University of Alberta Careers & Work Experience
Edmonton, Alberta
Co-op, internships, research, and outcome questions. This focused guide keeps the detailed tables, official sources, and practical next steps in one manageable reading path.
The short answer
- Engineering co-op has run since 1981 and covers about 58% of Engineering students after first year.
- You complete five four-month work terms, 20 months total, and the degree takes five years.
- There is no direct entry into co-op. You pick the co-op or traditional stream in March of first year.
- Each work term is a pass-fail WKEXP course. The fee is refunded if you cannot find work.
- Up to 12 months of co-op can count toward the four-year APEGA experience requirement for the P.Eng.
Reviewed October 8, 2026 · Official university sources · How we review guides
University of Alberta co-op, internships, and paid work terms
There is no single U of A co-op program. Engineering, the Alberta School of Business, Science and ALES, and Arts each run their own, with different work-term counts, eligibility rules, and designations. None of them is a direct-entry promise attached to a high-school offer, and all three that address the question say in writing that placement is not guaranteed.
Engineering Co-op scale and entry
The Faculty of Engineering says its co-op program started in 1981. It runs in all disciplines. About 58% of all Engineering students take part after the common first year. Students enter after they finish the common first year. Then they are placed into a co-op stream.
Work-term structure
Engineering co-op students complete five four-month work terms — a total of 20 months, which the faculty describes as just under 50% of the remaining degree. A work term is defined as 12 weeks and/or 420 hours of full-time paid experience. All incoming co-op students take ENGG 299 in the Fall semester. Each work term is registered as a non-credit WKEXP course graded pass-fail, requiring a work-term assignment, evaluations, a midterm site visit, and a satisfactory end-of-term evaluation. The co-op degree is completed in five years, not four, and students complete two academic years before their first work term.
There is no direct entry into co-op
The Faculty of Engineering says clearly that there is no direct entry into co-op. All engineering students take a common first-year curriculum. Then in March of the foundational year, they select their preferred discipline. They also choose between the Traditional and Co-operative Education streams. These streams have identical academic requirements. Most co-op programs include one fall work term, one winter work term, and three summer work terms.
Alberta School of Business co-op
Business co-op students complete 12 months of full-time career-related work experience. They do this through a combination of 4 or 8-month work terms. These terms begin in January, May or September. Students register as WKEXP courses. These courses require 13-16 weeks of full-time work, a work-term report, a site visit, and a satisfactory supervisor evaluation. Eligibility needs 500 hours of prior experience, with at least 350 paid. It also needs at least 24 completed BCom credits with three full-time terms remaining. It needs a GPA (grade point average) of 2.8 for Finance, 2.6 for Accounting, and 2.4 for all other majors. This is calculated on the most recent two full-time terms. The school states that students are not guaranteed a work term.
Arts Work Experience
Arts Work Experience is open to BA students at North Campus, Campus Saint-Jean, Augustana, and the Faculty of Native Studies. These students must be in good standing with a minimum 2.3 GPA. They must have completed between 24 and 105 credits. Twelve months of work experience earns an Arts Co-operative Education Program designation on the degree parchment. BA Planning, Psychology and Environmental Studies students can add a discipline-specific internship at eight months. Work terms register as WKEXP 801 through 804. They carry no credit weight. They do not count toward the 120 credits required for the degree.
Placement is the student's responsibility
The faculty states plainly that the responsibility for obtaining suitable employment for each work term rests with the student. Co-op staff run workshops, one-on-one appointments, drop-in advising, and the campusBRIDGE job board. But students must run their own job search. They must notify the office of any self-arranged placement so it can be approved.
Cost and refunds
There is a University of Alberta course fee for each four-month WKEXP work term plus miscellaneous University and Students' Union fees such as the U-Pass. If a student cannot obtain employment in a given work term, or becomes unemployed through circumstances beyond their control, the fee is refunded. Co-op students working outside the Edmonton-area transit zone may apply to opt out of the U-Pass fee.
Professional credit and the extra year
Up to 12 months of pre-graduation co-op work experience can count toward the four-year APEGA experience requirement for the P.Eng designation. Co-op adds a year to the degree. The faculty frames the additional year as an investment.
