Abridgment of cooperative courses — Their development and operating principles

Abstract

The Cooperative Idea has been the motivating spirit in the various attempts to bring together the educational and industrial elements in engineering. The outstanding milestones of progress in this undertaking are the “Sandwich System” of Scotland, the establishment of shops in schools, the rise of educational opportunities in industrial concerns, the report of Sir William White's committee of practising engineers and educators in England, and finally, the conception and inception of the cooperative courses at the University of Cincinnati and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These courses are taken as examples of two types of cooperative course called respectively the “Cincinnati Plan” and the “M. I. T. Plan.” Each of these possesses a structure and a set of operating principles determined by the purpose for which it was instituted and the conditions under which it is carried out. The operating principles of the M. I. T. Plan are discussed in detail in this paper. The graduates of both these plans are demonstrating that the results sought are being accomplished.