Edwards School of Business welcomes 160 co-operative education students
160 second-year business students filled the Goodspeed Theatre on Friday morning for their first co-operative (co-op) education workshop. They will be trading the classroom for the office come January 2020.
A record number of students are participating in this year’s program. “Every year our numbers have grown,” said Edwards Co-op Coordinator Kim Stranden. “This year, we’ve admitted our largest class.”
As part of the program, students must attend mandatory workshops before applying to positions to ensure workplace readiness.
The program consists of students majoring in accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, and operations management in addition to MBA students from varying undergrad degrees.
Students are screened for the program as if they are applying for a job through an interview, resume, and letter of intent. Each has met a high standard of interpersonal and communication skills. Stranden remarked that the quality of this group of students is extraordinary.
With its 13th cohort beginning this year, Stranden is proud of how far it has come. “In 2007, we started with 15 students.” She has boasted a three year-100% placement rate.
Stranden attributed the success and growth of the program to the Saskatoon business community. “The Saskatoon business community has embraced our co-op program,” said Stranden. “This year, 92 of 107 placements are in Saskatoon and only one is out of province.”
She is hopeful that this growth will continue and remarked on the recent influx of small businesses hiring students, “small business are really seeing the value of hiring co-op students because it’s an affordable way to complete projects that they do not currently have the capacity to fulfill.” Stranden works with small businesses to develop resources and supports that may not traditionally hire a co-op student.
Students will begin their job search beginning in September 2019. In the meantime, Stranden is preparing for the arrival of undergraduate transfer students and MBA students into the program.
The Edwards Co-operative Education Program/Master of Business in Administration Internship Program is generously supported by Federated Co-operatives Limited
To hire a co-op student, visit edwards.usask.ca/employers/
For more information of how to become a co-op student, visit students.edwards.usask.ca/careers/coop/