Co-op program for undergraduate students
A career-building opportunity
An option to gain professional experience, offering 4 to 12 months of paid, relevant work experience that helps students explore career paths, build job search skills and secure higher-paying jobs quickly after graduation.
The Institute for Co-operative Education provides essential guidance for successfully navigating the program, including details on what to expect from the program, Institute fees, internship criteria and key policies.
Our internationally recognized faculty support a wide range of research interests and career goals, dedicated to providing comprehensive education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Three (3) work terms: Co-op
Co-op students must complete three (3) four months long paid work terms. Paid work experience means that employers will expect a high level of productivity and professionalism from any student. The Co-op program is not a placement agency. Work term placements are obtained on a competitive basis.
In the past, economics Co-op students have participated in market research, analyzing Canadian export trends, building forecast models and more.
Students must either be enrolled in Specialization or Honours in Economics.
- Honours: Normal route to graduate work in economics. Core courses are ECON 325, 326, 401, 403, 421, and 422.
- Specialization: More flexibility in selecting advanced courses. Of the core courses, students must only take ECON 325 and ECON 421 or 423.
- If you are enrolled in a Major, you will automatically be transferred to the Specialization in Economics once you accept your Co-op admission offer.
Co-op students must complete four (4) job-prep webinars and one work-term prep course. The intensive three (3) year program requires full-time study during non-work terms, with work terms typically starting in the fourth semester and alternating with study terms, ending on a study term.
- Agriculture and Agri-Food
- Bank of Canada
- Bank Laurentian
- Bank of Montreal
- Black and Decker
- Bombardier
- Canadian Pacific Railways
- Canadian Space Agency
- Environment Canada
- Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
- Hydro Quebec
- Industry Canada
- Pfizer Pharmaceutical
- Pratt and Whitney
- Revenue Canada
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Scotia McLeod
- Statistics Canada
- TD Ban
- Transport Canada
- Pratt & Whitney
- Mercer
Additional resources
- Term structure: Sequence of study and work terms.
- COMPASS: Online platform to help you manage your activities.
- Academic directors: Your go-to person for all academic matters, schedule a meeting with them.
One (1) work term: C.Edge program
Career Edge (C.Edge) is the Institute's most flexible internship option, offering eligible undergraduates one paid work term in their field to ease the transition to the workplace. Unlike the Co-op program, which includes three work terms, C.Edge provides similar career preparation and internship access with greater flexibility.
- Open to full-time or part-time students enrolled in a Major, Specialization or Honours
- Students must have a minimum 2.5 CGPA and complete at least 45 credits (excluding Extended Credit Program credits) before the work term begins
- Admission is available only during the Winter semester
Written testimonials
Summer 2019
Employer: RBC, Human Resources and Compensation Technology Team
Job Title: Junior Data Analyst
Job Description: My objectives for the work term revolved around assisting the HRCT data scientist with the development of a machine learning model that would be able to provide educational material to RBC employees. Given my limited background in machine learning libraries, my job was mostly on the dataset development end. During my first couple of weeks working at RBC, I explained to my supervisor my interest in the field of econometrics and my desire to finally get the chance to apply all the theory I’ve learned from school on a real-life business application. My supervisor then handed me an extremely extensive employee attrition/turnover dataset of 1.3 million observations to work on. The goal was to apply feature selection techniques on the dataset in order to further optimize accuracy of the prediction model.
Student Testimonial: Economics has by far provided me with all the tools that I needed to succeed as a data analyst. Critical thinking as well as problem solving are attributes that I believe mostEconomics students pick up as they finish their degree. These are attributes that I found to be extremely necessary in fulfilling my job duties. This would include understanding where the data comes from, how it was collected, if there were any biases introduced, as well as plenty of other methodologies. By being exposed to data from as early on as ECON 221, as well as understanding how most economic theory is practically proven by large sums of quantitative data, not only do we become accustomed to consuming large amounts of data, but get to know exactly what steps to take before diving into any analysis or inference.
Fall 2015
Employer: BCA Research
Job Title: Research Assistant
Job Description: Process raw data series to create and edit charts for uploading and publishing; tag charts and various types of data series semantically to ensure efficient and quick retrieval for users; maintain, update, revise data series and download time series per requests, and perform maintenance tasks and other routine duties to oversee that data have been correctly updated and tagged appropriately.
Student Testimonial: At BCA Research, I developed a sense of belonging and a newfound appreciation for my diligence and my dedication to working hard and helping others. Not only have I gained work experience in an economics field, I have gained a set of technical skills which allowed me to be a key member in my team. I was able to improve my understanding of economic themes by working with diverse types of data. My experience with BCA research inspired me to think of my future and to seriously consider a career in economic research..
Summer 2016
Employer: BCA Research
Job Title: Research Assistant
Job Description: Process raw data series to create and edit charts for uploading and publishing; maintain, update, revise data series and download time series per requests; perform maintenance tasks and other routine duties to oversee that data is correctly updated and tagged appropriately, and communicate with the data providers and clients requesting the data.
Student Testimonial: At BCA Research, I gained experience in working with data and was a key member of my team, involved in giving suggestions on how to improve processes in group discussions. My experience as a research assistant for BCA Research has been an important stepping stone into the field of economics; this opportunity has allowed me to have a sense of what I would like to try in the future.
Summer 2017
Employer: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) (formerly HRSDC)
Job Title: Data Research Assistant
Job Description: Set-up a database which includes Social Insurance Number (SIN), T1 tax and Old Age Security administrative data, to analyze Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Take-up; analyze GIS take-up among different groups of seniors and identify the characteristics that increase the likelihood of non-receipt among those eligible, and use findings to contribute to the writing of a report on the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Student Testimonial: My internship with ESDC was a successful one. I overcame challenges I encountered and in the process improved upon skills I already had and developed new ones. I learned about the Old Age Security Program and the Guaranteed Income Supplement. I was given the opportunity to experience research work and learned a new statistical programming language. Through my internship I learned how the Canadian Government works and the future work opportunities one could expect in economic research. I have grown professionally and personally from my experience with ESDC.
Summer 2016
Employer: Industry Canada, Government of Canada
Job Title: Sector Analyst
Job Description: Produced analytical reports on Quebec’s Aerospace and Clean Tech sectors notably by analyzing financial statements of key firms as well as strategic news monitoring.
Student Testimonial: Through this internship I was able to learn more about financial economics and the analysis of markets. I was not able to learn these applied skills in school and hence Coop allowed me to have a well-rounded education that prepares me more adequately for the job market.
Summer 2017
Employer: Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada
Job Title: Business Analyst
Job Description: Developed business strategies for performance management by optimizing the performance management process through the standardization of KPIs, which measures the performance of social programs such as Employment Insurance and Old Age Security.
Student Testimonial: In school, I had learnt about the manipulation of databases; however, it was through this internship that I was able to apply those skills. This applied work prepared me for the job market that demands those applied skills.
