Why A Co-op Program — A Student's Point of View

Should engineering firms, students, and universities devote their resources to cooperative education programs? What makes a good co-op program? It is to the benefit of the sponsors, students, and schools to become involved in cooperative education. However, if a program is poorly run, it is not worth each participant's effort. The program must involve the concepts of coordination between school and work, expansion of knowledge, and application of knowledge to real engineering problems. For a program to succeed, the sponsor, the student, and the school must share a commitment to the goals. A program containing this commitment will yield benefits worth the effort expended on the program.