Waterloo Experience (WE) Accelerate: Fall 2026 work term

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The Waterloo Experience (WE) Accelerate program will help you develop in-demand skills. We collaborated with industry leaders to offer you this innovative option in your first work term. Through content provided by industry collaborators and team-based project experiences, you’ll learn skills while gaining real-world experience - all while earning a flexible work term credit.

WE Accelerate is designed to help students build on the skills they have, while also developing the skills they need. I've had previous students come back and tell me they were able to get interviews and secure their next co-op because of what they learned through the program.

Melanie Bullagao, WE Accelerate team lead

How the WE Accelerate program can help:

How WE Accelerate works

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Career component

Complete approximately 60 hours total of career programming.

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Skills development

Complete approximately 100 hours of skills development provided by an industry collaborator.

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Project experience

Complete approximately 120 hours of team-based, real-world project work (roughly 25 hours per week across a 5-week span).

WE Accelerate streams being offered in fall 2026

Digital bootcamp: Web design and marketing

The digital bootcamp stream focuses on designing webpages and using digital marketing tools to enhance a company’s digital presence and online engagement.  

  • Improve the UX and UI of websites to make them more responsive and engaging.
  • Optimize search results (SEO) to improve a company’s visibility to customers.
  • Identify target audiences through inbound and outbound marketing techniques.
  • Create content for email and video marketing, blogs and social media campaigns.

Enrolment cap: 60 students

Data-driven solutions for global challenges

The data-driven solutions for global challenges focuses on equipping you with high-demand skills in data collection, analytics and communication. You'll learn how to:

  • Apply sustainability in decision-making
  • Manage and process data effectively
  • Evaluate data quality (data literacy)
  • Use data analysis tools including Excel and PowerBI

Enrolment cap: 60 students

Data-driven solutions for global challenges

The data-driven solutions for global challenges stream focuses on equipping you with high-demand skills in data collection, analytics and communication. You'll learn how to:

  • Apply sustainability in decision-making
  • Manage and process data effectively
  • Evaluate data quality (data literacy)
  • Use data analysis tools including Excel and PowerBI

Enrolment cap: 60 students

Career component

The program's first week (September 28– October 2) will feature onboarding and career programming through a daily one-hour synchronous session, followed by asynchronous activities totalling 25 hours for the entire week. An additional 10 hours of career programming will occur throughout the skills and project experience portion. In the program's final week (December 7–11), you’ll reflect on the career program conducted earlier and complete your summative assignment. This will total approximately 25 hours for the entire week.

What you'll learn:

  • How to explore different career paths, industries and job roles that can be applied in later work terms or on your career journey.
  • Essential professional skills such as communication, teamwork, time management, problem-solving and leadership.
  • Effective job search strategies, including résumé writing, cover letter preparation, networking techniques and interview skills for future work terms.
  • How to reflect on their career goals, strengths, areas for improvement and experiences gained throughout the program.
Skills training experience

Students in this stream will learn about the UN SDGs and sustainability alongside techniques and tools for data analysis and visualization. Students will interpret their analytical results, focusing on insights that can drive decision-making and impact.

What you'll learn:

  • Use sustainability as a guiding framework to inform decisions and recommendations.
  • Identify, sort, categorize, clean, compare, aggregate and translate data effectively.
  • Analyze and evaluate the quality of data sets and sources (data literacy).
  • Use data analysis tools proficiently, including Excel and PowerBI (among others).
Synchronous sessions

There will be an introductory session at the start of skills development and a showcase session during the last week of skills training. There will be weekly live sessions during skills training, days to be announced. Synchronous discussions and workshops will be scheduled for no more than 5 hours weekly. Live session attendance is mandatory. If, for any reason, you are unable to attend the live sessions, you must communicate with your team lead. Recordings will be available for some sessions.  Students will also need to find time each week to meet with their team lead and work together with their group members to complete several team-based activities.

What you'll learn:

  • Develop communication and presentation skills through participation in sessions and learn to articulate ideas, insights and project outcomes effectively.
  • Practice time management skills by scheduling and attending mandatory sessions and meetings.
  • Apply theoretical knowledge and skills acquired during synchronous sessions to real-world projects and challenges.
  • Gain practical experience and insights relevant to future career opportunities.
Total synchronous time commitment

Synchronous discussions and workshops will be scheduled for no more than 5 hours per week, and all sessions will be recorded for asynchronous viewing.

