Coop Program

Co-operative Education is a special form of education offering alternating study and work terms while earning your degree. All UVic engineering programs have a mandatory Co-op component. Co-op work terms enable students to sample different career areas and clarify career goals. Co-op provides an opportunity for students to judge their own aptitudes and talents while earning a good salary to help offset educational costs. Co-op helps students establish contacts and references to improve their job prospects after graduation.

All Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) students are normally required to complete four co-op work terms in order to graduate. A work term must last a minimum of 13 weeks. A typical academic schedule with work terms looks something like this:

While on a co-op work term ECE students perform a variety of duties. At the junior level, years one and two of the program, students perform entry level work such as general research tasks, gathering market analysis information, programming, drafting, or assisting engineers in daily tasks. Students on an intermediate level work term, can perform more challenging tasks including the design of mechanical and electrical systems, coding and testing of software systems, hardware assembly and testing. Senior students completing senior work terms function as junior engineers and assist in design work, and provide support in areas like quality evaluations and failure analysis, CAD/CAM, software testing, and manufacturing problems.

The best part of the Co-op Program is students graduate with a B.Eng. degree plus up to two years worth of relevent work experience! Be sure to check out the Faculty of Engineering's Co-op Program page for more information on this exciting opportunity.

Experiential Education Map (CENG)

Experiential Education Map (ELEC)