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Where some look at environmental degradation and the world's dwindling resources and see reason to despair, Emilie Martin sees opportunity.

A 22-year-old mechanical engineering student at Memorial University in St. John's, she has already had significant real-world experience that has helped her clarify her goals: to work in the energy sector in the area of renewable resources.

Through the co-op program at Memorial, she has worked for Petro-Canada in St. John's and for Houston-based Technip, a large international oil and gas engineering company that offered her a prized work term in the Paris office. Her next term will be with Houston-based Exmar Offshore Co., a firm that has promised her valuable field work.

"I've learned so much about international engineering and oil and gas, that I never would have learned had I not travelled overseas," she says.

"The program has helped me narrow down my goals, as well. … I have also learned that I intend on doing work for renewable energy, and not just the current oil and gas industry."

Ms. Martin is the kind of student that gives Anil Raheja purpose. As the associate director of the Division of Co-operative Education at Memorial and president of the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education, Prof. Raheja believes strongly in the co-op model because it prepares students for the real world and helps them land good jobs. It is also a way for them to get exposure to cutting-edge technologies.

"It is very satisfying to see students come into the program as novices and then when they graduate, they are so professional, ready to take on any aspect of the world. They are not naive about the world."

At Memorial, engineering has more than 1,000 students a year in its mandatory co-op program, with between 90 per cent and 99 per cent finding placements, depending on the time of year.

But with the economic downturn, Prof. Raheja says, it may be tough to maintain those percentages. For one thing, he thinks that a tight job market will keep students in university longer, increasing demand for co-op positions at a time when employers will be cutting back.

He said he has already seeing a slowdown in demand for IT and computer engineers and expects that civil engineering will see a dip unless governments decide to increase spending on infrastructure.

Peggy Jarvie, executive director of co-op education and career services at the University of Waterloo, says one bright spot for co-op students in the struggling economy is that more employers may be thinking about short-term hires.

"In an economy going the way ours is right now, companies may be looking to hire more students because they don't have to pay benefits and the wages are reasonable," Ms. Jarvie says. "If an organization doesn't want to make commitments to permanent hires, they can bring in co-ops and still be able to get project work done."

She calls it a "try before you buy" opportunity, for both students and employers.

The University of Waterloo, founded in the late 1950s with an engineering focus, was a groundbreaker in co-operative education and now has the largest co-op program in the world, with 5,200 students participating from the university as a whole.

All 2,200 engineering students are in co-op programs, with 1,940 out working this fall term in 12 different disciplines.

The rate of engineering students finding co-op jobs was 99.5 per cent for the fall term, according to Rick Culham, an engineering professor and associate dean of co-operative education at Waterloo.

Programs that reach 100-per-cent placement on a regular basis are software and computer engineering, mechatronics (a combination of mechanical, electronic and computer engineering), environmental engineering and systems design.

More traditional programs, such as electrical, chemical and mechanical engineering, which have more students, have placement percentage rates in the mid-to-high 90s.

Meanwhile in St. John's, Emilie Martin says she already knows what the job market will be like and she's up for the challenge.

"The current economic downturn has made it obvious that a job won't be as easy to get as we all thought…" she says. "However, due to this downturn, and the downturn in oil and gas reserves, new and exciting ways of providing energy to the masses will have to be developed. After all, innovation is a big part of why I, as well as my classmates, do engineering."

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HOW CO-OP WORKS AT WATERLOO

How does the co-op program work?

In a typical five-year engineering program, students alternate between four-month terms of study and work, giving them eight academic terms and six work terms.

How do I find the right employer?

The co-op department contacts employers and sets up jobs, which are advertised on campus; students submit resumes for jobs they want; the employers visit campus to interview students they are interested in, and make job offers. Co-op placements are not guaranteed.

How many employers will I work for?

Out of six work terms, students work on average at about four different employers.

What are the costs?

Co-op fees, paid in addition to regular tuition, are $560 an academic term, so are typically paid eight times in a five-year program. When students begin a work term, they find their own accommodation and pay living expenses.

How much can I earn as a co-op student?

First-year engineering students earn on average $570 a week during their first work term. In the sixth work term the average salary is $750 a week. Engineering students earn between $54,000 and $86,000 over the course of six work terms.

What are the benefits?

Students gain the equivalent of two years' work experience. The program helps clarify career plans and working style, improve interviewing skills and provides exposure to the latest tools and methods in the workplace. It also creates networking opportunities that help students find permanent jobs.

Based on 2007 statistics from the University of Waterloo

Susan Smith