Students who participate in a work-integrated learning (WIL) program - such as Cooperative Education during their university studies are often better prepared for the labour market compared to students who do not receive discipline specific practical experience. But does this better preparedness come with a price? Students who participate in WIL programs compared to non-WIL students often have less access to social support networks and the university community due to their alternating academic and work terms.There is reason to believe that the construct of belonging may have especially important implications among university students. There has been growing attention in recent years to mental illness amongst post-secondary students, particularly during their first few years of university study (Conley, Kirsch, Dickson, & Bryant,2014; Storrie, Ahern, & Tuckett, 2010). Research suggests that a sense of school belonging among university students may help buffer the stress associated with the transition to university (Brunwasser, 2012). Pittman and Richmond (2008), for example, found that students who experienced a positive change in their sense of university belonging throughout their first year tended to experience a drop in levels of anxiety and depression related internalizing behavioural problems. A study by Friedlander, Reid, Shupak, and Cribbie (2007), found that when compared to parental social support, higher levels of perceived social support from friends better predicted a healthy social, emotional, and overall adjustment to university among first-year university students. While evidence points to a relation between peer support and sense of belonging and university students' academic and psychological outcomes, such measures do not account for the impact of Social Media (SM) use. This study aims to understand and describe students perception on the role social media play in sense of belonging and peer support and what the relationship(s) arebetween sense of belonging, peer support, social media and well-being. Is really work integrated learning models a way of supporting the transition between H.E and W.L or are we creating other barriers that's needs to be overcome? This study comprise of a questionnaire and focus groups interviews. 164 individuals completed a 30-45 minutes long questionnaire in English, in the end of the questionnaire the students could choose to say yes to participate in a focus group, and it resulted in five focus groups including 15 students representing all four faculties. Preliminary results indicate that the students emphasize the importance of peer-support during both their academic studies and work periods. The Students seem to find solutions trying to achieve this through SM, it becomes a natural tool and creates a platform for students to connect and support each other virtually. In the presentation we will illustrate more results.

In an earlier project (2014-2015) we found that young adults and specifically women was a exposed group when it came to reported psychological vulnerability. This triggered us to design for a new study to learn more about their sense of belonging in and out of study context. We plan to use a mixed methods approach with individual interviews, focus groups, and a broader online survey on students that are enrolled in WIL-programs, the student need to have completed at least a practicum or coop-period prior to participation in the research study. Our next steps will be to start the ethics protocols for both the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto. Thereafter Scotland and Sweden apply for theirs. The research questions is: What gender challenges do WIL students face that impact their career identity, sense of belonging, work self-efficacy, overall wellbeing, sociability, and transition to full-time employment after graduation? What gender specific barriers impact WIL students' perceptions of being valued in the workplace (on the team, in meetings)? What gender specific barriers impact WIL students' perceptions of how employers perceive their technical competencies? What resources do WIL students perceive are available to them from their universities and employers to help overcome these barriers? In the interactive session we will discuss both the research questions/content and the methodological approaches.

For 25 years University West has been the leading university in Sweden when it comes to Work Integrated Learning (WIL) and Co-operative Education (Co-op). This paper describes mainly the sustainable and mutual benefit between the companies and the students. How ever, Co-operative education is a model that does not only benefit the students – it's described as a win-win situation for all partners. This study will provide some explanatory examples from using Co-operative Education as a networking and bridging model between the students, the universities and industry. This model aims to enhance life long learning in the work place. It also provides an opportunity for the university staff to catch up the needs from the industry in their ongoing work – such as new competency development modules, research and development etc. The paper uses an educational design that describes the benefits for participants, as well as it provides an opportunity to scrutinise the possible obstacles that lie within this model. A questionnaire has been distributed to the persons that have the overall responsibility for introducing the student at the company, students that were in their first Co-op placement and students that had finished their second Co-op placement. The results were analysed with a content analysis focusing on text material.