New Mexico § 21-1-37 - New Mexico cooperative education program created; administration; duties

§ 21-1-37. New Mexico cooperative education program created; administration; duties

There is created the “New Mexico cooperative education program” which shall be administered

by the higher education department. 1 The New Mexico cooperative education program shall supplement existing cooperative

education programs to allow cooperative education to incorporate employment experience

in rural areas, small businesses and fields not included in traditional campus-based

programs. The commission [department] shall establish procedures to identify employment opportunities

for cooperative education throughout New Mexico in private, governmental and nonprofit

sectors and shall work with the public post-secondary institutions to encourage involvement

of students in the cooperative education program. The commission [department] shall identify those groups of students and fields of

study or employment for which the most severe underrepresentation exists and for which

cooperative education shall be encouraged. The program shall include: A. parallel cooperative education, in which students who are enrolled full-time in

public post-secondary institutions may be employed a maximum of twenty hours in a

career-related work assignment; B. alternating cooperative education, in which students who are enrolled full-time

in public post-secondary institutions may alternate employment in a career-related

field with academic study; and C. summer cooperative education, in which students who are enrolled full-time in public

post-secondary institutions may be employed in a career-related work assignment during

the summer months. 1

References to the commission on higher education are deemed references to the higher

education department; see NMSA 1978, § 9-25-4.1.