Benefits of co-op
Benefits for students
Benefits for employers
Benefits for students
The opportunity to alternate school terms with work terms in a co-operative program provides unique advantages over the regular system of study:
- Alternating study and work terms allows you to integrate theory and practice – you'll discover first-hand the relevance of what you're learning in the classroom. You can also contribute knowledge gained on the job to your classroom projects and discussions.
- You can gain up to 2 years of work experience by the time you graduate – co-op students are more successful in gaining employment after graduation.1
- Through co-op information sessions and job searches, you'll learn and practice valuable skills such as résumé writing, interviewing, and job performance. (At the University of Waterloo, you review postings of jobs and apply to, and interview for, the jobs that interest you. You also have the opportunity to arrange your own job as long as the job meets co-op standards).
- Multiple work terms provide you with the opportunity to explore a range of career options and lay the groundwork for a variety of careers – you'll have choices when you graduate.
- The money earned on work terms can help pay for your education – co-op students are half as likely to need student assistance, borrow significantly less, and have a lower debt load than regular students when they graduate.1
Note: if you're not living at home on a work term, you'll have to budget for costs such as rent or transportation.
- Co-op work terms provide you with a network of professional contacts that can help you tap into hidden job markets or even provide one of your first jobs after graduation.
Benefits for employers
Co-op benefits employers as well as students. Whether working as an individual or as part of a team, co-op students provide valuable contributions to the workforce. Waterloo students are well known for making an impact – Genevieve's story is one example of this kind of success.
On a co-op work term at a Shell Canada refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, third-year chemical engineering student Genevieve LeBlanc took on "red death" – and won. So did Shell Canada. The refinery is now saving over $400,000 a year, thanks to LeBlanc's work.
In the process of manufacturing gasoline, crude oil is passed through a machine called a hydrocracker, which breaks the large molecules down. When these pass through the hydrocracker, a red waxy build-up that can damage pipes and valves accumulates at the bottom of the reactor. In order to avoid "red death" – the industry term for such clogging – a certain amount of the bottom product is diverted as waste using a bleed stream. The remaining material is recycled back to the reactor for further processing.
During an 8-month work term, LeBlanc took on the task of determining exactly how much material could be safely recycled back to the reactor without fouling the processing equipment. "I was intrigued by the project," she admits. "I nit-picked, researched, and questioned everyone until I found a solution. I guess I just like problem-solving."
LeBlanc analyzed historical data and the workings of the equipment, then developed a correlation equation specifically designed to optimize the bleed rate. After conducting tests and completing a trial, she convinced management that the bleed rate could be lowered even more than originally predicted. The refinery is now salvaging an additional $400,000 worth of product annually.
All in a day's work, according to LeBlanc. "Really, I was just doing my job."2
Waterloo co-op students have been making this kind of contribution for more than 50 years now. Their success is one of the reasons the University of Waterloo has been consistently ranked as one of the top universities in Canada.
1 From Education at Work Ontario, a member of the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education.
2 From an article by Michelle Lehmann in University of Waterloo Magazine, winter 2000, with permission.
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