A model is presented for establishing or improving cooperative relationships between higher education and the employment community, as part of the American Council on Education's Higher Education/Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) Project, which was supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. Attention is directed to types of education-employer joint efforts, linkage components, cooperative planning in education-work linkages, and linkage barriers and problems. Joint efforts include cooperative education; work-study programs; apprenticeships; internships; clinical experience; required volunteer work; faculty consulting and part-time work with the private sector; teaching or lecturing at the college by business and industry specialists; student visits to work sites; student initiative projects and competitions; membership and participation in occupational and civic organizations; advisory committees; special events (e.g., career days); involvement of business/industry representatives in college support programs (e.g., career planning); and activities and materials funded by government agencies, foundations, and corporations. Advisory councils enable the business, labor, government, and professional sectors to help colleges and universities plan and implement better cooperative programs and to include those special groups. Commom areas where problems may arise in designing and implementing joint ventures include the following: budget and cost factors, corporate and institutional policies, legal restrictions, long-range planning considerations, and neglect of management or learning principles. The Industry-Labor Education Council in Utica, New York is briefly described, along with eight programs in which colleges contract with business and industry. (SW)