THE GLOBAL COOPERATIVE& WORK-INTEGRATEDEDUCATION CHARTER

August 2019

AN INTERNATIONAL CHARTER FOR
COOPERATIVE AND WORK-INTEGRATEDEDUCATION (CWIE) FOCUSEDEDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONSAND EMPLOYERS

2This Charter is an
outcome of a global
consultation regarding
cooperative education
and work-integrated
education (CWIE) led by
the World Association for
Cooperative and WorkIntegrated Education(WACE) and launched at
the President’s Summit
hosted at the University ofCincinnati in August 2019.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We acknowledge that work-integrated
learning (WIL) models, and how they are named, varies aroundthe world. Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education (CWIE) isthe term that WACE uses, intending to include all forms of higher education experiential programs that focus on workplacelearning, and the development of knowledge and skills thatenhance employability.
This Charter should be cited as WACE Global CWIE Charter: An
International Charter for Cooperative and Work-Integrated
Education (CWIE) focused Universities, Colleges and Institutes(2019).
Photos in this document have been contributed from aroundthe world and represent the breadth and diversity of cooperative and work-integrated education settings, people,and impacts.

3A CHARTER PROMOTING THE
TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL OF GLOBAL
WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNINGThe Global CWIE Charter formalizes a commitment by world leaders
in cooperative and work-integrated education to unite globally toprovide access for all post-secondary students to workplace-based
experiences that will effectively prepare them for productive andrewarding employment locally, nationally and internationally. It
situates a commitment to various models of cooperative and workintegrated education (cooperative education, internships, service
learning, professional practice, etc.) as a key strategy for developing
the future, borderless global workforce.
This Charter will be formally endorsed and launched August 2019at the World Association for Cooperative and Work-Integrated
Education (WACE) World Conference hosted by the University ofCincinnati (UC). The Charter goals are powered by the global successof cooperative education (fittingly first developed at UC in 1905),and further evolved to include additional models of cooperative
and work-integrated education that reflect the changing needs andopportunities of the new millennium.

4

SPECIFIC CHALLENGES GLOBAL CWIE CANADDRESSThe following specific challenges have been identified by employers,governments, educators, and learners from around the world:•Significant skills and knowledge gaps in higher education
graduates’ employability readiness (Bridging the Gap
Report, RBC 2019) resulting in higher rates of un- and underemployment:
These “gaps” have been identified by both graduates andemployers and require cooperative efforts to effectivelyaddress.

•Growing global economies and the increasingly borderlessworld of work that require new intercultural skill sets andunderstandings:
As talent is increasingly sourced from a global pool,international mobility and intercultural fluency andadaptability become critical indicators of workplace
success, and are often not addressed by higher education.
Opportunities for international CWIE experiences remain
limited, and require co-ordination and support in order toscale up.

•A majority of learners pursues higher education in thehopes of bettering their employment prospects. They
want their studies to be meaningful and connect to reallife applications, in all programs of study. They want to beable to have the same opportunities for early exposure
to employment that students of many professional andapprenticeship programs enjoy. They want to become
productive members of their communities upon graduation.

OUR SHARED CHALLENGES AND GOALS
The ability of educational systems and institutions to effectively
prepare students for meaningful employment is being increasinglyquestioned. The rapid pace of change in business and industry (andrelatively slower response times in education), the increasingly
global nature of employment, and equitable access for all, are themesthat need the collective attention of employers and educators.
Cooperative and work-integrated education provide a mechanism tobring these stakeholders together during the course of a student’s
academic studies so that these challenges can be addressed in realtime, authentic ways that contribute to both a student’s learningand global workplace readiness. CWIE programs help all students
better transition from their school life to productive and rewarding
work lives.

Equitable access for all qualified students to meaningful,relevant, and productive education:•Rapid rates of change in the world of work that challenge
educational systems’ timely responses:
The pace of change in business and industry often outstrips
an educational system’s (or given institution’s) ability to
fully address it. The focus needs to be on empoweringlearners to be more entrepreneurial, adaptable, and resilient
so they can effectively transfer (and challenge) their skills
and knowledge across many boundaries.

