Virtually all programs reported that their students were paid a salary during their overseas co-op placement as were the foreign students placed locally. In some cases, the students were not paid a salary but were provided with accommodation and a living allowance. In other cases, students were supported by grants or scholarships from their home institution or government. This author's experience with students suggests that they value the opportunity to travel and work overseas so highly that the monetary return is of almost no importance. Indeed, the survey results ranked salary as the least important of the seven criteria selected for consideration.
Comments received from the survey generally indicated that salaries were the highest in North America and lowest in developing countries. This gives rise to other important considerations for those programs arranging exchanges between developed and developing countries. One is that the developing country may not be able to provide much, if any, salary to the student. The other is that the student from the developing country may end up earning the equivalent of a year's salary in their home country for each month of their work term abroad. The former represents economic hardship, the latter may represent personal danger for the student when they return home extremely wealthy! One solution, as reported in the study, saw the student from the developing country placed in a work term with a shorter duration. Another recommendation was to split the combined salary evenly between the two students in the exchange.
In helping students make the transition from one country to another, some exchange partners will arrange to meet the student at the local airport, provide temporary accommodation while they settle in and personally introduce them to the employer. Supportive, personalized service has also been offered by employers. In some cases, subsidized housing and a free company car has been provided to the student upon arrival. There are also arrangements in which the student is given free language training courses on company time at the beginning of the work term. In most cases where students were provided with non-salary support, it was provided by the hosting corporation.
| Cautionary Tale: Travel arrangements must be clearly understood by all concerned. Students have arrived at different times, at different airports, with excess baggage, with unexpected partners, without work permits and even with invalid passports. They are not always easily identified by those waiting to collect them and some have become temporarily lost in the public transport system. One student had to be rescuedı from a religious cult which he joined during a stopover on his return flight. |
It is important to be aware of the legal implications of international co-op placements, - liabilities must be identified and investigated. One could anticipate the possibility that a student, unhappy with his or her co-op placement, quits the job, returns prematurely home and sues the academic institution for negligence and financial loss. In most cases, programs clearly identify their responsibilities as being the identification of the employment opportunity and ensure that the student is well aware of all the risks. Also, in most countries employment standards are such that workers being paid a salary are covered by accident insurance. It is important to ensure that a student is fully insured against personal injury and damage to company equipment and property. However, this is not guaranteed and must be determined by the sending program. In those models where students do not receive a salary, the association managing their placement carries umbrella liability insurance coverage for the student.
Here, in summary, are some of the liability issues institutions may wish to discuss with their legal advisors:
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Several programs supplied the author with examples of checklists that their students must go over prior to departing on an international co-op placement. The one shown below was prepared by the International Co-op Committee at the University of Victoria:
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| Cautionary Tale: Unfamiliar driving conditions have resulted in several crashed cars. This has mainly been due to inexperienced drivers changing from one road system to another. However, in one notable case, a student who had only driven vehicles with automatic transmission, failed to realise that the bossıs car was a manual version and borrowed it for a short trip. This ended abruptly in the back of a parked car. Another student driving a new hire car in California submerged it in what seemed to be a shallow water on the roadside. |
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A Guide for Developing International Co-op Programs |  |