Wen Hu, CSE Co-op Coordinator. Thank you Oliver for creating the original faq webpage.
Please refer to the Co-op Scholarship website
For queries specific to the Computer Science or Software Engineering programs, please email the CSE Co-op Coordinator Wen Hu (firstname.lastname@unsw.edu.au)
Site visits are the first (and sometimes only) opportunity you hvae to get to know a little more about the sponsoring companies. Usually they involve a meeting at the sponsor's offices where you are introduced to the business and what doing an Industrial Training (IT) placement with them would involve.
Each Co-op Scholar cohort (Year, Program) needs to organize its own visits to its sponsoring companies. This is probably managed best by nominating one member to liaise with the sponsor. Sponsor contacts can be obtained from the CSE Co-op Coordinator.
Visits should be organized well in advance of the first IT placement - at least 6 months beforehand leaves plenty of time. If there is more than one cohort that needs to visit a sponsor, the visit should be co-ordinated between cohorts so that the visit can be combined. This applies to both Computer Science and Software Engineering, as well as to BIT, say.
Visits should be organized to include the CSE Co-ordinator and/or the Co-op Industry Liaison when they can make it.
The CSE Co-op Coordinator will ask the scholar which sponsor they would prefer to be allocated to prior to each placement. Scholars will likely base their preference upon their experiences at the site visit and their career goals. Please note that preferred placements cannot be guaranteed.
When the preferences have been received and usually 4-6 weeks prior to the nominal start date of a placement, the Coordinator will introduce each scholar to their allocated sponsor by email.
The scholar should then contact the sponsor as soon as possible with an up to date copy of their CV and perhaps some general indication of interests. The purpose is to set up a meeting for a physical introduction and to discuss possible projects, start/end dates as well as periods of leave during the placement.
It is worth reading the IT Experience Guidelines to understand the objectives and requirements of IT. Work hours and leave are discussed in Section 3.
Prior to the commencement of IT, or during the first week of the placement, scholars should ensure that the sponsor has completed all items on the UNSW Co-op Program ITE Checklist in the Appendix of the ITE Guidelines referred to above. Scholars are also expected to complete and return the Professional Development Agreement. The agreement should be returned to the Co-op Industry Liaison and copied to the CSE Co-op Coordinator.
While Scholars are on 6-month placements and not officially taking 18 or more Units of Credit, they will be enrolled in a COMP490X or SENG490X course that has a nominal load of 15-18 UoC so as to remain enrolled at the University as full-time students. This ensures you have University insurance cover while on the placement and entitles you to student and travel concessions. Please note that enrolment in these courses will only be possible when the requirements for previous IT placements have been satisfactorily completed (see below).
Every CSE Co-op Scholar is required to give a presentation and to complete an evaluation form at the end of each placement.
The presentation should present the projects you've been involved in, what experiences you've gained and outline how the experiences have changed your perspective on the company, work as a computing professional, your studies and your plans for the future. You might also comment on how things could be improved.
The Scholar and their IT Sponsor are also required to complete an online evaluation of their experiences in order for you to meet the course requirements of IT placements. The evaluation forms are available via the Co-op Career Manager. Enrolment in subsequent IT course codes to enable continuation of student and travel concessions is contingent upon completing the evaluations for prior placements.
The Career Manager is a system maintained by the Co-op Program Office to help you manage your progress through Co-op and help them keep track of the 700 odd students they are responsible for. The Career Manager can be found at http://www.co-op.careermanager.unsw.edu.au/
Career Manager can be used to keep track of your career to date, which allows you to readily produce a CV at short notice. This is made possible by keeping track of the Industry Training placements you have undertaken. The Career Manager also contains a record of personal details such as your current contact number, that should be kept up to date in case we need to contact you in a hurry.
When you go on an IT placement, please ensure they have entered Professional Development Agreements within a week or so of starting your placement. Would you also please ensure that you ask your supervisor to complete the Sponsor Evaluation prior to finishing your placement, that you comment on their evaluation when it has been submitted, and that you complete the Scholar Survey thereafter? Technically, each of these requirements needs to be completed using Career Manager for each IT placement for you to be deemed as having satisfied the requirements of the course and the program.
(Updated on 27/02/2017) CSE no longer provides email accounts for the students. Please login with your zID and zPass to access the online contents of school.
Email aliases are used to communicate with groups of people at a time. There is a hierarchy of email aliases maintained by the CSE Co-op Coordinator for communicating with various Co-op groups. These are listed below.
Here is the Computer Science Co-op Program structure.
Here is the Software Engineering Co-op Program structure.
During your 5th year you are required to write a brief report reflecting upon your various Co-op IT placements in order to satisfy the degree requirements for IT.
This report should be 2 - 3 pages in length and should comprise at least two sections.
The first section should contain a set of brief statements informing the reader which organisations you worked for, over what periods and what your responsibilities were.
The second section should reflect upon what you gained from your experiences, how it augmented/complemented/or otherwise stimulated thoughts about your formal studies and/or the profession and how it has influenced your plans for the future.
Append to your report:
If you have not kept a copy of your 4 IT Sponsor Evaluation forms, you will need to ask the Co-op Office for a copy. Please, therefore keep a copy of your evaluations on file.
You should consult the IT website for tips on how to write the report.
Your reports should be submitted via the CSE Student Office with the coversheet indicating that you are a Co-op student.