University cooperative programs are becoming increasingly popular around the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. The popularity of these programs stems from allowing students a chance to combine paid work and study while increasing their job prospects post-graduation. The first co-op program was introduced over a century ago, but they have increased in popularity in recent years.
Northeastern University offers one of the most prominent co-op programs nation. The university’s storied cooperative program has been operating for 115 years, distinguishing it from the array of elite Boston-area institutions in its neighborhood, according to Hunt News.
Students who pursue the Northeastern co-op program begin in their sophomore year. Co-ops last for one semester and allow students a break from academic life while earning credit for school and financial compensation as well, according to Northeastern University.
To navigate co-op experiences, the university has its own website, NUworks, where co-op providers will list their available jobs and students can create profiles and apply. Students may complete up to two co-op semesters during a four-year bachelor’s program or up to three semesters during a five-year program, according to the university’s website.
Co-ops are an excellent way of allowing students the opportunity to live, work and learn beyond the confines of their classroom. Work-study programs are important to help students prepare to navigate the maze of the post-grad world. Students can develop a greater understanding of careers they are interested in and learn how to work in those settings.
Universities are hubs where students learn and experience diverse perspectives on their way to becoming prepared for the workforce. Along their academic journey, students also learn to become critical thinkers and citizens of their community and world. As such, universities must offer more than just the traditional avenue of classroom-based education.
Cooperative programs fill this void, giving institutions the ability to better serve their mission of expanding students’ learning experiences while providing them with a diversity of new experiences.
The University of Wisconsin would benefit from the implementation of a similar co-op program for all majors. It is important to recognize that the university already offers a variety of internship programs. For example, the College of Engineering Cooperative Education Program and the Wisconsin in Washington program for L&S majors interested in policy work.
But, opportunity is often limited to certain majors and is capped at low numbers, according to UW. A more robust program would likely increase prospective students’ interest and the competitiveness of UW as an institution. More importantly, it would provide students with a hands-on learning opportunity and a chance to step beyond the bubble of campus life.
Though cooperative programs may be extremely useful for students, universities — especially large universities like UW — would have a massive overhaul on their hands to try and reconstruct programs to fit the co-op model, according to The Wall Street Journal. Universities may also have to grapple with the fact that fewer students may be present on campus and contributing to the local economy if they are engaging in co-op programs across the state and beyond.
Despite all of the upfront work large universities would have to do to create a full-scale co-op program, the benefits for both the university in the long term and students in both the long and short term vastly outweigh the drawbacks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In the long run, universities will likely increase their job placement ratings and produce a greater number of well-rounded students to represent the university in both work and social settings. An increase in services offered by the university will more than likely lead to an increase in demand, almost always a net positive for universities, according to The Wall Street Journal.
While a program like this would be excellent at UW, the size of this institution, as well as the difficulties in obtaining state funding from a tenuous relationship with the state legislature, make a project like this unlikely to be implemented any time soon, according to The Cap Times. For instance, in December of 2023, the Wisconsin Board of Regents was grappling with a Republican State Legislature for $197 million in state funding for a new engineering building in exchange for paring down university DEI initiatives, according to The Cap Times.
Ideally, however, UW will follow the trend of universities across the country, making co-ops — and thus a well-rounded, diverse education — a forefront of future student life, but the path forward may be littered with both financial and administrative obstacles.
Andreas Scocos ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science with a minor in environmental studies.
