Why I’m in love with a Canadian… University

Waterloo and the rise of Experience driven Education

I love the University of Waterloo (UW) in Canada. I love their people. I love how they have saved my ass on several projects and helped me build my start-up. I love that their students can only graduate once they have completed up to 2 years of high quality work experience.

Worryingly, I’m equally surprised at how few people outside of Canada / Silicon Valley seem to know about Waterloo.

It’s why I’m writing this & why you need to read it.

Now here is the funny thing. I've never been to Waterloo — ever! Yet I ‘know’ the university so well via my experiences with their core product. Their excellent people. People who may be the best prepared graduates in the world and primary evidence for why I believe Waterloo’s model needs to be replicated by more universities.

Why I love the Waterloo model;

1. 21st century apprenticeships drive better educational outcomes. Waterloo students graduate with up to 2 YEARS work experience (they call it Co-Operative Education and they support over 140 different Co-Op programs). For Computer Engineering students this usually means working for 4 months at a time, with up to 6 different employers, with an educational semester between each Co-Op. UW balances academic studies with work experience in a way that reminds me of the master and apprentice model of traditional construction trades like stone masons, blacksmiths, plumbers, electricians, etc… For me this is a very clever and pragmatic approach to preparing what I believe are the best ‘digital construction workers’ of the 21st century.
2. Affordable world class education. Waterloo Engineering Co-op students earn an average of $965 per week by their 6th work term. In the 2012/13 academic year, Waterloo students on co-op earned $193 million. While other ‘leading’ universities prefer to saddle their students with eye watering debt, Waterloo makes them rich relative to most other students, or at least as close to debt free as possible. This means that students can get a great education and that the university gets a reliable and sustainable source of revenue. I’m no economist but I think the technical term for this may be ‘Win-Win’!
3. Experience gives students a killer USP (Unique Selling Point). In our YouTube, Blogger, kindle, GitHub, massive online open course (MOOC) world, anyone can learn STEM theory with little more than an internet connection. It’s how you apply it that counts. Therefore students and graduates with proven real world experience have an ‘unfair advantage’ over most other university graduates when starting out in their careers. This advantage erodes over time, but by that stage the UW grad is probably your boss ☺. I've personally observed Waterloo graduates skip entry level graduate grades and achieve promotions faster (deservedly) than normal. Ambitious students know this and that is why the average grade to get into Waterloo was 87.7 per cent in 2012/13. By attracting the most talented students, they can continue to build a ‘virtuous circle’ around the Waterloo brand. Its no surprise that despite only being founded in 1957, it has been consistently voted the most innovative university in Canada (for 22 of the last 22 years)
4. Employers value experience. Technology employers are placing increased value on ‘real world experience’ over ‘academic achievements’. I know I do. Imagine receiving resumes from a UW graduate who has Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Datahug☺and Amazon on their resume. WOW! Now compare that to a top graduate from a more traditional school that probably only has a single internship, experience landscaping one summer, and a number of college projects to their name. Be honest — What graduate are you going to call for interview?
5. Students incentivised to deliver. Waterloo manages the largest co-op Program in the world with 17,300 co-op students enrolled over three semesters in more than 120 programs across 5,200 employers. This means that they are in regular contact with ‘real world’ employers and know what they need. This also means that employers need to provide meaningful experience to students or else they will get blacklisted. As an employer you also get access to detailed exam results and feedback data from previous employers for every candidate that applys to work with you. This allows employers to better evaluate candidates. More importantly, this has the added bonus of ensuring that students care deeply about their work experience grade. Students know that they are graded by every employer and that their prior ‘experience grades’ will directly impact their ability to work for Google/Twitter etc.. on their next co-op. This means that co-ops are highly motivated to deliver and I’ve been consistently blown away by the impact these ‘interns’ have made during their 4 month placements. In most cases they are checking in code on day 1, integral members of the team by the end of week one, and a massive loss to the company when they depart in four months. As a former Management Consultant, I see several parallels with how co-ops approach their time at a ‘client’. They look to add value immediately and leave you always wanting to work with their ‘firm’ again. Luckily, thanks to Waterloo’s semester system, you can have your next co-op ready to join as your previous co-op departs.
6. Peer-to-Peer Learning. Imagine being a lecturer in a database class where your students have just returned from working on the latest technologies (sometimes technology that has yet to be launched ) at Oracle, MongoDB, Sybase, Blackberry, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook etc… Imagine the rich peer-to-peer learning opportunities that can be facilitated to allow students with relevant experience to debate and share the pro’s and con’s of the solutions and approaches they have implemented or supported over the previous four months. Peer-to-Peer, or 360 Learning, is not only more interesting, it is more effective, and it is the style normally used in post graduate / professional development courses where participants are encouraged to share their experiences. Compare this with more traditional undergraduate lectures where the ‘teaching’ is usually one way and dictated by the lecturer via notes and exercises — yawn.
7. Soft Skills built in. After working at up to 6 companies, I feel Waterloo graduates better understand the nuances of office politics, working with different cultures, the advantages of different management styles and how best to work within a team. This gives them a higher initial level of maturity and confidence in the work place. They know what the real world is like and this means they can get down to ‘business’ faster and more effectively.
8. Variety is the spice of life. Undergraduate degrees are typically spread over 5 years, but for the last 3 years students spend every second semester on co-op. This might look like; 4 months at Google in San Fran, 4 months on Campus, 4 months with KPMG in Toronto, 4 months back on campus, 4 months with Datahug in Dublin etc… This also allows students to travel, earn money, build networks and most importantly test out a variety of roles and industries before they graduate. By working with a startup one co-op, with a Finance firm on another co-op, and as a product manager with a large Tech company on another co-op, students can gain a wide variety of experience and market knowledge. This allows them to decide earlier on in their careers what areas they want to specialize in and what areas they want to avoid. This ‘career focus’ also means that employers are more likely to hire graduates that are knowledgeable and motivated about the role and industry they are joining.
9. Brand and Network Effect. The University of Waterloo has more than 169,000 alumni in 145 countries. This means that a Waterloo graduate is instantly connected to a huge and valuable network. Graduates have immense personal networks via all the companies they worked with, and huge 2nd degree connections via all the companies their classmates worked with along with 3rd degree links via their university alumni network. Once you become aware of Waterloo you will begin to notice that senior execs at many Silicon Valley firms regularly have the letters ‘UW’ or ‘Waterloo’ in their Twitter and LinkedIn Profiles. I believe Waterloo is now a hot ‘brand’ in Tech and I imagine Waterloo grads do very well (if not better) when competing for roles against graduates from more traditional Ivy leagues schools like Stanford and MIT. There are not many schools founded in 1957 that can claim to have had this level of disruption.

