Up to Table of
Contents
Previous
PageUndergraduate co-op education options currently exist at MUN in Business, Engineering and Physical Education. Computer Science is in the process of introducing such an option. At the graduate level, there now is a co-op M.Sc. programme in Applied Social Psychology. This programme accepts up to 6 students per year, and is currently a 3 year programme. Elsewhere, there are many co-operative programmes, at the graduate as well as undergraduate level. As one example, Guelph and Waterloo, which collaborate extensively in their offerings, have graduate co-op programmes in Chemistry and Physics.
A significant effort is devoted to advertising the co-op programmes, finding placements for students, and helping students develop resum\'e writing and interviewing skills. Much of this effort is carried out by co-ordinators within each programme or, in the case of the M.Sc. in Applied Social Psychology, one faculty member. Support is provided by the Co-operative Education Services Centre, which is located in the School of Business and managed by Ms. Christine Webb. This Centre maintains a data base on employers and students, arranges interviews, helps match students with jobs, carries out general publicity functions, etc. It sends out general solicitations 3 times per year, and publishes a newsletter twice per year.
A lot of work must be done by the coordinators or faculty. Students should be visited once per placement. These people do most of the work of creating placements, working with the participating employers, and grading the reports.
MUN also has a Co-operative Education Working Committee, with one representative from each school or faculty with a co-op programme, which deals with issues of common interest and concern. The chairmanship of the committee rotates, with a virtual guarantee that the representative of a new programme would serve as chair within a year. The committee reports to the vice-president (academic).
Nationally, there exists the Canadian Centre for Co-operative Education, which acts as an accrediting body. Accreditation is optional; in fact, a new programme cannot apply for accreditation until after one class has graduated. A condition for accreditation is that at least 30\% of each student's time be spent on work terms, with 50\% preferred.
Salaries for students during placements are determined by the employers. In the
M.Sc. in Applied Social Psychology, they tend to range from about \$1,700 per month up to
a maximum of \$2,300 per month.
Up to Table of
Contents
Previous
Page