Co-op for Students

The co-op position has to be related to your field of study and match your previous work experience level (if you have any). If you obtain a co-op position on your own, you need to submit the offer letter to the Career Services Department (before accepting the actual job). Once your co-op is approved by the Career Services Department, you may continue with the co-op registration process.

No. The co-op program is mandatory at RIT Croatia and the responsibility of finding and completing the co-op rests with you. Also, you are not directly placed into a co-op position, but rather you apply and go through the same hiring process you will have once you start looking for a job after graduation (which is great practice). The Career Services Department will facilitate many co-op opportunities and help you with the search and placement procedure.

The minimum co-op requirement per single co-op block is at least ten weeks at 40 hours per week (total of minimum 400 working hours over ten weeks) for Global Business Management/IB, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Web and Mobile Computing students, and at least five weeks at 40 hours per week (total of minimum 200 working hours over five weeks) for New Media Design students.

Standard USA-based academic credit is not given for co-op.  However, you will receive a grade for a registered co-op. Based on the employer evaluation and co-op requirements, you can get two grades: “S”- satisfactory or “F”- failure. You will receive a grade “S” if the minimum co-op requirements have been met and the employer evaluation is satisfactory. You will receive a grade “F” if the minimum co-op requirements have not been met if the employer evaluation is unsatisfactory, or if the Career Services Office witnesses that during a co-op check, you are not working at your registered co-op.

Not all co-ops are paid and this varies from employer to employer. The level of co-op salary also differs and it is ultimately up to the employer to decide. Mostly, employers base it upon comparable co-op salaries and a candidate's experience. As a benchmark, below you may find the approximate hourly rates of co-op salaries in Croatia from Student Centre: Administrative jobs 4,38€, Accounting jobs 4,50€; Restaurant jobs 4,38-7€; Customer care/Call center jobs 4,38-6€; Sales jobs 4,38-7k€; Tourism jobs 4,38-8€; IT jobs 4,38-8€.

You are advised to visit the Career Services Office as soon as you feel concerned about your co-op placement. We will evaluate the co-op search, make suggestions, and provide additional service that will assist you in meeting your goals. Please make sure you address your concerns with Career Services Office at least a month before the actual co-op start date, so we can look into assisting you.

Effective for students first enrolling at RIT Croatia as of the 2021-22 academic year in Global Business Management,/IB, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Web and Mobile Computing programs, 12 ECTS points are earned for each co-op course. For students enrolled before the 2021-22 academic year, no ECTS points are assigned to co-op. Students enrolled in the New Media Design program will receive 6 ECTS points for each co-op course.