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Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis is launching a program that offers students job opportunities with some of the state’s leading employers in central Indiana.
The Kelley Indianapolis Business Plus Co-op promises to enhance career opportunities for business students and provide a bridge between academic learning and real-world industry experience.
While traditional co-ops take five or more years to finish, students will able to complete the requirements in four years while also gaining on-the-job experience, IU officials said.
“We’re both preparing students for rewarding careers and partnering with the state’s leading businesses to build a robust and reliable workforce pipeline that positions Indiana as a global economic powerhouse,” IU President Pam Whitten said in an emailed statement.
While the business school already offers immersion programs and internships, the co-op program is specifically designed to offer Indiana companies a competitive source of highly skilled students.
“We’ve always been really focused on applied business learning and this just takes that to another level,” said Julie Manning Magid, vice dean for the Kelley School in Indianapolis.
Magid declined to share the names of companies that are considering participation in the program, but she said they include some of the largest employers in the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area across multiple industries.
Students can apply for the co-op program beginning in 2024.
The new program is one of several ways that IU Indianapolis is working to increase the number of job-ready graduates in Indianapolis and make higher education more accessible to Hoosiers.
Last month, the university said it will allow students at Indianapolis Public Schools who have a grade point average of at least 3.0 to receive automatic admission to IU Indianapolis.
About 53% of Hoosier high schoolers went to college in 2021, according to data from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, which is down from about 65% in 2015.
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