Co-op and Internship Program

The Engineering Co-op & Internship Program (ECIP) uses the terms "cooperative education" and "internship" to refer to specific, paid employment opportunities for current students made available through employers’ formal and specifically structured cooperative education and internship programs. These experiences include meaningful career-related work, close supervision, and performance feedback. 

The College of Engineering does NOT have a required co-op program, so students can be flexible in the semesters they are available to work. Students do not receive academic credit for participating in these experiences. ECS provides support before, during, and after the work experience. Students who enroll in ENGR 4191, a zero-credit course offered through ECS, receive official documentation of work experience on their transcript.  

What's a co-op?

  • A co-op (or cooperative education experience) consists of two or more semesters of full-time work
  • The most common model includes alternating semesters of school and work
  • There should be more responsibility with each return or rotation
  • There is no upward limit to the number of semesters students can work; however, invitations to continue with an employer are contingent upon factors like employer need and student performance
  • Employers often consider students early-on in their studies for these opportunities

What's an internship?

  • Internships are single work terms of full-time or part-time work
  • Internships sometimes require advanced coursework and more in-depth knowledge of the student's engineering discipline in order to engage students in meaningful work and maximize employer investment in that student

Engineering 4191 and Performance Evaluations

  • Engineering 4191 (Professional Practice in Engineering): Students are expected to enroll in Engineering 4191, a zero credit course, each term during the school year (autumn and spring) that they co-op or intern full-time.
  • Student Performance Evaluation: Candid, constructive feedback is an important part of a student’s professional development.
  • A performance evaluation from the student’s immediate supervisor should be completed at the conclusion of the semester, discussed with the student, and then submitted to ECS. The form ECS provides includes questions related to the college’s ABET accreditation. If your company is unable to complete our form, please submit your own company’s evaluation form. An exit interview should be scheduled at the very end of the work term.

How to recruit from our program

The process for recruiting Ohio State engineering co-op and internship students is the same as it is for recruiting career employment candidates. You will need to sign up for a recruiting account in Handshake, our online platform that connects employers with qualified candidates. This is where you may post your position and collect applications. In addition to agreeing to the policies listed in Handshake, we expect all employers to abide by our Co-op and Internship Program Policies. We additionally recommend reviewing all of our Recruiting Guidelines/Policies before engaging with our office and students.

Feedback

Please inform ECS of any problems and/or concerns you have with our engineeing co-op or internship students. Your feedback will help us to better serve and coach our students. We also welcome curriculum feedback, which we share with the academic departments.

Requesting Accommodations 

If you require accommodation for a disability such as live captioning or sign language interpretation to participate in any career fairs, events, or activities, please contact ECS at eng-ecs@osu.edu. Requests made two weeks before the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date. 

 

Need to know more?

For more information contact:
Katy Arenschield
Assistant Director, Experiential Education
arenschield.4@osu.edu
614-247-7147