Cooperative Education
Cooperative education is a college-level program that allows you to combine your college studies with practical work experience related to your academic program. This "earn while you learn" approach helps you to gain valuable work experience, make career choices, and earn money while going to college.
Many college graduates find themselves facing the problem of how to get a job without experience as well as how to get experience without a job. If this sounds familiar, co-op may be your key to getting related work experience and the opportunity to advance in your chosen career.
Cooperative education or co-op is a college-level program that allows a student to combine academic study in a college setting with practical work experience. The student has the opportunity to obtain work experience that is related to his or her chosen program of study through a structured, supervised learning plan with participating employers in business, industry, government, and service agencies.
The main objective of cooperative education is to bridge the gap between theory learned in the classroom and actual practice in the "real world." A student enrolled in a co-op program puts that theory into practice while working under the supervision of a trained professional in the field. The exposure to state-of-the-art technology and the opportunity to gain hands-on experience increase the level of understanding that is achieved through classroom experiences only.
This joint venture between education and participating employers extends the student's education experiences and provides a more comprehensive educational program.
Internship vs. Co-op
The terms internship and co-op are sometimes used interchangeably. They both refer to obtaining related work experience; however, there are several distinctions between the two when the terms are used according to their strict definitions. The distinctions usually apply to amount of time in a position, the depth of student involvement, and paid versus unpaid experience.
- Time—An internship is usually considered a short-term arrangement (one semester or less). Co-op refers to a longer arrangement with an employer (a minimum of two or three semesters).
- Student involvement—An intern may be in a position of observing or having limited involvement in the work setting, while the co-op is very actively involved.
- Paid versus unpaid—Either the intern or the co-op may be in a paid situation. However, an unpaid position is usually referred to as an internship and a paid position is usually referred to as a co-op.
Paid vs. Unpaid Positions
Although co-op is used in most cases when referring to paid work experience, there are certain fields in which opportunities for paid experience will be limited. Tradition dictates that most of the opportunities for student placements in areas such as Criminal Justice Technology, Human Services Technology, Early Childhood Associate, and Biomedical Equipment Technology will be unpaid experience due to established precedents with other educational institutions and/or reliance by agencies upon volunteer efforts.
Even though paid positions in these areas may be limited, the College will attempt to make students aware of both paid and unpaid positions in these areas in order to assist students in obtaining valuable experience in a field setting that is not available through classroom instruction alone.
For more information, contact Julie Carpenter(704) 991-0154 or at jcarpenter6402@stanly.edu.
