CO-OP Program
What is a CO-OP?
Cooperative Education (CO-OP) is a pre-graduation experiential learning course (BUSC 4000-Experiential Learning: CO-OP) that complements academic education in the classroom with real-world on-the-job training. The course offers students the opportunity to have long-term hands-on experience at host entities with a set of challenging responsibilities that are directly linked to the student's field of study. For employers, the program gives them the chance to meet short-term recruitment needs, spot future talent, and contribute to students’ skills and career development.
Why join the CO-OP program?
The CO-OP program is advantageous to students as it helps them:
Complement their learning experience by applying what they have learned in the classroom to real-world challenges.
Develop their skills through the hands-on approach and the regular feedback they receive from both their faculty supervisor and professionals in the field.
Enhance their career readiness by participating in the CO-OP course; students gain long-term work experience before graduation, which increases their employability and career readiness relative to their peers.
- The CO-OP provides a significantly longer interaction with the host entity.
- Participating students are pre-screened by the university and are admitted to the program based on high academic achievement, strong extra-curricular activities and demonstrated work ethics.
- A supervising faculty mentor will guide the students throughout the CO-OP journey.
- The CO-OP is co-graded by the faculty and the employer.
Hosts can include multinational corporations, startups, financial institutions, governmental entities, professional services firms, think tanks, local/international economic and monetary bodies, non-profit organizations, and other entities.
During the CO-OP experience, hosts are expected to provide the following:
- Challenging assignments and projects that are relevant to the student’s field of study.
- Sufficient training and supervision of the CCO-OP student.
- Reasonable monthly compensation.
- On-site visit for the CO-OP coordinator and the faculty instructor.
- Written evaluation of the student’s performance.
- Students declared within the Onsi Sawiris School of Business with junior standing (60 Credits) or higher at the start of CO-OP
- Prior well-documented internship(s) are preferable
- Active engagement in extracurricular activities is preferable
- Feedback from the AUC selection panel
- Acceptable performance on co-op partner’s assessment(s) as applicable
Students will be engaged on a full-time basis with the CO-OP host for six months and have two possible time windows; spring and summer (February – July) or fall and winter (August – January).
During CO-OP experience, students should be assigned specific tasks relevant to their fields of study, providing realistic on-the-job training. Participants are then co-evaluated on key learning objectives by an academic faculty and the student’s supervisor at the host counterpart, ultimately yielding a pass/fail grade. To pass the course, students must achieve at least 65%. Grade components are as follows:
- Student Logbook (10%): in which students report their weekly tasks and record their hours.
- Student Self Evaluation (20%): Students will reflect on the skills, competencies, and overall experience attained throughout their engagement at the host organization.
- Employer Evaluation (35%): Employers will reflect the performance of the hosted student in terms of technical skills, work ethics, and responsibility.
- CO-OP Presentation (35%): Students will present their CO-OP experience to a committee of faculty instructors and representatives of the host organization.
| Fall/Winter | Spring/Summer |
Announce CO-OP positions | March - April | September - October |
Conduct interviews | May - June | November - December |
Work term duration | August - January | February - July |