5SPECIFIC CALLS TO ACTION
As talent is increasingly sourced globally, there is a growing
supply-demand gap for skilled and mobile, work-ready graduates
who are interculturally resilient, experienced, and confident
in applying their skills and knowledge across a variety ofgeographic, cultural and workplace boundaries. Work-integrated
programs with opportunities for international experiences offera proven model to address this gap. A goal of the Global CWIE
Charter is to scale up global CWIE programs to address thesechallenges through a commitment to the following three calls toaction:

1

Call to Action 1: Increase the number of quality global CWIE
opportunities for the students of Charter supporters to obtainmeaningful, international, work-integrated experiences -- afocus on scaling up.

2

Call to Action 2: Develop and deliver educational offerings
specifically designed to enhance student intercultural
fluency and resilience – a focus on equity, diversity andinclusion agendas.

3Call to Action 3: Facilitate the development of a global CWIEquality assurance framework -- a focus on global QA.

THE GLOBAL CWIE CHARTER MARKS A JOINTCOMMITMENT BY CWIE STAKEHOLDERS TO
DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF WORKREADY, INTERCULTURALLY FLUENT, AND GLOBALLYCOMPETENT WORKERS. CHARTER SIGNATORIES ARECOMMITTING TO LEADING THE WAY BY ENSURINGTHE DEVELOPMENT OF MORE QUALITY CWIEPROGRAMS AND EXPERIENCES.

6MEASURING PROGRESS
WACE, in consultation with identified
Global CWIE experts, will set specificgoals for each of the Calls to Action andmonitor progress on a regular basis. Inaddition, WACE will lead an explorationof the development of indicators suchas the Global Human Capital Index* tomeasure collective impact.
Once launched, WACE will continue
to encourage adoption of the Charteraround the world and measure thisgrowth on a regular basis.

* The World Economic Forum Human Capitol Report 2017
states as a goal: Preparing people for the future of work.
It measures this using The Global Human Capital Index,
which provides a means of measuring the quantifiable
elements of the world’s talent potential so that greaterattention can be focused on delivering it. By measuring
countries’ talent resources holistically according toindividuals’ ability to acquire, develop and deploy.

7

LEADERSHIP COUNTS
In order for CWIE opportunities to beavailable for as many higher education
students as possible around the world, several
key stakeholders must step up. Support
from Higher Education, Employers, andGovernments is critical to this mission. Chartersignatories are taking such a leadership
position by supporting this bold initiative toscale up CWIE across the globe. In so doing
they are at the forefront of an educational
wave that will internationalize our notionsof work readiness and help develop the next
generation of globally ready work finders andcreators.

8

KEY PRINCIPLES FOR ACTION
This Charter is underpinned by the following principles:
The Charter goal and calls to action are intended to complement andsupport related National and Regional strategies and raise that work
up internationally as appropriate.
WACE will seek out like-minded organizations with whom to partner
in an allied capacity in order to reach shared goals. (e.g. global
internship organizations, study/learning abroad organizations,UNESCO etc.)
Successful scaling up of CWIE opportunities around the globe
will necessarily seek to bring together the sometimes differing
aspirations of business and industry, higher education, governments,
civil society, and our graduates / future workers.
Operationalization of the Charter Calls to Action will consider botha “what is the greatest good for the greatest many” and a “what isneeded for the few” to help ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion
with respect to CWIE participation.
The Charter is a living document and will benefit from regular refreshing.

9SHARED COMMITMENT OF
CHARTER MEMBERS
Signing the Global CWIE Charter reflects your organizations’commitment to:••••

Promoting Cooperative and Work-Integrated Educationin its many forms as a key educational strategy for thedevelopment of internationally work ready graduates.
Working with international and external relations offices
to ensure that CWIE exchanges are regularly included inpartnership and mobility agreements.
Advocating, as appropriate, for improved access to work
permits for international work experiences and exchanges.
Exploring the development of bi-lateral CWIE exchange
agreements with other Global CWIE Charter and WACEmembers.

