cooperative education
Edited by GEOFFREYDAVIES ALAN L. MCCLELLAND
Public Service Advertising to Promote Cooperative Education Sylvia J. Brown Cooperative Education Research Center, Northeastern University, Boston. MA 02115 Peter J. Franks and Maureen T. Gamett National Commission for Cooperative Education, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste." "Smokey says: Only you can prevent forest fires." "Take a bite out of crime." "Cooperative Education: You e a r n a f u t u r e when you e a r n a degree." You have probably heard of the first three slogans created by the Advertising Council, Inc., a private, nonprofit organization that conducts public service advertising. Its national advertising campaigns have promoted voluntary citizen action to help solve national problems and have made many important issues and efforts part of the American consciousness. The fourth slogan has been created for its newest campaign. Since the end of November of 1985,the Advertising Council bas been conducting a national campaign to promote cooperative education, sponsored by the National Commission for Cooperative Education. Two typical ads are shown on this page. As a result, some 80 years since its inception, co-op should become a household word. The campaign ohjective is to create awareness of cooperative education among three target groups: 1) students-high school students who want to attend college and
current college students;
2) parents of these students; and 3) business people who can be influential in getting their companies
to participate in co-op programs. Beneflts to Students Cooperative education experience helps students in a numher of ways. One of the major benefits is that co-op experience enhances a student's career development. Students want to learn what is involved in their chosen career and may want to try various co-op jobs if they are not sure which career they wish to pursue. They also want to acquire skills and experience related to their career objectives. Cooperative education has proved successful in accomplishing these goals. Students also choose co-op programs so they can have a better chance of finding satisfactory employment after graduation. A numher of national studies comparing the experiences of co-op and non-co-op alumni found that significantly more of the co-op alumni felt well informed about postgraduation job opportunities and highly prepared for their first job. Graduates of co-op programs are more likely to have a better understanding of the workplace, greater cer-
406
Journal of Chemical Education
tainty about their career choice, and more experience in the skills involved in searching for a job. They also have the opportunity to determine-in a nonthreatening situationwhether they want to work for a specific company after graduation. On the average, 40% of co-op students go on to work for their former co-op employer immediately upon graduation. The majority of others choose togo with another employer for various reasons or directly t o graduate school. Besides gaining valuable career-related experience, students in co-op programs earn salaries which help pay for their education. Co-op income varies according to a numher
THIS YEAR'S REQUIRED READING FOR 1,000,000COLLEGE GRADUATES
of factors including academic major, number of terms with the same co-op employer, degree of difficulty, and quality of job assignment. geographic region, and type of employing organization. This incumc can obviously have n significant imoact hv makine it ~ussiltlefor many, including.the disadvantaged", to attend college. Benefits of Co-op to Employers Cooperative education students are excellent employees. The overwhelming majority of employers find that co-op students perform as well as or even better than regular employees performing comparable duties and that productivity increases from one co-op term to the next. Employer benefits increase for the many students who stay with the same company for more than one term. In addition to accomplishing their jobs competently, coop students help employers by freeing higher level and higher paid full-time workers to perform more complex tasks. Work that is routine for full-time employees may be interesting and important for entry-level co-op students. Hiring co-op students to work on special projects or during peak workload periods is another example of how participation in co-op can generate released time for full-time staff. One of the most compelling reasons for employer participation in cooperative education is the potential t o screen, select, and recruit students effectively for permanent employment after eraduation. Research confirms that manv. emolovers, . . partic. ularly large organizations, participate in co-op because they believe that this is an effective wav to recruit highly quali. . . fied employees. Coonerative education provides employers with an excellent means of evaluating prospecti;e candidates. Co-op serves as a period of trial employment without either party having to make a long-term commitment and with~both parties having the opportunity t o look each other over so as to make a suitable match. A number of studies provide evidence that co-op is a valuahle recruitment tool. One study' found that
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1) The median number of job offrrs/ntrmher of candidates i n t ~ r viewrd for the job was nine times higher for cu-op candidntes
than for other recent collrge grnduntes. Cu-up students have already been prescreened prior to an employment interview and so valuable time is not wasted interviewing candidates who are unlikely to be qualified for the job.
'l'he h~gherratioof arreptsncer/numherof offersmade for co-op randdates 194'01 adcompared toother rand~dares(58%) suggests t h n t t h pn,rpertl\e ~ empluyee who was a co-op student has a h used the co-op experienceto determineinterestsin the company. 31 'l'he "rerruitin~yield"-thr numher of acrepmnrrvnumher uf randidatea interviewed was 13 times na high fur co-opcandidates (4Omc1 os for glther recent rollege graduates ( R o i l .