Students will also need to work together with their teams to complete several team-based activities. Most of the time commitment associated with data-driven solutions will be asynchronous.
Skills curriculum assessment

To pass the skills development portion of this stream, you need to do the following:

  • Carbon footprint assignment
  • LinkedIn Learning: Prepare for the Power BI Data Analyst Associate (PL-300) Certification
  • PowerBI assessment
Project experience

You’ll apply your data-driven solution skills to apply your learned skills in data analytics and visualization towards meaningful, real-world problems either aligned with the UN SDGs or specific to an industry/community partner challenge or need.

What you'll learn:

  • Enhanced understanding of the acquisition, organization, vetting and analysis of data.
  • Ability to formulate actionable recommendations based on analytical findings.
  • Improved communication skills through interaction with employer partners and presenting findings effectively.
  • Enhanced problem-solving skills by addressing real-world challenges in a professional setting.
Project employers Students will work with employers sourced through a third-party provider.

Digital Bootcamp

The digital bootcamp stream focuses on designing webpages and using digital marketing tools to enhance a company’s digital presence and online engagement.  

  • Improve the UX and UI of websites to make them more responsive and engaging.
  • Optimize search results (SEO) to improve a company’s visibility to customers.
  • Identify target audiences through inbound and outbound marketing techniques.
  • Create content for email and video marketing, blogs and social media campaigns.

Enrollment cap: 60 students

Career component

The program's first week (September 28– October 2) will feature onboarding and career programming through a daily one-hour synchronous session, followed by asynchronous activities totalling 25 hours for the entire week. An additional 10 hours of career programming will occur throughout the skills and project experience portion. In the program's final week (December 7–11), you’ll reflect on the career program conducted earlier and complete your summative assignment. This will total approximately 25 hours for the entire week.

What you'll learn:

  • How to explore different career paths, industries and job roles that can be applied in later work terms or on your career journey.

  • Essential professional skills such as communication, teamwork, time management, problem-solving and leadership.

  • Effective job search strategies, including résumé writing, cover letter preparation, networking techniques and interview skills for future work terms.

  • How to reflect on their career goals, strengths, areas for improvement and experiences gained throughout the program.
Skills training experience 

Students in this stream will begin by learning about the marketing philosophy known as Inbound and how it applies to a company's digital presence, including its website and social media.

What you'll learn:

  • How to attract, engage and delight customers by putting themselves in their target audience's shoes and creating opportunities for two-way conversations.
  • About the importance of consistent digital branding across all channels and how to follow or even build a brand guide.
  • How to create and design websites on WordPress, WIX Studio, Squarespace among other platforms, and ensure that those websites are responsive, user-friendly, and accessible.
  • How to apply content marketing, video marketing and email marketing to a website to keep it current and attract repeat visits.
  • About search engine optimization and how to use data to both measure and boost the performance of a website.
Synchronous sessions 

There will be an introductory session at the start of skills development and a showcase session during the last week of skills training. There will be weekly live sessions during skills training, days to be announced. Synchronous discussions and workshops will be scheduled for no more than 5 hours weekly. Live session attendance is mandatory. If, for some reason, you are unable to attend the live sessions, you must communicate with your team lead. Recordings will be available for some sessions.  Students will also need to find time each week to meet with their team lead and work together with their group members to complete several team-based activities.

What you'll learn:

  • Develop communication and presentation skills through participation in sessions and learn to articulate ideas, insights and project outcomes effectively.
  • Practice time management skills by scheduling and attending mandatory sessions and meetings.
  • Apply theoretical knowledge and skills acquired during synchronous sessions to real-world projects and challenges.
  • Gain practical experience and insights relevant to future career opportunities.
Total synchronous time commitment 

Synchronous discussions and workshops will be scheduled for no more than 5 hours per week, and all discussions and workshops will be recorded for asynchronous viewing.