So, if you are an employer looking to recruit the best engineering talent, a student researching where to get the best engineering education, or an educational policy maker looking for inspiration into the future of education, then I suggest you learn everything you can about the University of Waterloo. [Particularly at undergraduate level in the fields of STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.]

Finally, If I had one ask, I would love to see an Irish University become the Waterloo of Europe. This wouldn't be easy. It would require strong leadership, investment and drive to bring in the changes required to make this happen (i.e. semesterisation, building a co-op department, culture change etc…). However, I strongly believe it would be worth it, as the long term benefits to the economy, our people and the long term sustainability of our technology sector would be huge.

If you happen to know anyone in our education sector then please send them this post and ask them ‘Where is our Waterloo?’

My Waterloo Connection: I first heard of Waterloo while with PA Consulting Group in NY around 2006. At PA I worked closely with several impressive Waterloo graduates and was intrigued by what I learnt about their university. I continued my Waterloo relationship at Datahug where our first Head of Development was a Waterloo buddy from my PA Days. We then went on to hire 6 wonderful Waterloo Co-Ops and brought them to Dublin (Ireland) for four months at a time. These young engineers worked hard and contributed massively to the growth of our company. I’d also like to think they enjoyed the experience too and that they had some great fun travelling around Ireland and the rest of Europe on the weekends. They brought great energy to our young company and on a personal level I’m super proud and excited to have worked with such talented people who are all now working for fantastic companies in the Valley, Seattle, Toronto, NY and Boston.

Thank you to Sara, Laura, Susan, Rossy, Juliana and Joe for their feedback. Go Waterloo!