CO-OPERATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Institutional Goal:

• To increase the opportunities for students seeking to pursue co-operative education opportunities by increasing the number of co-op placements.

• The number of students involved in co-op continues to grow as existing programs mature and new programs are added. There are now 1147 students enrolled in undergraduate co-op programs.
• Nine undergraduate degree programs now have a co-op option (representing 24 programs/disciplines). New additions are the Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management program and the B.A. Psychology (Human Computer Interaction concentration). The first group of Engineering co-op students who were admitted into first year with co-op in September 1997 will be graduating June 2002.

Co-operative Education Programs

Co-operative education integrates classroom learning with work experience in alternating terms. Co-op work terms allow the student to acquire experience in the area of career interest, while the academic terms are devoted to fundamental and theoretical studies. Work terms are 4-month, 8-month, 12-month and in some cases 16-month work periods, depending on the program and year of study. The Co-op option typically adds one year to the length of the degree program. The first year work term is a 4-month work term and is optional. A feature of Carleton programs is that more senior students are available for longer work terms. Carleton's co-op programs adhere to the criteria recommended by the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (C.A.F.C.E.) and all our programs follow the C.A.F.C.E. guidelines - which require that the work experience is:

Co-op education programs available at the graduate level in Public Administration, Mathematics and Statistics and in Physics are administered by their own departments; these programs are not reflected in the following table.