International Conference on Engineering Education- ICEE 2007 Cooperative Education in Brazil: Coordinating Work Terms

Abstract- The operational structure of a course that interacts with the work market is very different from that of a conventional course, since the university must adapt its administrative procedure to reconcile work aspects (including constraints imposed by the employer) with academic requirements. This paper demonstrates how active management can reconcile the external work market with the bureaucratic structure of the university. We describe three different modalities through which an educational institution can supply interns to meet the needs of employers. We also discuss certain aspects of attaining and maintaining the number of positions to be filled in each term: student intellectual potential; detailed information regarding student work skills; the specific status of the university in the enterprise community; dissemination of course information to human resources departments; and the appropriate student profile for a specific work term. Finally, work term follow-up visits are described in terms of points that must be evaluated with the student and of interactions between the academic advisor and the engineer supervisor, which are useful for maintaining and improving the work-study program. The influence that such a program has on student maturity is also addressed