Science Internship Program
Outside Engineering, the Science Internship Program offers students in the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of ALES, Campus Saint-Jean, and Augustana 4, 8, 12, or 16 months of full-time paid work experience, mostly with companies based in Canada. Students who successfully complete 8 months or more receive a Science Internship designation on the academic transcript and degree parchment. Internships carry no degree credit and are recorded as Credit/No Credit. Computing Science students apply to the Science Internship Program in third year rather than to a separate co-op stream.
International students and the tuition guarantee
International students on the program-based tuition guarantee who move into a co-op program keep their original total guarantee. Co-op takes an extra year, so the remaining tuition is divided across four years instead of three. The overall guaranteed total does not change. Standard non-instructional fees still apply every term of registration.
Placement is not guaranteed
The Faculty of Engineering states that the responsibility for obtaining suitable employment for each work term rests with the student. The Alberta School of Business says it directly. Students are not guaranteed a work term. The school provides postings, training and guidance. But securing a work term is the student's responsibility. Arts Work Experience adds that meeting minimum eligibility criteria does not guarantee program acceptance. Engineering does refund the work-term course fee if a student cannot obtain employment through circumstances beyond their control.
The only published outcome data is from Business
For BCom graduates within three months of graduation, the Alberta School of Business publishes co-op employment rates. These were 83% in 2025, 88% in 2024, and 89% in 2023. Overall rates for active job seekers were 79%, 79%, and 80%. Average co-op salaries in those years were $64,781, $57,548, and $62,657. These sat below the overall averages. So co-op tracks with a higher employment rate rather than higher starting pay. The school warns the 2025 survey is based on a small sample size. No equivalent statistics are published for Engineering co-op, the Science Internship Program, or Arts Work Experience.
How the U of A describes its Engineering co-op
Current program · Published for this period
The Faculty of Engineering says its Co-op Program has been a national leader in cultivating talent since 1981. The program exists in all disciplines. It makes up about 58% of all Engineering students after the common first year. The faculty says the program has helped tens of thousands of students gain real-world experience.
The faculty does not publish a current placement rate or average co-op salary on these pages. Do not repeat third-party figures as if they were first-party.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Why choose Engineering co-op: participation share and work-term months · Verified August 16, 2026
Work-term structure and requirements
Current program · Published for this period
Engineering co-op students complete five four-month work terms. The faculty describes this as 20 months total and just under 50% of the remaining degree. A work term is defined as 12 weeks and/or 420 hours of full-time paid experience. It is treated as an academic course carrying full-time student status. All incoming co-op students take ENGG 299 in the Fall semester. Each work term registers as a non-credit pass-fail WKEXP course. It requires a work-term assignment, evaluations, a midterm site visit with the supervisor and a co-op staff member, and a satisfactory end-of-term evaluation. During a work term students work full-time and take no academic courses.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Engineering Co-op Program work-term definition and scale · Verified August 16, 2026
There is no direct entry into Engineering co-op
Current program · Published for this period
The Faculty of Engineering states there is no direct entry into co-op. All engineering students follow a common first-year curriculum. It covers Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Computing, English for Engineers, Engineering Mechanics, and an Introduction to the Engineering Profession. In March of the foundational year students select a preferred discipline. They choose between the Traditional and Co-operative Education streams. These streams have identical academic requirements. Co-op degrees follow a predetermined sequence. They are completed in five years rather than four. They place students in two academic years before the first work term. Most co-op programs include one fall, one winter, and three summer work terms.
