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Whether you are a high school student trying to identify the best college for you, or a college student looking for professional experience, cooperative education offers many educational, financial and career-building benefits. Does the chance to try out different jobs, build your resume, understand connections between your classes and work, and earn money that can help pay your expenses sound too good to be true? At Gulf Coast Community College, it can be part of your education. Through GCCC's cooperative education (co-op) program, you alternate classroom learning with periods of part-time or full-time, almost always paid work related to your major or interests. Co-op is time well spent - when you graduate you’ve accumulated as much as two semesters of professional experience. That gives you a significant edge in the job market over new graduates from other schools. By combining classroom studies with productive employment in your field of study, you can help pay for college at the same time as gaining a more comprehensive education and the kind of real-world experience employers seek in the college graduates they hire. By working in varied jobs and settings, you learn what you like - and don’t like - before committing to a permanent position. You might even go to work for a co-op employer after graduation, as some GCCC students do. You don't miss out on the college experience -- you just enhance it in ways that pay for a lifetime. You also graduate knowing what you can learn only on the job: how to conduct yourself, what to wear, how to interpret a company’s culture, how to get things done. And, of course, you learn how to write a resumé and interview successfully. Co-op is an education in itself. At GCCC, though, you have the extra advantage of bringing your on-the-job experiences back to the classroom, to learn even more. The co-op adviser will help you identify opportunities that match your academic interests. Here's what two students said about their co-op experience. "I highly recommend Co-op to all students who wish to get an inside look at their career field. Experience is the best teacher and I must agree. The lessons learned this summer couldn't have been gained in the classroom. The chance to work in the actual job setting provides valuable insights academia simply can't provide. Still, a college education is very important. It is with this understanding I prepare to return to school this fall, a little wiser and better informed as to what will actually lie ahead once I finish school and enter the workforce." "I think all college students should try co-op at least once. It is a wonderful course that teaches discipline, organization and builds character. By being on your own with no classroom or teacher on a daily basis, this course really helps build responsibility by requiring students to take it upon themselves to turn in logs and do projects on time. Thank you for giving me this opportunity." if your computer is so equipped, click to hear what one of our students had to say.
EMPLOYERS Employers find college cooperative education a vital resource for human resource management. See Benefits for the employer-related advantages to engaging in cooperative education. Large and small companies, as well as public sector and nonprofit organizations, have found co-op invaluable for meeting short-term employment needs and building a cost-effective, productive system of recruiting future graduates. If your computer is so equipped, click to hear what one of our employers had to say.
Co-op is a partnership among colleges, employers and students. Colleges prepare students for participation and approve the job as an appropriate learning site. This way, you access a pool of qualified candidates to meet your short-term employment needs or to give you a more effective way to select and train future full-time staff. Employers interview and select students for employment. As an employer, your role in co-op includes:
FACULTY and ADMINISTRATORS Hundreds of colleges have found cooperative education valuable for enhancing the curriculum, attracting and retaining enrollment, and educating students who succeed after college--whether as a university undergraduate or graduate student, or directly in their chosen career path. See Benefits for a further list of how co-op assists institutional goals. Surveys, such as the American Council on Education's Campus Trends 1996, demonstrate the high interest in education curriculum which gives students an edge in becoming effective, productive and successful members of society. In the ACE report, colleges with co-op programs cited three chief benefits for students--academic gains, jobs after graduation and financial help. They also cited institutional gains--student retention, course improvement, and partnerships with business.
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