re received requesting funds from Title VIII in excess of 8 million dollars for the administration of Cooperative

ucation programs.

It is apparent that a concentrated initiative has been erted to shift the direction of grant-awards in such a way at Title VIII funds could and would be used to convert tally several urban universities to Cooperative Education. such a shift in direction is successful, it is likely nat small institutions or even large ones in non-urban reas would be ineligible to compete for grant-awards under itle VIII at the current appropriation level. In a recent essage to the membership of the National Cooperative ducation Association, the president of this professional ssociation stated, and I quote, "If such a shift in direction S successful I fear that the posture of Cooperative Education In this country will be threatened.

Several hundred institu

tions are currently in the process of building Cooperative Education programs using Title VIII funds as seed money. We all recognize as does Congress that it takes several years

for

a program to reach the point at which it becomes selfsustaining.

Changing the intent and process by which Title VIII funds are awarded would in effect 'jerk the rug out' from under many institutions in the middle of their building efforts." It is apparent that Congress has recognized the potential of Cooperative Education through Federal assistance, and if the urban initiative is supported with Federal dollars, it definitely

should not be at the expense of the non-urban colleges or universities currently in the process of developing a sound Cooperative Education program. It is recognized that several years are needed for institutions at all levels to develop sound Cooperative Education programs, and this was also supported by the action of Congress in the 1976 Amendments of the Higher Education Act by extending the years of eligibility for Federal support from three to five years while increasing the amount which may be awarded to a single institution for administration costs from $75,000 to $175,000; yet, during Fiscal Year 1978, the average award to an individual institution was $42,641.

If Title VIII legislation is to achieve its Congressional it is imperative that it be applied fairly and equally, and not be modified indirectly to benefit a

intent,

limited number of institutions.

Recommended Revisions Title VIII:

Sec.

It is recommended that Title VIII be revised as follows:

1

to enable the Commissioner to make grants pursuant to section 802 to institutions of higher education, or to combinations of such institutions, for the planning, establishment, expansion, or carrying out by such institutions or combinations of programs of Cooperative Education, (Such programs shall provide alternating periods of academic study and of public or private employment, the latter affording students not only the opportunity to earn the funds necessary for continuing and completing their education but, so far as practicable, giving them work experience related to their academic or occupational objectives.) and enable the Commissioner to make training, demonstration, or research grants or contracts pursuant to section 803 not to exceed a total amount in excess of 20% of the

STATEMENT OF ROGER A. HOLMES, DEAN OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, GENERAL MOTORS INSTITUTE, FLINT, MICH.

Mr. HOLMES. Good morning, I am Roger Holmes, dean of ace demic affairs at General Motors Institute in Flint, Mich. On beha of GMI, I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you this morning to tell you that we at General Motors support cooper ative education in the strongest possible terms.

Over 60 years ago we embraced the then new concepts of cooper ative education in the factories of Flint, Mich., and in almost any building we could find in that city, because the needs of a burgeon ing industry called for worker-students and student-workers. This was the beginning of General Motors Institute. GMI is as firm and totally committed to cooperative education today with 2,20 students as it was in its infancy.

In other towns and cities of the Midwest, enterprises that were embryonic divisions of the corporation hired cooperative students from the pioneer of cooperative education, the University of Cincinnati, and from other universities that were early adopters of the coop concept. Today, in addition to GMI students, General Motors hires approximately 1,000 co-op students each year from over 10 institutions nationwide.

Our commitment to cooperative education is clear: We believe in it, we do it on a sizable scale as both employer and educator, we do it on the basis of responsible corporate principles and we like the results.

It would be easy, as an engineer, for me to portray our commit ment to cooperative education with charts, tables, and graphs: we delight in numbers. But cooperative education is, above all else, a process of people working for the common good of the students, the educational institutions, and the business enterprise.

It is the people that count, and where people count, the princi ples and the beliefs of the corporation count far beyond the tally of dry facts. These, then are our cooperative education principles at General Motors, voiced as both employer and educator of cooperative education students.

First, education is a lifelong process for the productive person Childhood and adolescence are devoted almost totally to forma classroom education. Education in adult years is characterized largely by learning in the workplace with occasional short returns to the formal setting.

The college years, between late adolescence and early adulthood. are ideally suited to a mixture of roughly equal portions of meaningful work experience and demanding, self-motivated formal edu cation.

Cooperative education is the most effective means of showing that one must learn while working and work while learning in an advancing society. We believe that the work-and-learn habits developed by a person during cooperative education will carry into the working years to the benefit of the individual and hence to the benefit of General Motors.

Second, an outstanding form of education combines the understanding of theory and grasp of principles with the enlightment of applications and the reality of practice. In our view, cooperative education is the exemplar of such a form. The ideas of the class

and the experience of the workplace are both enhanced in e mind of the student who discovers the connecting links. Our Nation must make every effort to see that talented youth of backgrounds are prepared to the fullest extent to make their ntributions to society through industry and Government. Third, General Motors can help in the full development of talentyouth while getting our own jobs done through cooperative ucation. Cooperative education enables students to earn a subantial part of their educational expenses. Indeed, we find that onomic responsibility and maturity comes early among co-op stunts; they often graduate not merely debt free, but with a modest ead start.

Talented students, whether from normal or disadvantaged backrounds, graduate with a lot going for them: an education closely upled to the world of work, meaningful work experience, and me dollars to the good.

Moreover, the students have had the opportunity to learn about he range of occupations open to them and the potentials and mitations of fields which interest them. People should choose heir careers as they best see them. General Motors' commitment O cooperative education allows co-op students to make this choice. n an informed basis.

We can give students in our workplaces our views about their best talents as we see them. They, in turn, can see what jobs we need done to get on with our enterprise and size up their hopeful paths in General Motors.

We have no requirement the co-op student join General Motors on graduation from GMI or any other educational institution, and we have not guaranteed the student a job years later in advance either. Still, in the large majority of cases, the student decides that GM offers a promising career and GM decides that the potential graduate will help us prosper.

A career choice has been wisely made and matched to our business needs. The newly hired young engineer or budding manager has an understanding and appreciation of General Motors, the function it fulfills in the provision of goods and services in our economic system, and his or her role in that function. This is a dividend of cooperative education.

Fifth, cooperative education provides a smooth and positive transition into full-time employment at the end of the undergraduate period. The co-op graduate newly hired is immediately productive upon graduation, to the delight of the employer.

It is commonly felt in industrial circles that it takes from 1 to 3 years for the new college graduate to become effective if that employee was not a co-op student. In cooperative education, the time change from neophyte to productive professional is woven into the work-study schedule.

The benefits of cooperative education are not limited to students and industry; education profits as well. General Motors wants its co-op students to carry the knowledge and attitudes gained in the workplace back to the classroom to foster probing discussions of needs and applications in industry. This enhances faculty interest in professional practices and diminishes academic isolation from the world outside the classroom.