Cooperative course in electrical engineering of the massachusetts institute of technology

There is no standard cooperative plan of education. A cooperative course takes on the ideals, purposes and standards of the school and companies cooperating. The purpose of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to give young men well grounded knowledge and specialized information combined with a broad education and the power to apply theories of science to the practical requirements of industry. The cooperative course in Electrical Engineering at M. I. T. naturally has the same ideals and purpose. The course is five years in length and offers a degree of Master of Science to those who complete it. Only the last three years are cooperative, the first two years being practically identical with the regular Electrical Engineering Course. The regular school year consists of two terms and a summer vacation. The cooperative year includes the summer in its schedule and has three terms to the year, two of them being coterminous with the regular Institute terms. During the last three years the cooperative students spend every other term (practically four months) at the plants of the cooperating companies, any one student always going to the same company. The practical experience thus occupies eighteen months of carefully selected and supervised work in the industries. The student has the choice of a manufacturing company or a public utility company, providing he meets the Institute standard in scholarship and the company's standard in personality and natural inclination. He is paid at an hourly rate depending upon his length of service with the company, each student earning about $1500 during the three years. The last year is spent upon post graduate study and research both at the Institute and with the company. The student is under no obligation to stay with the company after graduation nor is the company obliged to hire him. To date, 47 per cent of the men have remained with the cooperating company. While at the plants of the cooperating company, the student continues to carry two of his Institute studies, two evening classes per week being conducted by members of the instructing staff at the Institute. Main features. 1. The course aims to train a carefully chosen group for engineering service of the particularly high order, in manufacturing and public service companies. 2. The theoretical part of the regular Electrical Engineering course has not been cut in order to make room for the engineering practise. On the contrary a year of post-graduate work has been added, for which a degree of Master of Science is granted. 3. The Engineering practise for a student consists of a course of experience, carefully planned and supervised. It is not merely a series of jobs. 4. The student spends all of his cooperative periods in the employ of one company getting a unified conception of organization and company policy. He learns the meaning of team work and loyalty. 5. Fluctuating business conditions do not interfere with his engineering practise. 6. The practical experience reacts on his theoretical work, explaining it and making it real to him. 7. His theoretical studies are not interrupted during his practise periods. He gets the habit of working days and studying nights, a habit which experience proves is hard to break in later years.