For most of American history, the landscape of higher education in the United States has remained largely unchanged: Students attend classes on a residential campus, graduate, and begin the task of looking for a job or applying to graduate school.
Here at Northeastern, we have always charted our own path. We believe that college campuses are too confining—that the most powerful way to learn is to integrate study and practice. This belief drives us to be innovative, deeply connected to society, and responsive to the demands of a changing world. It is also the reason we have emerged as the leader in cooperative education.
As we mark co-op’s centennial anniversary, this same ethos will guide us as we shape the next one hundred years of co-op at Northeastern.
Co-op was originally developed for practical reasons—first, as a way to finance college and, later, as a path to lining up employment. The true value of co-op has always been—and remains—its educational power. Co-op prepares students to navigate the unknown, to be nimble and responsive to change, and to lead change.
Although a strong foundation in a field of study is essential, less tangible skills are just as important: confidence, poise, adaptability, and entrepreneurship. These are qualities that cooperative learning instills in students. They are also the foundations of twenty-first-century leadership.
Today’s students also want more choices and increased flexibility. They want college to be an exploration—both inside the classroom and around the world. As you’ll read in this issue’s cover story, “The Future of Co-op,” the very nature of co-op offers boundless opportunity for innovation and expansion to meet these demands.
Already Northeastern is seizing such opportunities. We have introduced a comprehensive four-year bachelor’s degree that provides the full benefits of co-op—an option that further empowers students to tailor academic programs to their particular aspirations. We are encouraging a “four-plus-one” option that allows students to earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in five years.
We have also launched the Presidential Global Scholars initiative, which will enable hundreds more students like the ones featured in “Far from Ordinary” to pursue international co-ops.
Innovations like these not only align with the co-op belief system, they are driven by it. Because co-op keeps us in tune with the world, it informs and shapes our future.
As we launch co-op’s second century, we will continue to expand co-op and all aspects of experiential learning. And though there are many reasons for us to do so, none is perhaps more crucial to Northeastern’s continued success than a simple fact: The world is too interesting to ignore.
Sincerely,
Joseph Aoun
President, Northeastern University