Students will also need to work together with their teams to complete several team-based activities. Most of the time commitment associated with digital bootcamp will be asynchronous in nature.
Skills curriculum assessment 

To pass the skills development portion of this stream, you need to do the following:

1. Submit proof of earning the following

  • Hubspot certificates
  • Inbound Email Marketing
  • Content Marketing

2. Submit proof of having completed the following online courses

  • LinkedIn’s User Experience for Web Design course
  • Google’s Analytics for Beginners course

3. Pass the 7 included quizzes with a grade of at least 70% each after three attempts
Project experience 

You’ll apply your digital bootcamp skills to work on improving a company's digital presence through things like a better user experience (UX) or improved search engine optimization (SEO). Projects are provided by one of Co-operative and Experiential Education’s employer partners.

What you'll learn:

  • Enhanced understanding of digital marketing techniques and methodologies.
  • Hands-on experience in utilizing digital tools and platforms for analysis and improvement.
  • Ability to formulate actionable recommendations based on analytical findings.
  • Improved communication skills through interaction with employer partners and presenting findings effectively.
  • Enhanced problem-solving skills by addressing real-world challenges in a professional setting.
Project employers  Students will work with employers sourced through Co-operative Education’s employment relations team.

Timeline and what to expect

WE Accelerate opt-in/opt-out period  Beginning August 6
WE Accelerate Virtual Information Day Thursday, August 6
  • Former students and WE Accelerate team leads discuss their experience during our WE Accelerate Virtual Information Day event.
  • Opt-in form will go live in WaterlooWorks on the morning of the event.
  • Opt-in will be first-come, first-serve and we anticipate the program in high demand. When capacity is reached, students will be placed on a waitlist.
  • We encourage students to opt-in as soon as the form opens.
Deadline to opt-in Friday, September 18 at 4 p.m. (ET)
  • Deadline to opt-in and indicate your streams of interest.
  • Opt-in will be first-come, first-serve and we anticipate the program in high demand. When capacity is reached, students will be placed on a waitlist.
  • We encourage students to opt-in as soon as the form opens.
Streams assigned Monday, September 21
  • After registration closes on September 18, students will be sorted into streams based on preference (first-come, first-served) and enrollment caps. 
  • We’ll ensure you know if you've been assigned a stream before the opt-out deadline of Friday, September 25.
Deadline to opt-out Friday, September 25 at 9 a.m. (ET)
  • After this, we expect you to commit to WE Accelerate like any other work term, as limited spots are available.
WE Accelerate work term begins September 28
Career programming (part 1)  September 28 - October 2 (Week 1)
  • Complete onboarding and career curriculum (part 1).
  • Approximately 25 hours during this first week, with approximately 10 additional hours of career programming to occur throughout.
  • 1 hour of synchronous content daily, with all other content provided asynchronously.
Skill development programming Beginning October 5 (Weeks 2 - 5)
  • Complete skill development training content.
  • Approximately 100 hours, with varying degrees of synchronous content depending on the stream.
Project experience November 2 - December 4 (Weeks 6 - 10)
  • Complete industry collaborator projects in teams and receive feedback.
  • Approximately 120 hours of project work to be expected across 5 weeks (all projects to be completed by December 4).
  • Please note: the hours to complete your project work will be determined by the project provider, with the expectation that you are available.
  • Industry collaborators will complete a Project Evaluation and assign individual ratings OR an overall rating for each project team (up to the employer's discretion).
  • Project evaluation deadline (for employers): Friday, December 11.
Career programming (part two) December 7 - 11 (Week 11)
  • Complete the career curriculum (part two) and four final summative reflection assignments. Due at the end of each day of the career curriculum part two, starting on day one (December 7) to day five (December 11).
  • Approximately 25 hours.

Next steps: Register to attend WE Accelerate Virtual Information Day

  1. Login to WaterlooWorks and select Career Centre Events from the navigation menu.
  2. From here, locate the WE Accelerate Information Day sessions on the calendar under the corresponding date. You can then click through to register on the event page.

    • Please note: Only students who are eligible for the WE Accelerate program this term (undergraduate co-op students going into their first work term who haven’t yet found employment for the fall 2026 work term) will be able to register for the event. 

  3. You’ll receive a confirmation email with one link to access any of the sessions once you register. Feel free to tune in and out as your schedule allows.

    • Note: We'll record the webinars and make them available afterwards.

Questions?