There's a buzz about co-op programs on campus.
Students are clamoring after the valuable skills and experience to be gained from work terms that bridge the academic world and the world of work.
"It's important that our students have the opportunity of applying university learning and experiences in a work environment," says Barry McBride, vice-president, Academic.
"Students come back from the work experience with a greater appreciation for their academic studies, a clearer understanding of the careers they will pursue and greater confidence in their ability to function effectively in the workplace," he says.
In 1992/93, 330 UBC students completed co-op work placements. This year, 1,100 students will take part. Co-op organizers say that's just the tip of the iceberg -- the number could double, and possibly triple, within two years.
While professional programs like education, medicine and dentistry have long incorporated on-the-job training, for undergraduates the option of completing paid, full-time work terms has traditionally been available only in the faculties of Applied Science and Science.
All that is changing. The faculties of Arts, Commerce and Business Administration, and Forestry have begun offering co-op placements, and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences is looking at new ways of providing students with work experience.
An English Dept. pilot project is in the vanguard of a plan to make co-op programs available to all Arts students. Co-ordinator Julie Walchli hopes to place 20 to 30 students in work terms this summer.
"The employers I've spoken to want these English students. They'll be involved with corporate communications, producing reports, marketing--the list goes on and on."
Elaine Wang is a third-year English student hoping to land one of those placements.
"Reading Shakespeare and Chaucer doesn't by itself qualify us to do anything. But our research skills, writing, reading and presentation skills are broadly applicable in the outside world," she says.
New co-op programs in the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration are also growing quickly.
In the next few years, organizers predict students in Arts and Commerce will have as many co-op opportunities as Applied Science and Science students.
At 750 placements this year, the Faculty of Applied Science has the second largest engineering co-op program in Canada.
The push for more co-op programs comes mostly from students, says Javed Iqbal, director of Science co-op programs, even though work placements add a full year to a four-year program.
"Recently, biochemistry students saw that microbiology and chemistry students were benefiting from co-op programs, and they said, `why not us?'"
While interest in co-op is booming, funding new programs is a challenge for organizers.
Provincial funding from the Co-operative Education Fund of B.C. is approved only once the framework for the new program is in place, and employment placement opportunities have been demonstrated. The initial costs of staff and faculty time, student workshops and employer recruitment must come from the university, the individual faculty, or from outside funding agencies.
Once a program is approved, the amount of provincial funding is based on the number of work placements in the previous year. The number of new students added to a program is determined by how far that funding can be stretched.
"Because of the demand, I wish we could start new programs in the Faculty of Science even faster," says Iqbal, whose Science programs will place about 400 students this year. "But the tremendous overall rate of growth we are experiencing with co-op at UBC proves we're on the right track."