CO-OP Program
What is a CO-OP?
Cooperative Education (CO-OP) is a pre-graduation experiential learning course 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.
Selected students are required to have a class standing of at least junior (third year) at the start of the CO-OP, a GPA of at least 3.2 at the time of application, and are preferred to have previous internship experience.
The program is currently offered by the School of Business to six undergraduate programs, namely:
- Bachelor of Accounting
- Bachelor of Arts in Economics
- Bachelor of Business Administration in Management of Information and Communication Technology
- Bachelor of Business and Entrepreneurship
- Bachelor of Business in Finance
- Bachelor of Business in Marketing
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 |