We lead the world in co-operative and career education and experiential and work-integrated learning to support the workforce of the future through integrated academic and work experience.
Goal: Demonstrate global leadership
No matter what the future holds, we are committed to preparing our students for the challenges of the future of work by equipping and empowering them with the tools and the know-how to acquire and navigate relevant and robust work experiences through enrolling in our gold-standard co-operative education program or in EDGE – an innovative, highly-scalable new work-integrated learning program. As we demonstrated in early 2020, we will adapt to the changing needs of our students, faculty, employers and market.
As Canada plays a larger role in the global landscape, our students’ international work experiences equip them with the critical cross-cultural awareness and communication skills necessary to succeed. As the global economy recovers and mobility increases, international agility is a key factor to success both at home and abroad. The University of Waterloo is already well ahead of the curve in creating a future talent pipeline for global organizations.
Our students’ experiences directly contribute to the realization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as we work to make the world a better place for our collective diverse future, no matter what our home country. Our international co-op program is an essential component in our mission to equip and empower learners for the future of work and lifelong learning and the ability to become global citizens.
Waterloo continues to set the stage for work-integrated learning worldwide with our thought leadership. Our conceptual frameworks define the impact and depth of our approach to work-integrated learning.
In particular, we are known for our emphasis on quality, our future-ready talent development approach and equipping our students with a sense of purpose and meaning in the work they pursue while at the University of Waterloo and beyond.
Actions
- Lead the global conversation on the impact of quality co-operative and career education and work-integrated learning to equip and empower learners for the future world of work
- Continue to lead the world with our renowned co-operative education program as it enters its seventh decade
- Champion our innovative, world-class approach to career education to future-proof our students with hope, confidence and resilience in sustaining meaningful livelihoods in the future world of work
- Collaborate with our distinguished faculty to ensure the integration of learning from work experiences and associated developmental reflections into academic programs
- Partner with our campus colleagues, WIL associations and our peer institutions to lobby provincial and federal governments for support of WIL opportunities for students
- Develop the global standard for future-ready human skill development through our Future Ready Talent Framework
- Align our work to demonstrate how we contribute to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
- Demonstrate data-driven insight about talent management success for the future of work and lifelong learning
- Increase our students’ international mobility through the development of innovative international work experiences
- Continue to build our reputation for excellence in enabling educators to create relevant and effective work-integrated learning programs
- Offer quality programming on how to develop and deliver quality WIL programs beyond our campus to faculty, practitioners and employers