New Co-op Director to Focus on Off-Campus Relations

Canada's third-largest university co-operative education program has a new director, Dr. Michel Pierre Janisse, who began his five-year term on Sept. 1. Janisse has an extensive background in university teaching, research and administration at the University of Manitoba, where he has been Dean of the Continuing Education Division, Head of the Department of Psychology and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

As a social scientist, Janisse has studied and written on issues in stress and health psychology. As an administrator, he has focused on Aboriginal education, access, university/business partnership, and international development.

In his new role as Director of Co-operative Education, he will focus on building relations with external partners, fund raising, promoting an increased awareness of co-operative education in the broader community, and enhancing relationships with the provincial government and the business sector.

"I am pleased to be associated with UVic Co-op, which has the reputation of being the best co-op program in the country. It has been a consistent leader in this field of education in North America," says Janisse.

In co-op, students alternate academic terms with work terms in employment situations related to their program of study. Janisse sees co-op as "not just another way of teaching. It's a national economic strategy. There are virtually no unemployed co-op grads," he stresses.

The Co-operative Education Program at the University of Victoria is a successful 22-year-old partnership among students, university instructors, co-operative education professionals, and employers. It provides students with practical, paid work experience in their chosen field and provides employers with highly motivated term employees who are familiar with current developments in their field of study. More than 25 percent of full-time UVic students participate in co-op. Last year, UVic Co-op arranged for 2,816 placements in private business, non-profit organizations, and all levels of government locally, across Canada, and in 41 other countries.

The co-op option at UVic is available to students in 40 academic departments, providing a diversity of co-op opportunities unmatched at any other Canadian university.

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