Cooperative Education Programme at the KBS

The Kemmy Business School at UL has a strong employability focus and is committed to equipping students and graduates with skills and competencies they will need to build successful careers. 

In an Irish context, Cooperative Education (co-op) was pioneered by UL in 1972, wherein the Cooperative Education & Careers Division (CECD) has responsibility for the deployment of the co-op work placement programme.  Since its inception, co-op has grown into a unique and compulsory degree element spanning 50+ undergraduate programmes.  As one of the largest of its kind in Europe, the co-op programme facilitates the annual placement and mobility of over 2,500 undergraduate students among its vast network of employer partners, spanning 25 countries.  Supporting and facilitating KBS students with an opportunity to evaluate their skills and learning in the workplace provides a solid foundation to safeguard their future employability.  This is partly the basis upon which UL was awarded a 5-star employability rating by the QS-Stars World University Rankings Agency, Overall Winner at the AHECS Employability Awards (2022), Best University Employer Partnership at the Global Careers Services Summit (2022) and Matrix Quality Accreditation (2023). 

Driven by the ever evolving and competitive employment landscape, students of the Kemmy Business School (KBS) at UL are encouraged and guided in the development of the requisite skills and necessary attributes to sharpen their competitive edge.  As a core element of a UL student’s undergraduate experience and a key part of their formative learning, the co-op placement affords KBS students the opportunity to apply their class-based learning to dynamic and challenging workplace environments, whilst forging lifelong networks.  KBS students are competitively sought by flagship employers across a wide range of sectors from the financial services to the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and consultancy domains. 

The co-op programme is a critical point of external engagement for UL and is a defining feature of KBS’s corporate connectivity – and this engagement is bi-directional.  The CECD fosters engagement with new and existing employers, both national and international, whilst similarly managing on-campus activities and events.  Without question, the global dimension of the programme is significant, with KBS students routinely securing roles in CECD employer partner firms across 15 countries, including Luxembourg, France, Spain, Germany, and the USA.  In addition, as Ireland is the largest European hub for US FDI, the high numbers of Irish-based multinationals with EMEA reach or beyond afford KBS students the experience of “internationalisation at home”. 

Find out all you need to know about UL’s Cooperative Education programme here and the Graduate Outcomes of KBS graduates here.