Topics discussed in this episode include:

• Johnston’s personal history starting as a co-op student learner before starting a long career in co-op administration at Simon Fraser University.
• A brief history of WACE with about 4,000 members world-wide.
• The recent WACE summer conference at the University of Cincinnati, which included the WACE Charter at the President’s Summit designed to engage senior university leaders and to fit with United Nations UNESCO goals.
• The four Charter challenges start with bridging the strongly perceived knowledge and skill gap complaint about higher education graduates.
• The three goals of the Charter start with getting more students to do quality work-integrated- learning (WIL) educational activities, like co-op.
• The value of the many types of experiences outside the classroom with co-op being a “gold-standard”in the field.
• That Canadian model where the federal and provincial governments are now calling for every college student to have a WIL experience.
• Student maturity comes from the adversity of going outside one’s comfort zone, but with proper design and support so that the student succeeds.
• The need for high quality practice as part of the definition and execution of co-op and the broader WIL.

Resources Discussed in this Episode:

• World Association of Cooperative Education
• Simon Fraser University
• Work-Integrated Learning in the 21st Century: Global Perspectives on the Future. by Tracey Bowen and Maureen Drysdale
• WACE World Conference 2019
• UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal 4: Education
• George Kuh

Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg