The Co-operative Model of Enterprise

The purpose of the Babson-Equal Exchange Cooperative Curriculum for Graduate Schools is to raise awareness and understanding of cooperatives among students in professional schools throughout the United States and the world. We propose that students graduating from schools of architecture, business, education, law, medicine, public health, science and engineering, and so forth should know about cooperatives both as a possible place to work and as an opportunity to start up a new venture with like-minded colleagues. We further suggest that if students come to recognize the unique value of cooperatives early in their professional careers, they may well patronize and support cooperatives and the values of cooperation throughout their lives—contributing to a world of fairness, ethical commerce, and economic democracy. Of course the materials that we have assembled in this curriculum may also serve other purposes and other audiences. We have specifically selected a Creative Commons licensing arrangement to allow you to use and modify our materials for your noncommercial purposes.