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What Is Cooperative Work Experience Education?

Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE) Mission Statement

Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE) is an important component of the education and training that students receive at Mt. San Jacinto Community College. CWEE courses help students apply their classroom-based learning in an actual work environment. These courses provide experiential learning activities to strengthen student learning and reinforce the student’s effective work habits, attitudes, and career awareness, thereby enhancing the student’s marketable skills.


The CWEE Program staff cultivates working relationships with students, college personnel, and employers to support student access, retention and success and to enhance economic growth through workforce improvement. The staff supports educational effectiveness and program growth through ongoing evaluation and improvement of course-related content and services, and with the use of technological resources when appropriate.

The CWEE Program adheres to the regulations for Cooperative Work Experience Education outlined in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations and in the Mt San Jacinto Community College District Work Experience Plan.

 

What Is Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE)?

Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE) is a unique academic program in which the student, employer, and college cooperate to integrate academic study with practical work experience to help prepare students for a successful career.

Work experience permits eligible students to gain supervised, on-the-job training to broaden occupational skills and improve competency and experience in the real world. MSJC offers two opportunities for students to receive course credit by linking academic coursework with paid or unpaid workplace experiences: Occupational Internship and General Work Experience.

Cooperative Work Experience (formerly Occupational Internship) is supervised employment extending classroom-based occupational learning at an on-the-job learning station relating to the students' educational or occupational goal (Title 5 section 55252). This program provides supervised work experience at a job site that is directly related to the student’s career goal, and along with other on-campus lecture and laboratory courses, is an integral part of the student’s major.

*Students may earn a maximum of (8) semester credit hours during one enrollment period.

General Work Experience is supervised employment which is intended to assist students in acquiring desirable work habits, attitudes, and career awareness. This program is designed to help students develop career and workplace awareness and need not be related to the students’ educational goals (Title 5 section 55252).

*Students may earn up to (6) units maximum of general work experience education during one enrollment period.

*Students may earn a maximum of (16) semester units for all types of CWEE (Title 5 section 55253).

*Students earn one unit per 60 hours of unpaid work experience or one unit per 75 hours of paid work experience.

 

Enrollment Requirements

  1. You must be enrolled as an Mt San Jacinto College student.
  2. You must be working or have identified a job/internship/volunteer opportunity in a paid or non-paid position.
  3. You must determine whether you qualify for a Cooperative Work Experience (CWE) or General Work Experience (GWE) course
  4. You must complete the Mandatory Orientation session to receive the necessary paperwork.
  5. Determine the Number of Units you can enroll in based on the hours to be worked in a semester (see below):
PAID UNPAID UNITS
75-149 60-119 1
150-224 120-179 2
225-299 180-239 3
300+ 240+ 4