July 5, 2002

Friday, July 5, 2002

A summary of the co-op survey
The importance of a committee
A few other notes for the weekend

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

[Narveson in his office, with hat]
Jan Narveson of UW's department of philosophy has been named a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest honours. Narveson, also known as the Gazette's "Cecilia" columnist on music, has been a faculty member at Waterloo since 1963. Says the Governor General's citation for Jan F. Narveson, OC: "His scholarly work has been the impetus for informed national and international debate on social issues. Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo for three decades, he has written extensively on a broad range of subjects including ethics in business. He enjoys a reputation for excellence and, since joining the University's Centre for Accounting Ethics, has imparted to his students the importance of adhering to the highest professional standards. A staunch supporter of the region's cultural institutions, he founded the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society and supports the community's orchestra, choir and symphony."

A summary of the co-op survey

"Your feedback is most welcome," says a memo from associate provost Gary Waller, who's issued a summary of the results from a recent survey of UW's co-op students. No surprise: the students like some things about the co-op program and don't like others, and there are particular concerns about a cumbersome interview process.

(I'm sorry it's taken so long to report on this survey in the Daily Bulletin. Information was first revealed at an open meeting June 19, and by now has appeared on 'uwstudent.org' and in Imprint.)

The survey was done over the winter, jointly supervised by the co-op and career services department and the Federation of Students. It stems from an agreement between the Feds and the university last year, when a $25-a-term fee was introduced to help pay the cost of the new co-op building. Says Waller: "An important part of the review was to ask co-op students, through an online survey, to provide their opinions on a number of areas with regards to co-op and CECS. Questions for the survey were designed to yield meaningful data to CECS and to offer co-op students the opportunity to indicate which parts of the co-op experience worked for them and which did not.

"The survey was created and/or reviewed by a representative group of people including councilors from the Federation of Students, Ryan Stammers, (FEDS Vice President of Education), co-op students working in CECS, some CECS staff including Bruce Lumsden (Director), Dr. Mary Thomson (Department of Statistics), Dr. Susan Sykes (Office of Research), and me, Dr. Gary Waller (Associate Provost).

"The survey was sent in two e-mails (one sent in December, 2001 and the other in March, 2002) to 8,441 students. The resulting 1,863 responses representing a return rate of 22% were analyzed by a committee consisting of two members of the Federation of Students and two staff from CECS. . . . Results of this survey will give CECS direction for improvement."

Bruce Lumsden, director of co-op education and career services, reports that "In general the students expressed a 3 out of 5 level of satisfaction with the overall co-op experience. The satisfaction increased in direct ratio to the number of work terms.

"The experience the students had with field co-ordinators and the on-campus staff varied across a number of factors and identified some pockets of concern around customer service. As well, there was a mixed satisfaction around a number of activities and procedures such as job descriptions, interview scheduling, work term salaries, and Co-op 101 seminars.

"The satisfaction of the students with the quantity and quality of co-op jobs declined throughout the length of the process over the term. There was an indication that the students felt the process favoured the employers over the students, particularly in the Continuous Phase.

Department reports on planned changes to the co-op system
"Students expressed a somewhat higher than average satisfaction with the services provided by the Career Resource Centre.

"The survey identified a number of areas for improvement in the policies and procedures around the co-op experience."

Another memo notes that 807 students took the time to write responses to an "open" question: "Students generally extolled the overall virtues and usefulness of co-op, the opportunity to develop new skills, the variety of job areas related to their programs, the real-world work experience gained, and the financial support co-op provides. They also commented on the helpfulness, professionalism, friendliness and interest shown in student career development by on-campus and off-campus staff. While many positive comments were received, this summary concentrates on major concerns and critical replies in order to focus on areas for improvement."

Among the comments received:

Process. Initial Interview Phase takes too long and interferes with school; however students did not favour a pure continuous-style process. Junior students, especially stream 4, are overwhelmed by the process and would like more help to get interviews. CECS technology is out of date (ACCESS does not work well, CECS uses an antiquated job application system). Job sign-off and ranking system is not fair to students who would like to see employer rankings. Interview scheduling does not take into account students' needs. Continuous Interview Phase matching procedure is not fair to students. Regulations restrict students from looking for their own job while also taking part in co-op interview process. CECS should communicate more on the status of the new system and what the future holds. Too many employers contact students at job ranking time to press them to accept job offers.
Staff. Some on-campus and off-campus staff are unpleasant, have inappropriate attitudes/behaviour. Some staff, especially co-ordinators, are more concerned about interests of employers than those of students. Some co-ordinators and co-op advisors are hard to contact and respond too slowly or not at all to voice and e-mail messages. It is difficult to evaluate co-ordinators collectively, since some are viewed positively while others are not. The usefulness of the student visit by the co-ordinator was questioned.
Jobs. Some job descriptions should be more accurate. There are not enough quality jobs for students in faculties other than Engineering and Math. The approval process for jobs found on own is problematic. Some employers provide students with jobs that do not offer new learning opportunities and are unchallenging. More variety in job locations (including international) and in not-for-profit institutions is needed. Poor quality of jobs offered in system and the demanding co-op process itself cause students to look for their own job. The criteria for evaluating students are different for different employers.
Bias. CECS regulations favour employers to maintain UW's reputation for its co-op program. Students are forced to take jobs to maintain CECS image with employers. Employers can cancel jobs anytime without penalty and be tardy for and miss interviews, but students are penalized.

