Graduates completing the co-operative education degree requirements will receive a "Co-operative" degree designation. These requirements, determined by the Faculty, include completion of:
- Co-op work terms and receiving credit for the corresponding COOP courses. Work terms are administered by Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA), with requirements developed in conjunction with each faculty.
- Professional development courses that are administered by the Waterloo Professional Development Program (WatPD).
- Work reports and/or reflections that are administered by the degree-granting faculty.
The required number of work terms, professional development courses, and work reports/reflections for each program is detailed in the Study/Work Sequence table.
To be eligible to count toward a co-operative degree designation, employment must meet
standard or flexible work-term requirements. These criteria are set jointly by CECA and the Faculties, and allow for the degree designations to be eligible for
Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada accreditation.
Students must complete at least three work terms meeting standard work-term requirements
and must complete additional work terms (standard or flexible work-term requirements) as specified by their program (see
Study/Work Sequence table).
The University also offers credentials attached to co-op degree designations. These credentials are detailed under
co-op certificates.
Work-Term Indicators
Students wishing to obtain co-op certificates or other University of Waterloo credentials may wish to pursue work-term experiences with a specific focus. For example, students wishing to obtain a co-op research certificate would pursue a work term flagged as a research experience.
The following indicator can be applied to a work-term experience and will be displayed on a student’s academic transcript:
RES - Research Work-Term Indicator
Work-term indicators can only be applied to work terms with the approval of CECA. Details on the requirements and procedures for adding a work-term indicator can be found on the co-operative education website.
In addition to the above indicators, work terms approved under flexible work-term requirements will be tracked in Quest, though will not have the associated work-term indicator displayed on a student’s academic transcript.