Co-op procedures

To receive a co-op designation at the time of graduation, students in the Faculty of Health are required to successfully complete:

a minimum of four credited work terms, of which at least three must be standard work terms;
a minimum of four professional development (PD) online courses:
- PD1, PD12 and two PD courses of choice.

Students are given five work term opportunities in which to complete these requirements throughout the normal academic/work term sequence.

COVID-19 Exceptions | Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and/or Spring 2021

For students who were unable to secure approved employment during the Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and/or Spring 2021 work terms, the University is reducing the minimum number of required work terms in a co-op program by one. Faculty of Health students in this scenario will require completion of three work terms. The reduced number of work terms is not cumulative. In other words, Faculty of Health students must complete a minimum of three work terms to receive the co-op designation on their degree.

To be eligible to receive a co-op designation at the time of graduation, students in the Faculty of Health who were unable to secure approved employment during the Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and/or Spring 2021 work terms must successfully complete:

a minimum of three work terms,
a minimum of three professional development (PD) online courses,
- PD1, PD12 and one PD course of choice,
a minimum of three work-term reports.

These exemptions are only available to students who were unsuccessful in securing employment in the Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and/or Spring 2021 terms.

For more information, visit Co-operative Education's Spring 2020 work term, Fall 2020 work term, Winter 2021 work term and Spring 2021 work term webpages.

Work terms

Information, from interviews to credit completion, is available through Co-operative Education.

Professional Development (PD) courses

PD courses are intended to enhance your professional development and assist in integrating your academic and work-term experiences. As a Co-op student in the Faculty of Health, you are required to successfully complete four PD courses. Each PD course is worth 0.5 unit and may not be substituted with a regular academic course credit. With the exception of PD1, you are expected to take the courses while on your co-op work terms. The schedule for completing the PD courses is as follows:

PD1: Career Fundamentals, must be completed before the first work term.
PD12: Reflection and Learning in the Workplace, must be completed during the first work term.
Two additional PD courses, of your choice, should be completed during subsequent work terms.

PD course content will be made available via Waterloo LEARN.

PD1: Career Fundamentals will lead you through resources and activities to provide you with the tools to be competitive in your employment search and prepare you for a successful first work term.

Co-operative Education and the Centre for Career Development also offer various resources and workshops to help prepare you for the job search and interview processes, as well as success strategies while on a work term.

Getting into or out of Co-op

Once studies are under way, you may decide that you would like to change your program of study from co-op to regular, or from regular to co-op.

Co-op to Regular

You may change from co-op to regular at any time as long as you are not committed to a job. You should meet with your academic advisor to review degree requirements and course sequencing.

You must complete a Plan Modification Form and submit it to your academic advisor to proceed with the change of program.

Regular to Co-op

Changing from the regular to the co-op program is more difficult as co-op spaces are limited to the number of work placements available. However, there are often several students who decide to leave the co-op program for various reasons during their first and second year, leaving space available for regular students to transfer into co-op.

Applications for co-op must be submitted no later than your 2A term to ensure you will have adequate time to meet the four work terms and PD courses required before graduation. For SPHS students, the application deadline for transfer to co-op is May 1, at the end of your first year. Please refer to SPHS Co-op Procedures for more information. A minimum cumulative average of 80% is normally required to be considered for admission to the co-op program as competition is strong for the few available spaces each year.