Co-op is chosen after the foundational year. So an Engineering offer from high school is not a co-op offer. The faculty publishes no GPA threshold for co-op entry. Placement into a stream follows discipline ranking.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Engineering co-op program overview and stream selection · Verified August 16, 2026
Alberta School of Business co-op eligibility is precisely published
Current program · Published for this period
Applicants need 500 hours of prior work, volunteer and extracurricular experience. At least 350 hours must come from paid work. International students may use home-country experience. Applicants also need at least 24 completed BCom credits and three full-time terms remaining. This means applicants typically should have completed no more than 75 credits. GPA minimums are 2.8 for Finance, 2.6 for Accounting, and 2.4 for all other majors. They are calculated on the most recently completed two full-time terms of at least 24 credits. Spring and summer courses are excluded. The school states that capacity is limited and admission is competitive. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Alberta School of Business co-op eligibility: GPA and experience hours · Verified August 16, 2026
Business co-op publishes exact dollar fees
Current fees · Published for this period
The Alberta School of Business lists a $50 application fee. You pay it when you submit a co-op application. The school also lists a $150 program fee. You pay it when you join the program. WKEXP course tuition is assessed for each four-month work term. Business co-op students complete 12 months of full-time career-related work experience. They do this through 4 or 8-month work terms. These terms begin in January, May or September. Each WKEXP course requires 13-16 weeks of full-time work. It also requires a work-term report, a site visit meeting with a coordinator, and a satisfactory supervisor evaluation.
Business is the only U of A co-op publishing dollar figures for its own program fees. Neither Business nor Engineering publishes the WKEXP tuition amount; both defer to the Office of the Registrar.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Alberta School of Business co-op fees · Verified August 16, 2026
The only published multi-year co-op outcome data
2021-2025 graduating classes · Latest published information; newer cycle not yet confirmed
The Alberta School of Business publishes co-op employment rates for BCom graduates within three months of graduation. The rates are 83% (2025), 88% (2024), 89% (2023), 100% (2022), and 94% (2021). Overall employment rates for active job seekers were 79%, 79%, 80%, 92%, and 82%. Average co-op salaries were $64,781, $57,548, $62,657, $67,857, and $55,928. Overall averages were $67,809, $60,833, $62,431, $62,495, and $53,746. The school also reports that approximately 50% of co-op students receive permanent offers from a co-op employer. It reports that 1,831 job openings were listed on campusBRIDGE from September 2024 to September 2025.
The school warns that the 2025 survey is based on a small sample size. It suggests consulting ALIS for salary research. Note that co-op average salary sits below the overall average in 2025, 2024 and 2023. So co-op is associated with a higher employment rate rather than higher starting pay. No comparable statistics exist for Engineering co-op, the Science Internship Program, or Arts Work Experience.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Alberta School of Business employment statistics 2021-2025 · Verified August 16, 2026
Arts Work Experience across four faculties
Current program · Published for this period
Arts Work Experience is open to undergraduate BA students at North Campus, the Faculty of Native Studies, Campus Saint-Jean, and Augustana. These students must be in good academic standing with a minimum 2.3 GPA. They must have completed between 24 and 105 credits. Twelve months of paid full-time work across one or more employers earns an Arts Co-operative Education Program designation on the degree parchment. BA Planning, Psychology, and Environmental Studies students can add a discipline-specific internship at eight months. Individual 4 or 8-month work terms register as WKEXP 801 through 804. They carry no credit weight. They do not count toward the 120 credits required for the degree. They appear on the transcript without a designation. Attending one Intake Orientation Session is mandatory. Meeting minimum eligibility does not guarantee acceptance.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Arts Work Experience: co-op, internships, and eligibility · Verified August 16, 2026
Placement is not guaranteed
Current program · Published for this period
The faculty states that the ultimate responsibility for obtaining suitable employment for each work term rests with the student. Students begin searching one semester before a work term starts. They accept terms and conditions to access campusBRIDGE postings. They must notify the co-op office immediately about any self-arranged job. This lets the office confirm it as qualifying. Co-op staff provide workshops, one-on-one resume and interview appointments, daily drop-in advising, and on-site work-term support. But they run neither the search nor the placement.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: What to expect in Engineering co-op: WKEXP and work-term rules · Verified August 16, 2026
Co-op work-term fees and the unemployment refund
Current fees · Published for this period
There is a University of Alberta course fee for each four-month WKEXP work term. The university sets this fee. There are also other University and Students' Union fees. One example is the U-Pass. A student may not be able to get a job in a given work term. Then the fee is refunded. A student may also lose a job during a work term. If this happens for reasons beyond their control, the fee is refunded. Some students may apply to opt out of the U-Pass fee. They must be on a work term outside the Edmonton, Strathcona County, St. Albert, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan and Spruce Grove transit area. But they cannot opt out if they are also registered in an on-campus academic course.
