Engineering Co-op Program

Overview of the Engineering Co-op Program

Our optional engineering co-op program allows you to gain experiential learning by undertaking in an engineering setting one or more work placements, usually over the summers and lasting 3-4 months each.

The Engineering Co-op Program provides students with the opportunity to gain practical experience related to their studies, and to explore careers. Engineering co-op students are paid prevailing wages, and are generally well paid for these co-op placements.

Program description

The Engineering Co-op Program provides students with the opportunity to gain practical work experience related to their studies, in an engineering setting in industry or elsewhere, and to explore careers.

Co-op employment opportunities extend from three to four months. Co-op work terms are expected to occur mainly during the Summer term (May to August), but may also occur during the Fall or Winter terms when an opportunity suits both the student and an employer. Summer engineering internships are treated the same as engineering co-op terms.

Students who have a minimum 2.3 cumulative GPA can choose to participate in the Engineering Co-op Program.

Participation in the Engineering Co-op Program is optional. Students can participate in more than one co-op work term, but can not participate after their final semester of studies.

Engineering co-op students are paid prevailing wages, which usually are comparable to the wages paid to other co-op or internship students at the same level.

The Engineering Co-op Program includes:

  • a placement process;
  • preparation assistance for all participating students;
  • student co-op term reports; and
  • employer evaluation.

Recruitment and placement

UOIT’s Career and Employment Services Office actively recruits employers to post summer and other co-op job opportunities in the fields of engineering. Students are also encouraged to find their own placements. Placements may be local or abroad. Co-op position opportunities will be marked ‘Engineering Co-op’ and posted when received by UOIT’s Career and Employment Services Office. UOIT can not guarantee that a co-op placement will be available for each student who wishes one.

The procedures and deadlines established by employers will be followed, regarding required application materials, dates and interviews. The selection of co-op students is made by employers. Start and end dates and salary are negotiated between the student and the employer.

Students in co-op work terms must register in the repeatable course Engineering Co-op Program (ENGR 0999U). An administrative fee is charged to students who obtain an Engineering Co-op Program position via a UOIT job posting or though a contact made through a UOIT event. The present fee is listed in the University Registrar’s Office.

Monitoring and evaluation

UOIT strives to connect students with quality companies for exciting employment opportunities, and to ensure the co-op experience is meaningful.

UOIT’s Career and Employment Services Office acts in a supportive role for any workplace issues that may arise, as a liaison between the student and employer.

Student’s must prepare a co-op work term report (approximately 3000 words), which should describe the co-op experience and be submitted to UOIT’s Internship and Co-op Office, with a duplicate copy sent to the employer, for evaluation by the program Faculty within two weeks of the conclusion of the co-op placement.Guidelines for work-term reports are available from the Work-Term Report Guidelines (Also available in Microsoft Word Format: Work-Term Report Guidelines).

The Engineering Co-op course is graded either a pass or fail. The grade is not included in a student’s grade point average. A passed grade has no numerical value and a failure is graded as an ‘F’. Participation in and successful completion of a work term under the Engineering Co-op Program appears in the student’s academic transcript beside the relevant term(s).

Experience gained through the Engineering Co-op Program may count towards the experience requirements for engineering licensing, by a professional engineering association in Canada, provided the student has completed at least fifty percent of the academic program in which they are registered before the work term and the nature of the work experience is deemed acceptable by that professional association.

Also see the PEO Pre-Graduation Experience Form.

Employer responsibilities

To ensure the co-op term is meaningful, the employer is expected to provide a job that:

  • involves engineering activities;
  • allows the student to enhance communication and interpersonal skills;
  • occurs in a supportive and constructive work environment; and
  • is guided or supervised by a professional engineer at some level.

The employer is also expected to

  • ensure an appropriate supervisor greets the co-op student and describes expectations;
  • provide the co-op student with an appropriate orientation to the workplace;
  • arrange regular meetings between the supervisor and co-op student to allow for mentoring and monitoring of the student’s progress; and
  • complete a questionnaire about the co-op student’s performance, if requested, and return it to UOIT’s Career and Employment Services Office.

Benefits of the Engineering Co-op Program

Benefits for employers

  • Co-op students assist employers with engineering tasks ranging from a single project to a series of short-term tasks, depending on needs.
  • Co-op students can be assessed by employers as potential career employees.
  • Companies that hire students as part of a co-op program may be eligible for financial assistance. Some possible sources of support include the Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit and certain Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Awards. Information on these programs is available from University's Internship and Co-op Office.

Benefits for Engineering Co-op students

Co-op students have the opportunity to:

  • gain meaningful engineering experience that complements academic studies;
  • develop a more professional attitude and approach to tasks;
  • stand out from their peers in the eyes of employers, and thus often obtain more interesting and satisfying careers;
  • assess an employer in terms of a potential career;
  • earn money during their academic career;
  • use the co-op experience to obtain partial credit towards the four years of engineering experience required for engineering licensing, subject to the approval of the licensing body; and
  • use the activities carried out during a co-op term, if suitable, as the basis of a fourth-year design thesis.

Benefits for UOIT

The Engineering Co-op Program permits UOIT to produce highly productive engineers and potential future leaders by complementing and enhancing a student’s academic study through meaningful work experience.

Participating Programs

Students in all engineering programs are eligible to participate in the Engineering Co-op Program.

For more information or to hire a intern please contact:

Career and Employment Services
Tel: 905.721.3034
Email: ces@dc-uoit.ca
Web: www.dc-uoit.ca/ces/

For program-specific questions, please contact:

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Tel: 905.721.3268
Email: engineering@uoit.ca