Cooperative apprenticeships are a form of structured workplace training in which (a) employers, government agencies, labor unions, or other community or groups join with community‐technical colleges to provide formal educational programs in which structured work‐based experiences are integral credit‐earning parts of instruction; (b) apprentices agree to work for employers for specified periods of time; and (c) employers agree to provide structured and formal training in specific fields or trades over these defined periods of time. These findings are the result of a 2‐year study. We used a case study method for this study, systematically identifying and reviewing factors influencing successful cooperative apprenticeship linkages. The article describes what has been found to work and why, and how these results can be replicated elsewhere by employers in partnership with community‐technical colleges. Dual enrollment of apprentices in associate degree programs is a practice worthy of promotion. Apprenticeships have proven to be more than a training tool. They are a mechanism for potentially bringing together, in a planned and cohesive manner, those human and capital resources within a community to solve human resource education and business training needs. They are a cost‐effective mechanism for employers and government, sometimes in cooperation with organized labor, to provide worker training cooperatively with community colleges. This study was funded in part by a PSC‐CUNY Research Grant, funds made available through collective bargaining by the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York for its faculty. © 1995 Taylor and Francis.
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