This page does not give a flat dollar amount for the WKEXP course fee. The faculty points domestic students to the Office of the Registrar's work experience fee information instead.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Engineering co-op financial considerations and fee refunds · Verified August 16, 2026
Co-op counts toward the P.Eng requirement
Current program · Published for this period
Up to one year of pre-graduation co-op work experience can count toward the four-year APEGA experience requirement. This is for the Professional Engineer designation. It is assessed by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. Students enrolled in WKEXP keep full-time student status. This also keeps interest-free status on federal and Alberta student loans. The student must file a Confirmation of Enrolment.
The APEGA reference on the U of A page is cited to 2020. So confirm the current APEGA assessment rules directly before you count on twelve months of credit.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Engineering co-op financial considerations and fee refunds · Verified August 16, 2026
The Science Internship Program outside Engineering
Current program · Published for this period
The Science Internship Program is open to students in the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, Campus Saint-Jean, and Augustana. It offers 4, 8, 12 or 16 months of full-time paid work experience. Most placements are with companies based in Canada, and some are abroad. Students who successfully complete 8 months or more receive a Science Internship designation on the academic transcript and degree parchment. Internships carry no degree credit and are recorded as Credit/No Credit. Computing Science students apply to the Science Internship Program in third year rather than to a separate co-op stream.
The U of A does not publish a GPA or credit minimum for the Science Internship Program on any of its own pages. No page uses the older 'Industrial Internship Program' name. Treat third-party 'IIP' summaries and quoted GPA thresholds as unsourced.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Science Internship Program eligibility and designation threshold · Verified August 16, 2026
How co-op interacts with the international tuition guarantee
Current model · Published for this period
International students on the program-based tuition guarantee who branch into a co-op program keep their original total guarantee. A co-op degree takes an extra year. So the remaining tuition is divided across four years rather than three. The remaining tuition is the total guarantee minus what was paid for the qualifying year. But the overall guaranteed total does not change. Standard non-instructional fees are still assessed each term of registration. Registering in a Work Experience course during Spring or Summer increases that year's tuition without changing the program total.
Applies to: International
University of Alberta: Tuition Model: registration-based versus program-based tuition · Verified August 16, 2026
Co-op students and scholarship eligibility
Current program · Published for this period
Co-op students are considered for scholarships based on work done in Year 2 (academic terms 3 and 4). They are also considered for work in Year 3 (terms 5 and 6) and Year 4 (terms 7 and 8). This means three considerations over the program. The faculty states directly that co-op students have no advantage over traditional Engineering students. Traditional Engineering students are eligible at the same three points. Scholarships and awards are only available once a year in May and June.
Applies to: All applicants
University of Alberta: Engineering co-op financial considerations and fee refunds · Verified August 16, 2026
Official U of A co-op and career sources
- Faculty of Engineering Co-op Program
- Why choose Engineering co-op: 58% participation and 20 months
- What to expect in Engineering co-op: WKEXP and work-term rules
- Engineering co-op financial considerations
- Science Internship Program
- Engineering co-op program overview and stream selection
- Engineering Co-op work-term definition and scale
- Alberta School of Business co-op eligibility
- Alberta School of Business co-op fees
- Alberta School of Business employment statistics 2021-2025
- Arts Work Experience: co-op, internships, and eligibility
- Science Internship Program eligibility and designation threshold
Career Planning
| Experiential Learning | Check your target program. See if it offers co-op, internships, clinical placements, practicums, studios, field schools, or research terms. |
|---|---|
| Career Services | Compare job boards, employer partnerships, resume support, interview preparation, and alumni mentoring. |
| Research Access | For graduate-school or professional-school pathways, look for undergraduate research assistant roles and lab access. |
| Outcome Questions | Ask where graduates work or study next, and whether outcomes differ by program, co-op stream, or campus. |
Official Sources and Next Steps
Stellar keeps this guide structured for comparison, but official university pages remain the source of truth for program requirements, tuition, residence, scholarships, deadlines, and policy changes.
Prepared by Stellar Advisers Editorial Team · Reviewed October 8, 2026 · Editorial, corrections, and source methodology