We are very grateful to the Alumni that took the time to complete the survey and provide valuable insight into the recollection of their internship and experiences in Japan.
Read the Brief Alumni Survey Report
Of the 569 Canada-Japan Co-op program alumni who participated in the program between 1991-2005, 152 students were located by email and 48% responded to the electronic survey.
The objectives of the survey were threefold, with the intention to:
- Receive current data from Canada-Japan Co-op Alumni on the usefulness of their participation in the program upon contemplation after graduation
- Receive feedback on what alumni liked and disliked about the program to assist in the review of best practices and strategic initiatives
- Provide supporting data on program outcomes to our member institutions, the Embassy of Canada in Tokyo, JETRO and our Canada-Japan Co-op employers
In summary the highlights of the survey include:
- 93% recommended participation in the program to undergraduate students
- 89% maintained contact with co-workers/friends in Japan
- 98% demonstrated Japanese language improvement
- 100% acknowledged understanding of Japanese culture improved
- 87% acknowledged understanding of Japanese business practices improved
- 51% identified participation influenced on a business perspective
- 93% identified personal perspective influences by work experience in Japan
- 75% advised participation influenced future planning
- 60% influenced employment opportunities and decisions
- 62% interested in mentoring a Canada-Japan Co-op Student
- 63% interested in receiving a Canada-Japan Co-op newsletter
- 77% interested in attending a Canada-Japan Co-op reunion
Alumni also provided valuable information on areas of the program the liked least and why:
- 27% program too expensive
- 27% identified the immersion program should be improved
- 14% felt there was not enough program support
Canada-Japan Co-op alumni have had the opportunity to work in various industries and types of positions throughout Japan. A summary of reported alumni project responsibilities include:
- Audio processing
- Cement research
- Combustion and environmental research
- Communication handling subsystems
- Computer programming on facial recognition
- Computer vision
- Electron conductance research
- Energy optimization
- Fibre optic communication
- Food ant oxidation
- Gene cloning
- Graphics and visualization software design
- Hardware design
- Heat transfer analysis
- Home electronic and appliance networking
- Image processing
- Machine translation
- Mathematical equations for mobile related projects
- Nanomaterials
- Patient research
- Polymer reactor design
- Real time analysis of wireless devise protocols
- Research in human motor control
- Robotics
- Software development
- Statistical analysis
- Steel corrosion research
- Telecommunications
- Tire development
- Vehicle dynamic simulators
- Virtual reality simulation
- Voice recognition
- Wireless communications