensure that learning in the workplace could be seen to be subject to the same kind of academic rigor as applied to the more traditional subject-led taught courses. This paper reverts back to exploring the concept of ‘the curriculum in the workplace’ in the context of one of the authors’ current roles in Middlesex’s Institute for Work-Based Learning to promote work-based organisational learning. Working with companies towards this end has opened up new perspectives re role of the University as it engages not just with individuals’ accredited learning but with infrastructures and systems in-company and needs for a more flexible embracing relationship with our company ‘partners’ which would give them more autonomy.