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Argues that co‐operative education allows students to acquire essential practical skills through exposure to the real world. Uses a qualitative approach to reveal factors students perceive as influencing their experiences. Study methodology allowed students to experience empowerment through participation in the study.

This article proposes that student internships should be expanded to form part of a specifically co‐operative learning programme: repeated step‐out periods of work with a co‐operating employer at different stages of a college educational programme. This proposal stems from an IIA recommendation of internships as a means of attracting students into the profession. A detailed scheme for achieving this is described.

Examines the work placement as a site for “contested” learnings. Co‐operative education (co‐op) programmes, while almost universally supported by students, also provide opportunities for critically examining ambiguities between informal learning outcomes from periods of work placement, and the formal learnings acquired through the university course. A preliminary review of the co‐op literature suggests too little research has been done into what students learn during their placement or “sandwich” degrees. A 12‐month project to develop a generic resource for co‐op programmes (for students, university staff and workplace supervisors), uncovered evidence of “contested” learning at four levels ‐ policy, administration, programme implementation and learning outcomes. Focused group discussions with samples of students suggested that contestation of learnings was experienced at both sites ‐ the workplace and the university classroom. The challenge for co‐op directors will be to “market” and trial the use of better teaching resources that provide a resource for managing and enriching workplace learning. The implication for work‐based trainers and educators is to make use of “contested” learnings to ensure they add value to students’ understandings of their work placements in context.

Greece has the highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union. Even though it is clear that persistent unemployment requires bold measures so as to engage young educated Greeks in the labour market, there is no coherent policy at present targeting that population group, especially university students. This paper explores university student internship as a new labour market institution that has the potential of enhancing youth employability in Greece.

In order to answer the main research questions, an explorative case study methodology was chosen. This paper was based on a series of semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews whose aim was to explore student perceptions of the effects of a current co‐operative education programme launched by the University of Macedonia in Greece.

The findings of the empirical research indicate that co‐operative education can be used as a vehicle for linking theoretical knowledge and practice, and enhancing student employability upon graduation.

This is an exploratory study that seeks to analyse a limited number of internships within a university. A large‐scale national survey involving students from various academic disciplines and other universities would result in a more comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of internships in Greece.

This study has shown that a work‐study programme promoting work opportunities for Greek youth seems to have great value for student employability.

Given the dearth of empirical research on youth unemployment in Greece, this study contributes to debates in the wider academic community on the issue of how to formulate and implement active labour market policies for young, well‐educated Greeks.

In the face of research that shows that workplace knowledge and learning are highly contextual, calls for the teaching of generalizable skills for the workplace have been widespread. While the authors reject the usefulness of teaching generalizable skills, they believe that there are commonalities in workplace knowledge that can be taught. These commonalities are related to metacognition rather than simple cognition, and the approach in this paper is to explore the potential of metacognitive instruction for workplace learning. Specifically, the concept of routines is used to develop an instructional theory derived from the inherent metacognitive functions of routines themselves. The paper draws upon contemporary cognitive theory and on recent research on workplace learning, and it builds on studies the authors have conducted on learning in the workplace and on the observation of routines at work.

As part of the Co-Operative Education Program (CEP) under study, a Work-integrated Learning (WIL) student engagement framework is presented. The framework focusses on the effectiveness of the WIL program with real-world assessment tasks to prepare students for graduate employment. In order to evaluate the level at which the engineering graduates are work-ready, an analysis of qualitative and quantitative survey data from CQU students, employers and data from other sources was undertaken. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

WIL is an effective pedagogical strategy employed in engineering curriculum to engage students with workplace partners and engineering practices. However, little is known about the problems exist in the WIL processes including insufficient resources and support for mentoring students. On overcoming the problems, an effective collaboration between students, universities and engineering workplaces provides an enhanced engagement experience and enables students’ work-ready skills. Central Queensland University (CQU)’s Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Diploma of Professional Practice (Co-op) students participate in two 6-month WIL placements over the course of their university studies.

To identify the impact of the co-operative education model on graduate outcomes, an analysis of student assessment data from 2016 to 2018 showed that the student employability indicators were consistently above the national average of graduate engineering students. All areas such as knowledge base, engineering ability and professional attributes, students’ performance were rated at or above the average of a graduate engineer by employers.

As part of practice assessment, engineering workplace employers provide an evaluation of students’ performance against the Engineers Australia (EA) Stage 1 Competency Standard for Professional Engineers, involving sixteen mandatory elements in the areas of knowledge and skill base, engineering application ability, and professional and personal attributes.

One of the challenges of HRD is to identify promising students of management, and provide them with the kinds of apprenticeships which provide a test of whether the student is ready and able to link his classroom learnings with real performance challenges. Also the organization needs the opportunity to make a crucial contribution to the student's professional development, and to present a self development challenge beyond anything the classroom can provide. The training models presented here are general models applicable to undergraduate and graduate eduction, and adaptable to on‐the‐job professional development programs.

Canadian postsecondary institutions are increasing their emphasis on internationalization, sending many students abroad and welcoming students from far and wide onto their campuses. Also, Canadian organizations and multinational corporations have an increasingly diverse workforce. These trends require postsecondary institutions to prepare students adequately for this global village of the 21st century. At the University of Victoria’s (UVic’s) Co-operative Education Program and Career Services, we have created a strategy to help develop global ready graduates using a framework derived from Earley and Ang’s work on cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003). Cultural intelligence (CQ) is defined as an individual’s capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008). A recently completed research project to measure the development of cultural intelligence of students participating in the UVic’s CANEU-COOP program formed the impetus for developing this CQ strategy (McRae, Ramji, Lu, & Lesperance, 2016). The strategy involves a framework that includes curriculum for inbound international students, outbound work-integrated learning (WIL) students, and all students preparing to work in diverse workplaces. In addition to developing specific curricula for these audiences, the strategy includes tools to assess the intercultural competencies that students gain during their WIL experiences, as well as helping students use these competencies to transition to the 21st century global village. This strategy and the Intercultural Competency Development Curriculum (ICDC) are discussed in this chapter.

The authors aim to critically review the co‐operative education program conducted between 20 Chinese universities and the Certified General Accountants’ Association of Canada.

The assessments made are influenced by the results of a questionnaire survey of the opinions of students in the co‐operative education program; and by the experiences of the authors variously as a current teacher, former student, and independent observer of this program.

The authors offer suggestions to improve accounting education in China in areas of curriculum and teaching. In doing so, they emphasize the need to develop critical thinking skills.

This paper provides good insights to how many Chinese universities co‐operate with foreign universities and/or foreign professional accounting associations to educate accountants. This is particularly important in an era in which China's rapidly expanding international trade and overseas investment has prompted a growing need for it to develop more internationally‐proficient accountants.

Using the concept of “community of practice” and a typology developed by Guile and Griffiths, this article characterizes the quality and the nature of learning students achieved while studying in a newly‐implemented pulp and paper vocational program, structured as a co‐operative education program and offered by six school boards throughout the province of Quebec, Canada. The observations come from a five‐year long action research program involving registered students, trainers in vocational centers, and work supervisors in pulp and paper mills. The conclusion highlights the structural barriers in pulp and paper mills that limit students’ access to operations. This co‐op education program is traditional according to the Guile and Griffiths’ typology.