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Academic Programs with Co-op

Co-op provides you with the opportunity to integrate your academic learning with practical experience, gain marketable skills, earn money, try out new jobs and expand your network of mentors and potential employers.

Enrolment in co-op is limited and there is a competitive admission process for co-op programs in Arts, Business, Economics, Science and User Experience Design.

Students in more than 40 of our undergraduate and graduate programs are eligible for co-op including select programs from the Faculties of Arts, Liberal Arts, and Science, and the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.

Co-op Work Terms

Each work term is developed in collaboration with the employer and approved by the Department of Cooperative Education as a suitable learning environment that will engage the student in productive work. You apply to employers with whom you are interested in working. Employers are encouraged to interview on campus. Although employment cannot be guaranteed, we make every effort to ensure that suitable employment is available for students admitted to co-op.

Employers supervise and evaluate your performance in the workplace. Co-op staff members monitor your progress during the work term. The co-op curriculum supports your learning goals, personal evaluation and reflection; you are required to set goals each term and write work term reports. Employers compensate you for your work.

Students pay co-op fees. (Not all students pay fees in second year or just during academic terms so made this more generic) Those in the Business Administration and Mathematics (University of Waterloo) and Business Administration and Computer Science (University of Waterloo) double degree program pay the entire co-op fee for Year 2 in the fall term. In Year 3 and Year 4, they pay a co-op fee each academic term, according to the sequence of work and study that they have chosen.