What is Co-Op?

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
ENGINEERING COOPERATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM

Celebrating our 87th anniversary in 2006, Marquette's Engineering Co-op Program is the fifth oldest Co-op program in the United States.  Cooperative Education (Co-op) is a program combining academic study and practical work experience—a learning and training partnership between Marquette, employer and student—beneficial to all participants.  Co-op provides students with hands-on, career-related work experience and the opportunity to develop professionally as well as academically.  Employers draw upon the energy and enthusiasm of highly qualified students to meet their ongoing need for effective employees.  And Marquette has contact with the new trends and needs of industry, which can be integrated into course work and curriculum.

Engineering Co-op students at Marquette alternate semesters of school attendance with semesters of employment after completion of their sophomore year.  Under this plan, students are required to complete a minimum of three alternating work terms with their Co-op employer, but in most cases, work four work terms.  They receive one academic credit for each semester they work, three of which can be used as a technical elective toward degree requirements.  Over 240 students currently participate in the Co-op program, which constitutes 47% of the junior and senior-standing students.  In addition, approximately 150 sophomores each year pursue Co-op employment beginning in either May (summer), August (fall), or the following January.  Co-op candidates are enrolled in all of the engineering curricula:  Biomedical, Civil and Environmental, Computer, Electrical, Industrial, and Mechanical; all of these candidates will approach Co-op employment with a great deal of maturity and willingness to work hard at and to learn the practical side of engineering. 

When hiring a Co-op student, an employer is not required to sign a Co-op agreement form with Marquette; however, that employer is asked to verbally commit to offering that student challenging, engineering-related work assignments for a minimum of three alternating work terms (many employers hire an "alternating pair" of Co-ops, which results in always having a Co-op student working for them at any given time of the year).  At the end of each work term, the Co-op student’s supervisor is required to complete and submit to our office an Employer Evaluation Form.   Salaries are determined by each individual Co-op employer; however, the approximate average salary for the first Co-op work term is $14.00/hour, while the range of salary is from $12.00/hour to $18.00+/hour.   

2006 - 2009 Projected Co-op Work/School Calendar