College Co-Op Pioneer Is Still Leading The Charge After 100 Years - Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/02/27/college-co-op-pioneer...
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P ERSO NAL F INANC E | 2/27/2012 @ 5:54PM | 5,313 views
Herman Schneider, a professor of engineering at the
University of Cincinnati (UC), pioneered cooperative education over 100 years ago. Today, Schneider would be happy to know that UC is still leading the charge, with
Co-Op opportunities having grown to many fields of study, and in cooperation with companies around the globe. Two of UC’s experts tell us all about college Co-Op, and what students should be looking for in a Co-Op program.
M.B. Reilly,
Assistant
Director, Public
Relations,
University of
Cincinnati
MB Reilly is the Assistant Director, Public Relations, at the
University of Cincinnati, and the author of the book, The
Ivory Tower And The Smokestack, 100 Years Of
Cooperative Education At The University Of Cincinnati .
How did the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) pioneering role come about?
Reilly: Well, I could (and did) write a book about this; however, to be brief.
The founder of cooperative education was an educator named Herman
Schneider. He actually tried to “sell” the idea of co-op twice before he arrived at UC in 1903 as an engineering instructor, who quickly rose to become dean of the UC College of Engineering. He proposed the co-op model to UC’s
Board of Trustees as an improvement for educating his engineering students.
The co-op proposition squeaked by the UC board with a single vote to spare.
All in all, it was a soggy, doubt-laden contract as evidenced by the wording of the consent: “We hereby grant the right to Dean Schneider to try, for one year, this cooperative idea of education…[for] the failure of which, we will not assume responsibility.” It was an unringing endorsement if ever there was one. In after years, Schneider openly preserved the board’s painfully reluctant permission on his office wall.
In co-op’s first year of 1906-1907, Schneider convinced 27 engineering students to try cooperative education. Both students and employers found it to be so beneficial that by 1908, 2,000 applicants inquired about the co-op program at UC.
What is cooperative education, how does it benefit students, employers and the University of Cincinnati (UC)?
3/7/2013 10:21 AM

College Co-Op Pioneer Is Still Leading The Charge After 100 Years - Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/02/27/college-co-op-pioneer...
Reilly: First, there is the dry definition of what is co-op. Co-op is the practice wherein students regularly alternate time spent in the classroom with time spent in the workforce as paid professionals working in jobs of increasing responsibility directly related to their fields of study.
Co-op is experience, yes. It’s learning and earning, yes. But, if I may indulge my inner poet, it’s also the priceless intangibles of maturity, growth, responsibility and, most of all, trust. At its best, co-op embodies a very personal kind of trust when the young and inexperienced are first handed jobs that mean quite a lot to those around them. It’s the challenge of young people taking on jobs involving real trust and real responsibility from employers “betting” real money on them.
How does Co-Op benefit students? Benefit employers? Benefit UC?
Reilly: With real money on the table, employers are extremely unlikely to provide students “busy” work. Since the money is real, the responsibility is real. And by the time our UC seniors graduate, they have generally worked consistently at a professional level carrying project-level responsibilities in design, engineering and business: Launching rockets off the California coast, developing earthquake-resistant construction methods in India, redesigning highway interchanges, designing new energy-efficient automobiles, installing steel-melting super furnaces, and researching water quality in Tanzania.
And now more than ever, the economic impact of co-op for our students is vital. Collectively, UC co-op students earn $43 million per year. It would require almost a billion-dollar endowment to produce that much in scholarship aid.
Currently, a UC co-op student who works six quarters throughout his or her sophomore to senior years will earn an average total of $46,000. In certain majors, students earning co-op salaries are able to more than cover their tuition with those earnings.
And figures from the National Commission for Cooperative Education have consistently shown that co-op education is a competitive advantage in the hunt for a post-graduation position.
However, I don’t wish to neglect the “learning” aspect of cooperative education. Here at UC, co-op is closely integrated with classroom instruction so that each feeds the other. For instance, UC is a leader in collecting feedback from employers in order to tightly mesh academics with real-world needs. And, we’ve found that students’ real-world experience tends to boost their academic performance and their ability to grasp concepts provided in classroom instruction. It is truly cooperative education.
Co-op programs are attractive to employers looking to recruit and invest in a future workforce hire without the risk or expense of an untried full-time new hire. That makes sense since many employers deliberately employ co-op as a recruiting and screening tool.
For larger companies, student workers enter a pipeline for two or three years.
When the time comes to make an offer, the company will already be familiar with the student’s work. (It’s also quite a competitive advantage for the student who may not be as articulate at presenting his or her skills, abilities and achievements but has no trouble showing an employer what he or she can do.)
