March 18-22: Co-op Education Week

As pioneers in co-operative education, Waterloo was one of the first to recognize the educational value of connecting students and industry.

Peggy Jarvie, executive director of Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) at the University of Waterloo

While early work terms were focused mainly in southern Ontario, the program has expanded over time to include diverse opportunities in almost 100 countries. Co-op students are also choosing to work in a range of settings now – everything from multinationals to dynamic startups.

“The variety is extraordinary,” says Peggy Jarvie, executive director of Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) at the University of Waterloo. “Students are working for large companies, small companies, huge multinationals and startups.  Lots of startups are now building co-op students into their business plans.”

Startups

Sharva Hassamal, an environment and business student, came to Waterloo because of the reputation of the co-op program. He’s currently working at a local startup called Oikoi, which helps tenants and landlords find matches. Hassamal has spent the first few months in sales and customer support learning about investing, funding, employee relations and even a bit of coding.

“Every individual in a startup has a big role to play. Every minute of the day I’m doing something and learning,” says Hassamal. “At a startup, you don’t feel like you’re another brick in the wall.”

As the largest co-op program in the world with more than 6,000 students working this term, Waterloo is constantly finding new ways to give students opportunities. Many of the students, says Jarvie, are the first ones in their families to attend university and rely on co-op terms to help fund their university education. Over the course of a co-op degree, students can earn anywhere from $30,000 to more than $80,000 to help fund their education. “A lot of students come to Waterloo because of the co-op program,” she says.

Competing for talent

Jarvie points out that there is stiff competition among universities to build relationships among employers for co-op jobs. “Everybody competes with us on talent,” she says. “The employers are looking for talent and they can get it in lots of schools, big and small.  We rely on great academic programs, bright and hard-working students, and a strong team in CECA to keep us in the forefront.” 

A major technology player, Google Canada’s engineering director, has said the talent coming out of Waterloo is among the best in the world:  “We are an enormous supporter of the University of Waterloo and its co-op program,” said Steven Woods. “. . . I personally attribute much of the success of [their] graduates to the strength of their co-op program and the great mix of very strong academic emphasis, great training, great faculty with the opportunity students get to spend time in industry at many companies, whether in California or Seattle or in Canada.”