If you answered Very much! to any or all of these questions, there's something you can do right now. Look into a college or university that offers cooperative education (co-op, for short). It's also known as work-integrated education and is available at hundreds of educational institutions all over the world. Although primarily operating on the undergraduate level, co-op also exists in other degree programs, from the associate to the doctoral. 

Nearly 1,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada offer some form of cooperative education. The number of co-op schools in other countries is harder to pin down, but the World Association for Cooperative Education reports close to 700 members all over the globe, representing 28 countries. 

Co-op provides a way of scheduling and designing undergraduate education so that you can receive built-in, on-the-job experience that complements your studies. In the best instance, your work assignment relates directly to the major field that you are pursuing. 

Statistics from the National Commission for Cooperative Education underscore the growing importance of co-op as part of a university education. 

Of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500 List, 83% employ co-op students. 

An estimated 50,000 employers public, private, and nonprofit hire cooperative education students. 

Co-op and minority students 

As a minority student, you stand to gain some very real advantages from being involved in a cooperative education program. It may improve your access to permanent employment by your co-op employer. 

For human resource professionals, finding highly qualified and trained employees for any position is a never-ending task, whether or not they are minorities. Companies are particularly eager to gain access to African Americans and other minorities, welcoming new ways to locate and cultivate them. One such approach is participating in an educational institution's co-op program. That way, they get a jump-start on hiring and training a talented young workforce. 

Co-op is an educational gold mine for minority students. If there's a co-op office on your campus, visit it as soon as possible and take the first step toward your future professional development. 

How does co-op work? 

Classroom and workplace time is built right into the academic calendar of co-op schools. Briefly, how a co-op program works is as follows: Two students alternate on the same work assignment. When one is in school, the other is covering the job. Then they change places. There can be variations to this pattern in terms of calendar and structure, but all co-op jobs offer some form of combined academic study and paid employment. And the goal is to provide you with an on-the-job experience that involves both working and learning one that reinforces your classroom studies. 

As you might expect, engineering, technology, science, health and business areas supply the largest number of co-op jobs. If you major in these fields, you have a more varied range of work possibilities. But if your academic aspirations run to such fields as journalism, the arts, elementary education, philosophy and political science, co-op employment possibilities do exist out there. 

You and your co-op coordinator, who serves as the liaison between a college and the marketplace, work together to find a possible placement. Then you and very likely, one or more other students from your school interview competitively for the position, just as you would in the world outside the classroom. 

One drawback. Some schools require five years for you to complete an undergraduate co-op program, as opposed to four at a school where work is not integrated into the academic curriculum. But that extra year represents even more on-the-job experience that you can offer a potential employer. It makes you an even more attractive candidate to hire, since you already have inside knowledge of workplace operation and culture. 

What schools offer co-op? 

Some of the nation's most famous co-op schools include Clarkson University, Drexel University, GMI Engineering and Management Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Cincinnati, and Wilberforce University. Co-op programs at the two-year level exist at such places as La Guardia, Lane, Macomb, and Wayne County Community Colleges. Unfortunately, space does not permit listing a larger group here, since there are numerous other co-op programs in locations that are, quite possibly, right nearby or of particular interest to you. 

How to locate information on specific colleges or universities that have co-op programs? Consult the following organization: 

The World Association for 
Cooperative Education 
Suite 384 CP 
Telephone: 617-373-8885 
Fax: 617-373-3463 
E-mail: pfranks@lynx.neu.edu 
Web site: http://www.dac.neu.educ/wace

If some educators and employers have their way, cooperative education will grow into a giant global phenomenon. Many are dedicated to seeing this happen and collaborate internationally on an ongoing basis. Olof Blomqvist, President of the University of Trollha~ttan-Uddevalla in Sweden, is one of them. Why does he support co-op so strongly? 

Students today cross borders to work and they will tomorrow. We should give them every chance for exposure to other societies and cultures. All co-op should involve exchanges with other countries, he says. 

President Blomqvist gives some specific examples. At his university, an exchange co-op program is under way between Saab, the famous automobile manufacturer, and General Motors, the U.S. giant with whom Saab is aligned. Other students from the University of Trollhattan-Uddevalla work in such places as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, as well as elsewhere in the U.S.A. 

Co-op programs are growing in other places besides Europe and America. In addition to the countries mentioned, they exist or are being planned in such places as Australia, Austria, Brazil, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Republic of Ireland, Republic of South Africa, Romania, Spain and Thailand. 

Late in the summer, the World Association for Cooperative Education held its first conference on the continent of Africa. President Nelson Mandela served as Honorary Patron of the Cape Town meeting. 

Mandela described cooperative education as a way to promote a positive work ethic, encourage independent thinking and entrepreneurship, emphasize the responsibilities of leadership and citizenship, and maintain close cooperation with commerce and industry. That's quite a strong endorsement for an educational philosophy, not one to be taken lightly. After all, co-op benefits students, employers and educators alike.