CO-OP Option
The goal of the CO-OP placement is to provide a real world experience within an organization working on issues of interest to the student. Ideally the CO-OP placement provides an opportunity to define a student’s area of interest and knowledge gained can be incorporated into the major paper for the program. Most of the CO-OP placements in this program are made in the National Capital Region, particularly within the federal government. However placements with NGOs, private companies and international organizations overseas are also possible |
Graduate education and work placement
Located in the heart of the National Capital, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs is in proximity to most government departments as well as to the offices of several non-governmental organizations and industry associations involved in public and international affairs. This situation is ideal for students seeking to gain some work experience as part of their graduate education.
With the assistance of the University of Ottawa’s co-op office, the second largest co-op program in Ontario, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs will offer a co-op stream to a select number of students. The co-op option will allow students the opportunity to acquire practical work experience by completing two one-semester work placements in a public, non-profit or private organization operating in the field of public and international affairs. Admission to the co-op stream of the program will be on a competitive basis.
Students are paid during their work placements and, upon completion, the students must write a co-op placement report. The co-op report can either analyse how knowledge and skills that the student acquired in their program of study have been employed during their work placement, or it can be the direct result of the substantive work done over the course of the work placement. The specific form of the report is decided by the student, the work supervisor and the co-op coordinator. These reports are assessed as satisfactory/non-satisfactory by the professor acting as the co-op coordinator at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Two options for co-op placements
There will be two options for the co-op stream. Under the first option, the first work placement will be in the summer of the first year and the second will take place over the winter term of the second year. Under the second option, the students will complete two consecutive work placements over the summer of the first year and the fall of the second year. This option will serve to accommodate work placements that may require a longer timeframe to provide a more valuable work experience by having students invest themselves in a longer project within the host organization.
The following are the standard course schedules for students enrolled in the CO-OP options:
CO-OP OPTION 1: Two four-month placements
| Fall Term | Winter Term | Summer Term | |
| YEAR 1 | 4 core courses | 4 core courses | First CO-OP placement and CO-OP report |
| YEAR 2 | 3 elective courses | Second CO-OP placement and CO-OP report | |
| Major research essay (written over the course of the year; must be completed before end of sixth term) | |||
CO-OP OPTION 2: One eight-month placement
| Fall Term | Winter Term | Summer Term | |
| YEAR 1 | 4 core courses | 4 core courses | First CO-OP placement and CO-OP report |
| YEAR 2 | Second CO-OP placement and CO-OP report | 3 elective courses | |
| Major research essay (written over the course of the year; must be completed before end of sixth term) | |||
CO-OP application procedure:
Instruction:
- Login to uoZone
- Click on « Infoweb »
- Click on « Services »
- Click on « CO-OP Navigator »
There is no application to fill out. All you have to do is to indicate your desire to be considered for this program option by clicking the box appropriate to your program of study. Please note that you will be able to do so only after September 1st until September 30th.
If you encounter any technical problems, please contact the CO-OP office as soon as possible to report it.
Admission to the CO-OP stream is based on the GPA.
Students may register for only one additional course only during their internship. Part-time fee are applicable to this course.
The Co-op work term can be combined with an internship abroad to a Canadian Embassy. The internships will not be remunerated
The Graduate Studies scholarship and the MRP are suspended during a Co-op work term. If a student wishes to register for the MRP during a CO-OP placement, he must provide three letters explaining the relation between the work term and the MRP (their supervisor/Program Coordinator/student).
If the student wishes to pay for his/her tuition fees with the Graduate Studies scholarship, the difference between full-time and part-time fees will be lost.