The importance of a committee

Many faculty members don't realize how important the "quiet, behind-the-scenes deliberations" of UW's Faculty Relations Committee are, says the president of the faculty association in her latest message to association members.

"The negotiated agreements of this committee affect all of our working conditions," Catherine Schryer (right), professor of English, says in her President's Message in the summer issue of the faculty association Forum.

And she goes on: "Besides completing policy negotiations, the FRC also has another role. It is a main venue to alert the administration about issues and problems that are affecting faculty. During the past year, for example, the FAUW board members on the FRC alerted the administration about accounting problems related to research grants, difficulties being experienced by faculty in buildings under construction, concerns regarding the professional librarians, low hiring rates for female faculty and a number of other problems. From our perspective, we see the FRC as offering an important opportunity to prevent irritants from developing into divisive issues.

"In my view some faculty seem unaware of the important role that the FRC plays in university governance, and more importantly they seem unaware of the opportunity that the FRC offers them. As part of its work, the FAUW board members relay concerns expressed by individual faculty members to the administrative representatives at the FRC. These concerns are presented as general problems so that all identifying information as to the individual, department or faculty is removed. This procedure allows the FRC to discuss problems in a general way and work towards proactive solutions.

"Consequently, if you have an issue or concern, especially one that is affecting your working conditions and the working conditions of other faculty members, please contact one of the FAUW board members. We will relay your concerns in a professional way to the administrative representatives on the FRC. For example, over the last month or so several faculty members have informed board members about their ongoing difficulties with PeopleSoft and the negative effects this program is having on course scheduling. Certainly, we will be addressing this concern in our first FRC meeting in September.

"So help us do the work of the FRC and let us know about work-related issues so that we have an opportunity to prevent them from escalating into serious problems."

[Peering through a foil tube]
Improvising will get you a long way, the young people in the Shad International summer program are finding. Early this week, Jacqueline Leung (left), Leah Paille and their team put together a water pump from an umbrella, a box lunch and a lot of duct tape.

A few other notes for the weekend

More from Imprint

The architecture student production of "Mother Courage and Her Children" hits stage in the Humanities Theatre tonight and Saturday at 8:00. "This is the continuation of a long tradition of theatrical presentations in the school," says Rick Haldenby, director of the school of architecture, "but this year the 2B students have outdone themselves. The preparations have been going on since December. There has been an original score composed and performed by class members." Tickets are available at the Humanities box office, phone ext. 4908, price $10.

Some 20 participants in a Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp are arriving at UW's residence conference centre today for the weekend. . . . An International Students Association trip to Montréal for the Jazz Festival leaves this morning. . . . The UW Shop in South Campus Hall is announcing "sizzling savings" at a sidewalk sale all next week. . . .

A couple of days ago I noted the creation of a new "UW officers and administrators" web page, in part because that kind of listing no longer appears in the undergraduate calendar. Something else has also disappeared from the printed calendar, and there's an on-line substitute, says a note from UW registrar Ken Lavigne: "This year's paper calendar does not include the listing of faculty members. The full listing can be found in the web calendar."

And speaking of faculty listings: Michael Boehringer has become chair of the department of Germanic and Slavic studies, as of July 1. The appointment wasn't announced in time to be included in the list of other July 1 ascendancies that appeared in the Daily Bulletin earlier this week.

Finally, let me mention that I'm leaving for some vacation time. Until I return, the contact person for the Daily Bulletin -- which will continue to appear every working day at 9:00 -- is Barbara Elve, phone ext. 2220, e-mail bmelve@uwaterloo.ca.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
July 5, 1977: Mathematicians from around the world, including the legendary Paul Erdos, meet at Waterloo for a five-day conference on graph theory honouring UW's Bill Tutte. July 5, 1984: The first computers donated to UW under a "partnership" with Digital Equipment Corporation arrive on campus.