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College Co-Op Pioneer Is Still Leading The Charge After 100 Years - Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/02/27/college-co-op-pioneer...
It’s like spring training in baseball. As an employer, you get to “try out” a possible full-time employee. As a student, you get to “try out” the field, the specialization and the employer – earning all the while.
As mentioned, experiential learning at UC – co-op, internships, service learning – provide feedback to drive needed innovation in teaching and curricula. By working annually with 1,500 global employers, UC continually collects about 200,000 data points annually from these employers to refine curricula in order to adapt to evolving needs. Co-op impacts teaching, and teaching impacts co-op.
This cooperative education model is of interest to parents and to current and prospective students, many of whom value the experience offered, which few other colleges or universities can match.
How did the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) pioneering role come about?
Reilly: Well, I could (and did) write a book about this; however, to be brief.
The founder of cooperative education was an educator named Herman
Schneider. He actually tried to “sell” the idea of co-op twice before he arrived at UC in 1903 as an engineering instructor, who quickly rose to become dean of the UC College of Engineering. He proposed the co-op model to UC’s
Board of Trustees as an improvement for educating his engineering students.
The co-op proposition squeaked by the UC board with a single vote to spare.
All in all, it was a soggy, doubt-laden contract as evidenced by the wording of the consent: “We hereby grant the right to Dean Schneider to try, for one year, this cooperative idea of education…[for] the failure of which, we will not assume responsibility.” It was an unringing endorsement if ever there was one. In after years, Schneider openly preserved the board’s painfully reluctant permission on his office wall.
In co-op’s first year of 1906-1907, Schneider convinced 27 engineering students to try cooperative education. Both students and employers found it to be so beneficial that by 1908, 2,000 applicants inquired about the co-op program at UC.
What advice do you have for students looking into college co-op programs?
Anita Todd, Assistant Professor of
Professional Practice, Electrical
Engineering, University of Cincinnati
Todd:
Co-op can be defined differently at different universities. Therefore, make sure the definition of co-op that you have in your mind matches the definition at the universities you are investigating. Typically, a co-op program is defined by having a program with multiple alternating career-related and paid work terms with school terms – year round. However, there are also parallel co-op programs
(part-time school and part-time work at the same time) and programs with just one experience, not multiple (this is typically called internship – but not always)
Not all universities offer co-op programs in all majors, so ensure that the major you are seeking is a co-op major at university.
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College Co-Op Pioneer Is Still Leading The Charge After 100 Years - Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/02/27/college-co-op-pioneer...
You need to figure out what you want to get out of participation in a co-op program. This will help you choose a program. Things like:
Are you looking to explore different career options – then make sure the co-op program allows you to change jobs and try different companies. Some programs require you to stay with the same company your entire co-op career.
Where (geographically) do you want to work? Make sure the co-op program has co-op relationships with employers in the location you are seeking.
Do you want to work closely with a co-op advisor to assist you through the process? Some universities have dedicated advisors for each major, some do not.
Are you not certain you want to participate in co-op? Look for which opportunities have mandatory programs and which have optional.
Do you want a guaranteed co-op job? Unfortunately, no programs can promise this, however; mandatory co-op programs typically have very high placement rates, even in tougher economies.
Are you just looking to get experience and a foot in the door with some potential employers? Well the good news is that any co-op program can offer this.
Are you interested in working internationally? Several universities offer formal co-op abroad programs. Determine if the university in which you are interested offers this option.
What changes do you see on the horizon for cooperative education?
Todd:
Learning through work is the key reason why universities have co-op programs, to enhance student learning. Therefore, I think an emphasis will be on increasing student learning through work. This is happening in many ways, some universities are adding modules or content that students complete or engage in while at work to allow them to reflect on and discuss their experiences with an advisor, a faculty member or their peers. Some are creating online learning to complement learning at work.
More universities are realizing the value of the assessment data collected through the co-op process. Co-op data shows student skill growth through their college career. Many universities are using this data for program accreditation. So enhancement of co-op assessment and more and better use of the co-op assessment data for research and accreditation will be coming.
There’s more to the College Co-Op story. Check out these very interesting posts that were launched as part of my feature on College Co-Ops. Check out my post on Why College Co-Ops Totally Rock, College Co-Ops Go Global , and my video interview with the President of Drexel University (a leading
Co-Op university), This College President Is A Game Changer .
This article is available online at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/02/27/college-co-op-pioneer-is-still-leadingthe-charge-after-100-years/
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