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Some companies and some departments within large organizations will only hire employees that they have had the oo~ortunitv orescreen through .. . to . - a cooperative education program. Other companies use the co-op program as an effective wav to facilitate their affirmative action recruitment program. Examples of current co-op employers who hire co-op students majoring in chemistry and related majors are General Foods, Gillette Company, Honeywell Corporation, U S . Environmental Protection Agency, Waters Associates, W.R. Grace Corporation, and Uniroyal Chemical. Benefits to Soclety Societv is the ultimate beneficiarvof the advantages - experienced by students, institutions, and employers who partici ~ a t in e coooerative education. One of the maior benefits is that co-op opens up opportunities for young people who otherwise might not have a college education or be given a chance for a professional career. By working their way through college in positions that are related to their academic studies, students who might not otherwise be able to afford college can attend. Another important result of cooperative education that has a very positive impact on society is the value of co-op earnings. A typical co-op student earns almost $7,000 per year. Given the current estimate of the number of co-op students in the nation, this represents annual earnings of close to $1.25 billion. Aside from lessening dependence on federal grants and loans, these wages add significantly t o federal and state tax income. Hence, the economic value of cooperative education is experienced on a much broader level than that of the individual student. Cooperative education is creating stronger ties between higher education and industry. In an increasingly high technology society, industry will be looking more and more to educational institutions for help in meeting their human resource and training needs and for developmental research. Ad Councll Campaign Beneflts
HOW GENERAL MOTORS IMPROVES ITS TOP END PERFORMANCE.
The potential of the Ad Council campaign to further the development of cooperative education in the U.S. is tremendous. The most obvious benefit of a national advertisinzcampaign that seeks to acquaint the public with cooperative education is an increase in the number of applicants t o colleges and universities offering co-op progra&. The Ad Council campaign will clearly have a major impact on admissions offices and will enhance enrollments. We anticipate a significant increase in participation in co-op over the next several years-as much as 100%. In the field of chemistry, co-op administrators indicate that a t nresent the number of iobs exceeds the number of students nvnilatrle. With the potential increase in chemistry co-ODstudent enrollments. it is telieved that this situation will be brought into balance. The co-OD.alumni relations. public relations, and development officekbf educational instkutions can also benefit from the camwaien . - bv-ca~italizing . - on increased public awareness of co-op as they seek to solicit support from their various audiences. For example, co-op offices will find i t easier to ~~~~
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' Hayes. R. A,: Travis. J. H. "Employer Experience W i t h Cooperative Education: Analysis of Costs and Benefits";The Detroit Institute of Technology: Detrod, MI, 1976. Volume 63 Number 5 May 1986
407
encourage employer participation. Alumni offices can translate the increased pride of co-op graduates into increased alumni support. Public information offices can build on greater community interest in cooperative education by using materials developed for the national campaign. And development officers can take advantage of the campaign's momentum to increase giving. The campaign urges people to write for a brochure explaining the elements and benefits of co-op to students, parents, and employers. A second brochure follows listing colleges and universities, their address and curricula in which co-op is offered. The National Commission for Cooperative Education, which has assumed responsibility for receiving and responding to these requests, has been advised by representatives of the Advertising Council that i t may expect u p to a quarter of a million inquiries in the first year of the campaign alone. In preparation for the campaign over 800 co-op professionals have been trained by the National Commission to approachlocal media as well as t o ready their institutions for the increased activity that is sure to come as a result of the ads. Institutions of higher education and employers have already contributed personnel to this effort. Clearly, the Advertising Council campaign offers an oppor-
408
Journal of Chemical Education
tunity to advance cooperative education and to benefit individually those colleges and universities offering co-op programs. The National Commission for Cooperative Education is prepared to offer its advice and support in preparing for the campaign to institutions of higher education. However, the campaign is just a beginning. Institutional preparations for increased inquiries about co-op, an ability to offer co-op programs, and efforts made to reinforce the campaign with local media involvement will all be key components to the success of this endeavor. The National Cornrnlssion for Cooperatlve Education
The National Commission for Cooperative Education is a private, not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1962 for the DurDose of ~ r o m o t i n ethe exnansion and strengthening of cooperative education, to encourage innovation in the co-on field. and to serve as a centralized voice for the cooperative education movement. YO0 hieher education instiThe Commission a s s i s ~nearlv i tutions with enrollments of neariy 200,050 students to develop and strengthen cooperative education programs. It is estimated that 50,000 employers work with these institutions and their students.
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