Co-operative Education:- Ticket to Success

Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts

Co-operative Education:- Professional Work Experience + Degree

The first step toward your career could be cooperative education. If you participate in a “co-op” program, you enter the work force one step ahead of a classmates. You graduate with a university degree as well as professional work experience in your field of study.

Academic and Professional

As part of a long tradition in this country, over 900 U.S. colleges and universities offer co-op education programs. Contrary to the name, cooperative education does not refer to a collective farm or factory. It means cooperation, between a university with its academic programs, and professional employers providing off-campus work experience.

Your school will assist you in finding work with a corporation or agency. Your employer will monitor and evaluate your performance, pay you and supervise you.

Required for Graduation

At some universities, each student must complete a co-op education program in order to graduate. These programs are as diverse as the universities themselves.

For example, everyone who earns a Bachelor’s Degree at Wentworth Institute of Technology participates in at least two semesters of co-op. We schedule co-op after the first two years of our bachelor’s program, after a student has acquired enough knowledge and experience to deal with meaningful professional work. Co-op is built into the curriculum of each of Wentworth’s majors. Since Wentworth is an institute of technology, typical employers are architectural and design firms, waste treatment plants, and computer software companies. Wentworth students have completed co-ops at The Smithsonian Institution, Hong Kong Airport Authority, The Gillette Company and Fidelity Investments.

Students are not limited to work near the university. International students who plan careers in their home countries often complete their co-op semesters overseas.

Like a Real Job

At Wentworth, each student is assigned a personal co-op coordinator and is encouraged to meet with that coordinator as often as desired. Support services include résumé-writing workshops, mock interviews, and job placement assistance.

Although your university may assist you in finding co-op opportunities, you are the one responsible for securing a co-op position. You will conduct a formal job search, interview for positions and earn a paycheck just as in the “real world.”

Some programs, like The University of Toledo's College of Engineering, require students to participate in a professional development course prior to participating in their co-op experience. In the professional development course, students learn how to interview effectively, create a resume and research companies.

Wentworth requires students to go through at least two full job searches in order to graduate. With this practice, students are much more astute than their counterparts, who may have never searched for, negotiated terms for, or landed, a coveted position. The U.S. government allows students with F-1 visas to work up to a total of twelve months in curricular practical training (co-op qualifies in this category) before earning a bachelor’s degree.

In the international job market, co-op graduates are in high demand. Employers know that a co-op education integrates classroom theory, hands-on lab and studio work and real professional experience.

Most co-op graduates use their employers as professional references. Many receive full-time job offers from them.

Co-op education supplements tuition and develops marketable skills. Those of us who administer co-op programs see this system as much more than that—it’s a great way to start your professional life.

Greg Denon is the Director of Career Services at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston.

Fast Track to Jobs

Qualified students at Golden Gate University in San Francisco are encouraged to gain practical experience and enhance their studies by working in local corporations. In the past, Golden Gate students have worked with such organizations as Bank of America, Coopers & Lybrand, Hewlett Packard, Oracle Corporation and Charles Schwab. Professional internship coordinators work with students and faculty to identify job placements that will be beneficial for long-term career growth.

Students at New York’s Pace University work part-time during the school year or full-time during the summer or for a semester. Co-op placements have included Sony Corporation, J.P. Morgan Chase and Ernst & Young.

Wichita State University’s Cooperative Education students usually work for local corporations such as small aircraft manufacturers Cessna and Bombardier and also may work in another state for companies such as Boeing, NASA, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems. Students of any major may apply for an Internship through Cooperative Education. However, Wichita State is most active in awarding placements for Aerospace Engineering and other engineering disciplines for which the university is renowned.

Cooperative Education offers unique opportunity for students to integrate classroom theory and practice.

Helps students explore career interests.
Paid position helps subsidize tuition.
Improves job opportunities after graduation
Teaches students valuable job-search skills such as resumé writing and interviewing techniques
Promotes lifelong learning by integrating work and study, and enhances workplace skills such as teamwork and critical analysis
Encourages students who might not otherwise enter university or complete a degree program, by providing earnings and work experience
Improves students’ self-confidence and respect for work
Enhances professional development

-Courtesy Greg Denon

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