Undergraduate (BSc) Co-op

To be eligible for the Computer Science (CS) Co-op program, a student must:

• have completed at least 30.0 credit hours at the time of application. 
• have successfully completed CS 115.
• have achieved a minimum undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) of 70%.

Note: Students who do not register in their first co-op term before finishing 60.0 credit hours may not have time to complete the required number of co-op work terms necessary to achieve the Co-op designation on their official transcript.

To continue in the CS Co-op program, a student must:

• maintain a minimum UGPA of 70% throughout their program. If a student’s UGPA drops below 70%, permission of the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator will be required to continue in the Co-op program.
• must enroll in at least 9.0 credit hours in Fall/Winter semesters and at least 3.0 credit hours in Spring/Summer semesters between work terms.
• Three work terms are required to achieve the Co-op designation on the student’s official transcript. An additional two work terms are optional.

Note: A  work term is typically defined as 4 months (one semester). Double work terms may be considered at the discretion of the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator. 

Students who believe they meet the eligibility criteria are encouraged to fill out an application form for the Co-operative Education program. Application forms are available at, and should be submitted to, the University of Regina Career Centre, which is located on the first floor of the Dr. William Riddell Centre. You may also contact the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator for more information. 

The deadline for applications is the end of the first week of classes of the semester immediately preceding the first work term placement. For example, if a student wants to be placed with a co-op employer (work term) for the Spring/Summer semester (May - August), then he or she must apply no later than the end of the first week of classes in the Winter semester (January - April). 

The academic calendar specifies that Faculty of Science students can take a maximum of one course (3 credit hours) during a work term. This is the limit, and it cannot be exceeded for any reason. 

Once admitted to the co-operative education program, students are expected to familiarize themselves with the Co-op Student Handbook and the requirements of the program found in the University of Regina Undergraduate Calendar. The Co-op Student Handbook is available at Career Centre / Co-operative Education & Internships / For Current Students / Student Handbook. The information below is provided to supplement the handbook and calendar because it applies only to Computer Science Co-op students. 

1. 1. Academic Plan This is a brief outline prepared by the students that explains how they plan to progress through their remaining degree requirements, semester by semester. It is useful in deciding  when academic and work placements should be approved. Students should always maintain an up-to-date copy of their academic plan. It may be requested at any time by the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator. An academic plan should forecast at least the next 2 full years of the student's program, after the current semester. Students should consider when required courses are most commonly offered to ensure the viability of their academic plan.

   2. Double Work Terms A double work term is a convention commonly used to describe two consecutive work placements, e.g., CS 052 taken 20XX20 and then immediately followed by CS 053 in 20XX30. Students are allowed at most one double work term during their studies in Computer Science. All remaining work terms must be preceded and followed by academic terms. A double work term must be approved by the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator prior to registration.

      If an employer wishes to extend one work term into two to create a double work term, the student needs to fill out and sign a Request for Double Work Term form. The student must ensure that reasons are given for the request. The reasons should be supplied by the employer, and it is preferable if the employer fills out the reasons on the form. The signature of the  Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator is required on this form. The form and an up to date Academic Plan should be submitted as soon as possible and certainly before the end of the first two weeks of the second term of the double work term. The request is usually approved if it fits with the student's academic schedule, as described in the accompanying Academic Plan.

   3. Registration Once a work placement with an employer has been found and arranged in consultation with the Co-operative Education office, a student can register for the appropriate work term. Registration for work terms other than CS 051, such as CS 052, CS 053, can be done online through UR Self Service in the same manner as registering for any other credit or non-credit class.

      CS 051 has a restriction placed on it that prevents registration. This restriction allows the student's academic unit (Faculty, Department, or Federated College) to verify that the student is indeed accepted into the co-operative education program and has found suitable employment. When employment is found, the Co-op office will notify the student's academic unit directly so that the student can be granted permission to register. Upon this notification, the academic unit will update the student's program and provide an override in the system that will now allow the student to register in CS 051 via UR Self Service.

      IMPORTANT: Once registered, students cannot drop/withdraw from a co-op term themselves through UR Self Service. Instead, students must contact the Faculty of Science or the Department of Computer Science to fill out an 'Adjustment of Fees and Grades' form.

   4. Confidential Reports - During the process of constructing their work term reports, students are encouraged to pass their ideas and drafts to their employers for feedback. At this point an employer might express concern that the proposed topic or some information shared in the report is of a proprietary nature and must remain internal to the organization (hence confidential). There are three options in these circumstances:

      • the student chooses a new topic or material for the report that will not expose the proprietary information. This is the recommended course of action.

      • the employer requests non-disclosure of the report from the Department's Co-op Academic Coordinator. Such a request is required at least six (6) weeks in advance of the end of the work term. If the request is approved, only one faculty member of the Department of Computer Science is made privy to the report. The employer is provided with that member's name and contact information. The member looks at the report only for evaluation purposes and then ensures the report is either destroyed or returned to the employer for safe keeping. This method ensures that confidentiality of proprietary information is maintained, while allowing the Department of Computer Science to evaluate the student's report writing skills and make recommendations needed for subsequent reports.

      • the employer requests full confidentiality of the report from the Department's Co-op Academic Coordinator. Such a request is required at least six (6) weeks in advance of the end of the work term. If the request is approved, the student writes the report in the same manner as any other co-op report. When the report is completed, it is submitted to the employer instead of the Department of Computer Science.

      • The employer grades the paper on a pass/fail basis and discusses it with the student. The discussion can occur verbally or in writing. The discussion should highlight the strengths as well as the areas for improvement of the report.  
         