••
•
•
•

Sharing resources and data with other Charter members
for the advancement of Global CWIE.
Supporting professional development for staff and faculty
regarding international CWIE within your organization.
Supporting the development and implementation ofquality assurance standards for International CWIE toensure quality and articulation of CWIE experiences acrossglobal institutions.
Supporting the development and implementation ofinternational work readiness learning resources forstudents (e.g. intercultural fluency, global citizenry,language training, etc.).
Hiring qualified international students for work-integrated
opportunities within your organization whenever possible.

10RELATEDRESOURCES

1Bridging the Gap Report 2019:https://discover.rbcroyalbank.com/bridging-the-gap-whatcanadians-told-us-about-the-skills-revolution/

Learning in the2 Work-Integrated
21 st Century: Global Perspectiveon the Future (Eds. Bowen andDrysdale, 2017)
A compilation of current thinking regarding challenges andprojections for CWIE, impacts and affordances of new technologies, and work readiness for a diverse world.
https://www.emeraIdinsight.com/doi/book/10.l 108/
S1479-3679201732

3 The UN Charter: Article 55
Article 55 : With a view to the creation of stability and wellbeing which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle ofequal tights and self determination of peoples, the UN shallpromote: a. higher standards of living, full employment andconditions of economic and social progress and development and b. solutions to international economic, social,health, and related problems; and international cultural andeducational cooperation.

4 The Conversation
This is an independent, not-for-profit media outlet thatuses content sourced from academics and researchers.
Since the Australian website’s launch in March 2011}21it
has expanded into six editions, with the addition of a

United Kingdom (UK) version in 2013,131 United States(US) in 2014,141Africa in May 2015,151France in September 2015,161 Canada in June 2017,171and Indonesia in
September 2017.l8I The Conversation publishes all content
under a Creative Commons license and, as of May 2018,
reports a monthly online audience of 10.7 million users
on-site, and a reach of 35 million people through creative
commons republication.)
The operating company The Conversation Media Group is a
not-for-profit educational charity owned by The Conversation Trust. The Conversation is funded by the university andresearch sector, government and business.
From the Conversation: (see link below for morere this forum): Universities have a responsibility
to grow the pool of borderless leaders...who havethe capacity to transcend disciplinary, operationaland geographical boundaries to solve complex
problems” (How to future proof university
graduates, The Conversation Oct 15, 2015
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheConversation (website)

5 UNESCOUNESCO works to create the conditions for dialogue among
civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect forcommonly shared values. It is through this dialogue that theworld can achieve global visions of sustainable development encompassing observance of human rights, mutual
respect and the alleviation of poverty, all of which are at
the heart of UNESCO’S mission and activities.
The broad goals and concrete objectives of the international community - as set out in the internationally agreed
development goals, including the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) - underpin all UNESCO’s strategies and activities. Thus UNESCO’s unique competencies in education,
the sciences, culture and communication and information
towards realization of those goals.

11

UNESCO believes that education is a human rightfor all throughout life and that access must bematched by quality. The Organization is the only
United Nations agency with a mandate to cover
all aspects of education. It has been entrusted tolead the Global Education 2030 Agenda throughSustainable Development Goal 4. The roadmap toachieve this is the Education 2030 Framework forAction (FFA).
UNESCO provides global and regional leadershipin education, strengthens education systems
worldwide and responds to contemporary global
challenges through education with gender equality
an underlying principle.
Its work encompasses educational developmentfrom pre-school to higher education and beyond.
Themes include global citizenship and sustainable
development, human rights and gender equality,
health and HIV and AIDS, as well as technical andvocational skills development.

6 Educating for the Future Index“Educating for the Future Index” is the first comprehensive
index to evaluate education systems across the globe andassess how effective they are in addressing the educationneeds of the future. Launched in 2017 by the Yidan Prize
Foundation in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence
Unit, this year’s index will unveil the Worldwide Educating
for the Future Index, evaluating how 5O developed anddeveloping economies representing nearly 93% of global
GDP and most of the world’s population are preparing thenext generation for an uncertain and volatile future.

12For more information about the Global CWIE Charter,
contact: wacepres@sfu.ca.