{"id":15583,"date":"2018-03-07T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=15583"},"modified":"2018-03-06T10:00:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T18:00:17","slug":"unpacking-the-bags-what-exactly-is-a-co-op","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/03\/07\/unpacking-the-bags-what-exactly-is-a-co-op\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpacking the Bags<\/em>: What exactly is a co-op?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many students talk about whether or not to do a co-op placement, but do you know what \u201cco-op\u201d even stands for?<\/p>\n

Present in several courses, co-operative education makes the student put into practice in a work environment what they\u2019ve learned in the classroom. It\u2019s important to mention that it is not a job placement.<\/p>\n

The institution\u2014for us, Camosun College\u2014helps to make contact between business and students, but the obligation to do well in the co-op placement interview is all on the student. Therefore, post-secondary institutions often offer co-op preparatory courses. In Camosun, this is called \u201cCo-op WEP,\u201d and it\u2019s a prerequisite for any student wishing to try to do a work term (\u201cWEP\u201d stands for \u201cworkplace education prep\u201d).<\/p>\n

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Unpacking the Bags<\/em> is a column giving advice for international students appearing in every issue of Nexus<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

International students must remember that a co-op work permit is required to be able to apply for a co-op placement. It\u2019s always worth checking with the university and the official immigration website if there are other prerequisites and if you are eligible to apply for the permit.<\/p>\n

For some college programs, the co-op is mandatory; for others, it\u2019s optional. Its length varies for each program.<\/p>\n

Students might wonder if an optional co-op is worth it. International students must take into account the financial factor. Even though most of the internships are paid, we need to pay a high amount of tuition if the co-op is optional. Undoubtedly, an internship during the study period brings several benefits, such as integration into the job market, the possibility of improving your skills with the local language, and the opportunity to gain experience and practice in your field.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, all of this is possible if you get a job after you leave college.<\/p>\n

My tip is this: while you are in college, take advantage of all the institution\u2019s infrastructure, including the possibility of a work term. In my case, for example, the co-op is optional, and I haven\u2019t yet decided whether to take it or not.\u00a0 However, I left that possibility open, applied for my co-op work permit, and took the required course of preparation for the internship.<\/p>\n

The important thing is to not let any opportunity escape because you are not prepared. If a good internship or co-op appears and you think it\u2019s going to make a difference to your life in Canada, I recommend that you take it and learn as much as you can in it. Even if it does not appear, you will have learned how to be prepared to face the job market.<\/p>\n

Opportunities can come from all sides, so always research, gather information, and prepare yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many students talk about whether or not to do a co-op placement, but do you know what \u201cco-op\u201d even stands for? Present in several courses, co-operative education makes the student put into practice in a work environment what they\u2019ve learned in the classroom. It\u2019s important to mention that it is not a job placement. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,208],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-march-7-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15584,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15583\/revisions\/15584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}