How to make a coop/intern/summer work experience meaningful for employers:

• The assignment needs to produce more value than input in time and effort
• Must have a successful process to full-time hire
• Projects must be meaningful
• Must have actively engaged supervisors and mentors
• Students must be treated as full-time employees instead of temporary employees
• Define up front
    Job expectations, limitations, responsibilities
    Full-time hire potential
    Scope of project
    Performance goals
• Give students an opportunity for formal training
• Encourage professor visits to understand company and opportunities
• Ask students for constructive feedback regarding program/experience
• Insure work teams understand the coop/intern process
• Provides the employer an opportunity to work with student before making a long term commitment
• Students bring energy, vitality, new perspectives, skills, abilities
• Provides access to campus/college through returning coop/intern students (ambassadors)
• Provides access to college/faculty/student resources

• Employer delivers agreed upon assignment
• Projects must have meaningful engineering content
• Projects should be well defined and challenging
• Treated as professional, not as student
• Provide a variety of experiences
• Provide social activities and a sense of community
    Inside the workplace
    Outside the workplace
• Provide housing or resources for housing
• Assign projects that can be completed during the work term
• Establishes a connection between work and studies
• Involve student in decision making process
• Allow student to see results/impact of work done on the project
• Integrate student quickly into the work team
• Set a goal to work towards and know how it will benefit the employer
• Have project, work area, e-mail, etc. ready for student when they arrive on their first day
• Have regular meetings with supervisor for meaningful feedback on performance
• Provide a good mentor, team leader, and/or coach
• Have employer teach students in areas they need to know
• Find a happy medium to keep in touch with students once they have returned to school
• Provides an opportunity to learn about field of study

• Provides a mechanism for open communication between the college and student to verify strengths and weaknesses in the program
• Steers other students to coop/intern/summer work terms
    Have student or employer speak at 101 level class to describe
       work experience
    Student can bring back information for courses/classroom
       Ø  New topics
       Ø  Real-world practical issues
       Ø  Industry Contact
• Provides a feedback mechanism from employers on how well students are prepared and how well they are doing
• Provides meaningful feedback from employers (via Advisory Board) about college program and cirruculum
• Provides an opportunity to enhance working relationships between college and employers
• Provides information for data collection on student placement at graduation
• Coop/Intern/Summer assessment contributes to the programs and curriculum improvement
• Students who have had coop/intern/summer experiences are more motivated and understand business better
• Provides an opportunity for students to combine practical work experience with their academic preparation