By Mike Napolitano
While Northeastern officials think about switching the school’s focus toward four-year degree programs, experiential education trends vary greatly among colleges and departments, according to data provided by a Northeastern official.
Provost Stephen Director and President Joseph Aoun mentioned at their Oct. 15 joint State of the University address the possibility of shifting to four-year degree programs while maintaining a focus on co-op. Neither have said that a five-year program would be eliminated.
A majority of students in the College of Engineering and College of Computer and Information Science complete three or more co-ops before graduation. Students who major in other fields, however, often complete two or less to study abroad, work on an internship, or graduate in less than five years, according to data compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and provided by Tony Armelin III, director of information systems in Experiential Education Central Services. A change in school policy regarding cooperative education, therefore, would be complicated by students in different programs.
Overall, the graduating class of 2008 varied in its number of co-op participation per student, with about 44 percent completing three or more, 31 percent finishing with two and 16 percent finishing with one, according to the data.
If the numbers are broken down by college, however, the discrepancy is more varied. While only three percent of engineering students and eight percent of health science students graduated with one co-op under their belts, students in the College of Arts and Sciences were split almost evenly with 28 percent doing one, 28 percent doing two, and 26 percent doing three or more, according to the data. Results showed that 8 percent of all students graduated in 2008 without any co-op experience.
This percentage is slightly down from previous years. In 2007, 89 percent of Northeastern graduates participated in co-op, and, in 2006, 88 percent participated in co-op.
And while the Colleges of Engineering, Computer Science and Arts and Sciences have kept their numbers relatively the same, other schools have seen a recent decrease in the number of students finishing three co-ops. Forty-one percent of students who graduated from the College of Business in 2008 finished with three or more co-ops, down from 73 percent in 2006. Criminal Justice students doing the same fell from 56 percent in 2006 to 42 percent in 2008. And while 77 percent of students in Bouv’eacute; finished with three co-ops in 2006, the 2008 number has dropped to 49 percent.
Craig Bettinson, director of cooperative education in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that, with the exception of the School of Architecture, which requires its students to complete at least two cooperative experiences, co-op is optional for Arts and Sciences students.
Science and math-related majors, however, follow a more strict co-op structure, according to students and professors. The College of Engineering follows a five-year schedule of classes and three six-month co-op periods that students receive freshman year. David Potter, associate cooperative education coordinator in the College of Engineering, said very few engineering students skip a co-op.
“The co-ops are really very related to what they’re studying, it would be a disadvantage to skip any of them,” he said. “Ninety-five percent go through with [the co-ops] on a regular schedule.”
Pharmacy majors follow a more unique schedule. These students graduate as doctors of pharmacy in six years, spending a total of three four-month periods on co-op, and the rest of their time in the classroom, aside from one summer off after freshman year.
Suhayr Islam, a fourth-year pharmacy major, said there are few opportunities to go abroad and most students follow the regular co-op schedule.
“They require you to do a hospital and retail [co-op], and you can’t really do it abroad,” she said. “One or two students a year do it, but most of the time you don’t.”
And while some students are fine with spending six years at Northeastern, others would like to graduate in less than five.
Kaitlin Braner, a middler journalism major who transferred from the University of Rhode Island last year, said she may only do one co-op.
“I’d rather get out sooner just because tuition rises every year. It gets really expensive,” she said.
While administrative officials have not released any details other than an initial idea to focus on graduating in four years, some students are worried that co-op rotations could be shortened from the current six months.
“Six months is a good time frame,” said Andy Berry, a middler international affairs major. “We would lose our identity as a school [if co-op was shortened].”
