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The University of Northern Iowa

An Overview of the Cooperative Education and Internships Program

The Cooperative Education/Internship program is an academic program designed to complement a student's formal education with practical work experience directly related to the student's major. At UNI the terms "cooperative education" and "internship" are often used interchangeably and the program is generally referred to as the Co-op Program.

An internship is usually, but not always, a single term, for-credit experience. Most students involved with the UNI program participate in an internship. A co-op alternates work and study periods over several semesters. Most "true co-ops," as they are often called, occur in technical fields such as computer science, engineering, and industrial technology. True co-op placements are typically with large corporations and may involve two to four work periods with a company.

The Cooperative Education/Internship Program at UNI involves cooperation among employers, academic departments, and the staff of the Cooperative Education/Internship Office. Employers provide the positions and experience; academic departments provide the credit; and co-op staff are responsible for posting jobs, referring qualified students to employers, and taking care of the necessary paperwork to make sure the experience appears on the student's transcript.

Cooperative education credit is available through course numbers in all academic departments at UNI. In some departments, cooperative education credit serves as required or major elective credit toward completion of a major. In other departments, co-op credit applies as general elective credit to meet overall graduation requirements. The amount of credit earned is based upon the number of hours worked in a semester. An individual co-op assignment usually carries from 1-3 hours of credit, although it may occasionally offer up to 6 credit hours. Students may apply up to 12 hours of co-op credit toward graduation requirements.

Co-op/internship experiences may be part-time or full-time and local, national or international. During the school year, most co-op/internship positions are part-time positions in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area. During the summer, they are usually full-time and cover a wide range of geographic areas.

The work the student performs in his/her internship position is determined by the job description provided by the employer and approved by the academic department and the Co-op/Internship Program. An assigned faculty member works with the student to determine learning objectives and academic assignments to accompany the work experience. The employer evaluates the student's performance and the faculty member awards a letter grade or pass-fail credit.

On-campus interviews arranged through the Co-op Program and positions listings for co-op/internship positions posted through the Co-op Program are open only to students who have their resume posted on UNI Careerlink.