Cooperative education: An exploratory study of its impact on computing students and participating employers

The University of Technology, (UTech) Jamaica recently implemented an exploratory cooperative education program in its computing curricula where students work part-time for five days per week and attend classespsila fulltime in the evenings. This paper uses a case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with both students and employees to determine the impact of this cooperative education model. This paper explores factors found in the literature that internship has an impact on, including GPA, time management, team work, problem solving and communication skills. From the companypsilas perspective factors examined were, students overall attitude, skills level and the impact of the program. The preliminary results are encouraging with students indicating considerable improvement in time management. Initial findings also suggest that the participantspsila grades were not negatively impacted by their involvement in the program. The responses from the employers have all been positive. The findings will help to determine what model the School implements and may provide a framework for other universities to adopt.