        NOTE: Students are only permitted one (1) confidential work term report during their Computer Science Co-op program. Confidential reports are not permitted for double work terms under any circumstance. 

Report Requirements

These requirements took effect in the Winter 2022 term.

1. Report Intent: A work term report should be an account of what the student observed, did, and learned during the work term and a discussion of how the work term experience relates to the student's academic exposure to date in    terms of either reinforcing or contradicting the academic exposure. In exceptional cases, if a report cannot be written based on the work term, more ideas for the work term report can be found in this page. 
2. Report Format:
   1. Letter of Submittal. Formal business letter (include academic coordinator's name and address, and student’s name, student number, outline the report's subject, acknowledge people who helped, etc.).
   2. Title Page. Student name, student number, report title, student’s work term number (1, 2, 3, or 4), and whether report is for a single or double work term.
   3. Table of Contents. List each section of the report and page numbers. You should have a separate list for figures or tables (if applicable).
   4. Executive Summary. Justify the report's existence and briefly outline each major point of the report. Then state your conclusion in one sentence.
   5. Main Body of the report. Must have at least five (5) but not more than seven (7) pages with 12-point font, typewritten, double-spaced pages with one-inch margins all around.
      1. Introduction. Background on the report, introduction to special terms (e.g., ISAM, VSAM, FDDI, ESDN) that you will be using throughout.
      2. Analysis. The body of the report includes your discussion of alternatives, presents your arguments, etc.
      3. Conclusions. Your analysis should be a buttress for your conclusions.
      4. Recommendations. Not always necessary, but may be needed if you're writing an evaluation, or similar.
      5. Appendices. Includes things like data, or code.
      6. Bibliography. List any books, magazines, journals, or FAQs you have used. This can be a good starting path for readers who're interested in learning more about the subject. 

Consecutive Work Terms

If a student is on the first term of a double co-op term, they will submit a shorter report including only Letter of Submittal, Title

If a student is on the first term of a double co-op term, they will submit a shorter report including only Letter of Submittal, Title Page, and Executive Summary at the end of first term and submit a full report at the end of second term. 

If a student is on a co-op term spanning 12 consecutive months, they will submit a shorter report including only Letter of Submittal, Title Page, and Executive Summary at the end of first term and full reports at the end of second and third terms. 

If a student is on a co-op term spanning 16 consecutive months, they will submit shorter reports including only Letter of Submittal, Title Page, and Executive Summary at the end of first term and third term and full reports at the end of second and fourth terms. 

If a student is on a co-op term spanning 20 consecutive months, they will submit shorter reports including only Letter of Submittal, Title Page, and Executive Summary at the end of first term and third term and full reports at the end of second, fourth, and fifth terms.

Report Ideas 

By the end of the second month of each work term you should select a topic for your work term report. If the work you have been assigned does not lend itself to writing a work term report, the onus is on you to explore potential topics and ask your supervisor if he or she has any topics that would be useful for you to research. 

Choosing a topic for a workterm report is sometimes difficult. You are not required to work on something directly related to your work (especially if your job is not particularly interesting or conductive to such a report). You can pick a different CS topic in any area (e.g., artificial intelligence, computer animation, computer game design, computer graphics, databases, hardware, programming language design, software engineering methodologies, etc.). Where possible, you should tie the topic to your work experience. For example, if you don't like the operating system used at your place of work, you might devise a list of useful features for an operating system and then compare the operating system you used to other available operating systems. However, if you are working (say) on a Help Desk and you cannot think of a topic related to your job that is interesting to you, you may choose to write on any technical topic in Information Technology instead. 

Remember, the workterm report cannot be something that you're recycling from another class, which would be a violation of the University's academic integrity rules. The workterm report also should not be a day-by-day or week-by-week account of what you did at the office. 

If you are still unsure about a topic or how to approach your report, please take the following measures: 

• Review the work term report section in your co-op student handbook.
• Look at the research being done in the Department of Computer Science. Might any of it relate to the job you are doing? If so, dig in and learn some more of the background for this research.
• Contact the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator

One last reminder: don't leave the report until the end of the work term or start of the academic term. You will find you will not have enough time to complete it.

Refer to the Sample Report (PDF) and get a head start. 

See the Eligibility Criteria on this page.

CS Co-op students are prepared to work in software design, help desk support, network administration, web page design and maintenance, hardware and software application support, data processing, instruction and scientific computing.

The following is a list of the job titles from placements in 2013-2015 as well as generic descriptions of the employers.

For Computer Science you'll do three work terms, with an optional fourth and fifth.

Salaries for CS Co-op students typically range from $2400 per month to $4000 per month. That works out to approximately $15 to $27 per hour. Some employers may also offer a moving allowance.

A double work term is a two-term (eight-month) Co-op job placement. (Confusingly, the term is used in some Co-op office documents to refer only to the second half of such a placement.) Some job placements are planned from the beginning to be double work terms. Occasionally, a double work term arises because an employer wants to have you, as a Co-op student, extend your work placement to a second consecutive four-month work term. In either case, you will need to fill out and sign a Request for Double Work Term form. For more information, consult the Regulations on this page.

By the end of the second month of a work term, job site visits should be starting. If, by the middle of the third month, you haven't received a notification, contact the Co-op Office and the Undergraduate Co-op Coordinator.

During the process of constructing their work term reports, a student's employer might express concern that the proposed topic or some information shared in the report is of a proprietary nature and must remain internal to the organization (hence confidential). Requests for non-disclosure of the report or full confidentiality of the report is required at least six (6) weeks in advance of the end of the work term.

For more information on confidential reports, view the Information on Work Term Reports page.