Cooperative Education / Work Experience

Cooperative Education/Work Experience

Cooperative education is an extension of classroom learning at the workplace. It is a process which integrates on-campus study with related work experience in a student’s career interest area. For example, a student who studies hydraulics at GBC may expand that learning with a community learning station—perhaps in the shop of a heavy equipment vendor or in a diesel shop at a mining company.

Cooperative education is a tri-part working relationship in which GBC joins with an employer in a structured, academic relationship which benefits the student, the employer, and the institution. Co-op’s basic purpose is to provide work experience while the student is in college. The on-the-job experience is supervised as well as monitored by the employer and the institution to ensure competency and academic integrity.

Employers who are interested in cooperative education should call GBC’s School of Industrial Technology and Workforce Development at 775.327.2167.