| About the Co-op Program
Eastern Kentucky University began the Cooperative Education Program
in 1973. Since then our program has grown tremendously with over 23,870
students participating and over 4,000 employers are associated with
our program. We work closely with thirty-five faculty coordinators
within each of the five colleges at the university.
As an educational concept, we define the Co-op program as "a method
of study that incorporates career-related work experience into the
curriculum." The practical application of this concept is that students
work in jobs directly related to their majors and future careers
while gaining real life work experience, obtaining a salary, and
acquiring college credit. This program has become increasingly popular
along with the rapidly escalating trend of college degrees alone
not being enough to secure a job after graduation. Our program allows
students to gain career-related, professional work experience before
graduation.
Our Co-op program is flexible. Students have a choice between
working multiple semesters in the alternating, parallel and/or combination
Co-op plans.
- The alternating plan consists of rotating semesters spent working
at a co-op job with semesters taking classes on campus.
- The parallel plan allows the student to enroll in classes and
to work part-time each semester.
- The combination plan allows the student to work a combination
of parallel and alternating.
In addition to the Co-op Program, we now offer Applied Learning.
- Applied Learning is an academic course that allows students
to gain work experience directly related to their major or career
goals.
- Applied Learning is an assignment that does not meet the Cooperative
Education standards.
- Students that participate in the Applied Learning Program must
follow the same guidelines in the Co-op Handbook.
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