Finding meaningful employment is top of mind for all students and, especially, for graduates.
Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to the difficulty faced by students in finding work after graduation, using the terms “youth unemployment” and, more appropriately, “youth underemployment” to identify a labour market where skills don’t seem to match job prospects.
The 2017 federal budget committed $221 million over five years in increased funding opportunities through Mitacs – a not-for-profit that has been working to build partnerships between academia and industry to create a more innovative Canada - to increase the capacity of their work-integrated learning placements from 3,750 to 10,000.
Colleges and institutes and their industry and community partners are eager to access the expanded Mitacs program, to provide more students with this valuable experience and boost the innovation capacity of local employers.
The Business/Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) also recently announced an exciting joint initiative with the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) and seven universities and colleges to provide 10,000 work-integrated learning placements by the end of 2020.
The success of the work-integrated learning (WIL) approach is undeniable. BHER’s October 2016 “Taking the Pulse of Work-Integrated Learning in Canada” report identifies WIL as systematic training (apprenticeships), structured work experience (co-ops, internships, mandatory professional practice and field experience), and institutional partnerships (applied research projects and service learning).
Colleges and institutes have long worked with industry partners, particularly small and medium-sized business (SMEs), to perfect this approach and include WIL in nearly all the programs they offer. Applied research projects on campuses across the country also offer students opportunities to gain skills through hands-on experience while also contributing to the success of Canada’s innovation ecosystem.
The federal government is also trying to address issues related to youth unemployment via Budget 2017’s commitment of an additional $395.5 million over three years for the Youth Employment Strategy (YES), which aims both to help youth develop the skills and knowledge they need to participate in the labour market, and to help employers make more skilled-job opportunities available.
As part of the YES, CICan’s Clean-Tech Internship program has helped bridge the skills gap by connecting college and institute students with employers working to build a clean, green Canada.
DO COLLEGE STUDENTS QUALIFY?
In July, Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) released an open letter yesterday to all Members of Parliament and Senators, urging them to ensure that the funding for new work‑integrated learning opportunities announced in the 2017 federal budget is accessible to all postsecondary students in their communities.
With its focus on skills and innovation, the budget was warmly welcomed by Canada’s colleges and institutes - as was the promise of more work-integrated learning placements through Mitacs, a non-profit organization offering research internships that connect students with industry.
Until now, Mitacs internships have been open only to university graduate students; but the wording used in Budget 2017 signalled a welcome policy shift by clearly referring to all postsecondary students and graduates.
However, there now seems to be some uncertainty about that shift, and questions as to whether students and graduates from colleges, institutes, cegeps and polytechnics will be eligible for the program.
“It is absolutely essential that eligibility for Mitacs internships be expanded to include college and institute students and graduates,” said CICan President Denise Amyot. “This is not only to ensure that all postsecondary students have an opportunity to access these valuable learning experiences, but also to meet the needs of business and employers who state clearly that they want to work with the skilled technicians, technologists, designers and developers trained at colleges and institutes.”
CICan, in collaboration with Polytechnics Canada, is engaged in active discussions with federal officials and Mitacs about how to implement the 2017 Budget commitment in a manner that is both equitable for students and responsive to the needs of business. Members of the two associations, which include over 125 postsecondary institutions located in every province and territory, reached out to their local MPs and senators over the summer. They will drive home the importance of implementing the budget measures in a way that fully responds to the needs of students, graduates and employers in their region, and takes full advantage of the potential to strengthen the economy in ways that benefit Canadians from coast to coast.
