Human Resources committee  In Europe, they really value the craftsman and there is no shame in pursuing an apprenticeship straight out of high school and then pursuing higher education. In Canada, it's seen as a third or fourth route if you couldn't get into college or university. Philosophically, that has

Human Resources committee  To answer your question, I'd say the fundamental problem is that we're treating the apprentices as employees instead of students. We need to see them as students, treat them as such, and provide them with the support that we provide to other post-secondary students. If we keep

Human Resources committee  Good morning. A recent New York Times article by Thomas Friedman explored how welders use math and science every day. For example, they have to use math when computing angles or understanding metallurgy, not to mention when figuring out how different gases, pressures, and tempe

Industry committee  In a case where industry is the one that posed the problem and the academic institution, be it a college or university, develops the solution, industry is part of that on day one. It would have the commercialization plans. In a case where it's an academic discovery that has comme

Industry committee  Thank you, Nobina. The first fix is to invest in the sole program in the granting council suite that solves industry-identified problems and addresses the market pull. This is the college and community innovation program administered by NSERC, and it is bursting at the seams. Th

Human Resources committee  Every college in the country offers a variety of essential literacy skills upgrading programs, but there's one very interesting initiative of the SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary. They know that all the students have smartphones, iPads, and BlackBerries. As part of the trades training

Human Resources committee  On your specific question about how somebody with no background in the trade would be hired on by an employer to begin the apprenticeship process, Conestoga College in Kitchener--Waterloo has a fantastic program that takes high school students and gives them a first year of train

Human Resources committee  The 52 red seal programs vary between two and four years, and most take four to six years to complete.

Human Resources committee  Thank you. One of the major impediments is just the data itself. It's simply not available. There are no coherent data on what the actual completion rate is, and nobody is able to explain how many apprentices are enrolled at what level in what programs across the country. And b

Human Resources committee  Yes. I believe the threshold for accessing a student loan or financial support for a college or university student is 12 weeks of a program. Most apprenticeship programs for the in-class training are only eight weeks, so they are given the option of going on EI, but that amount o

Human Resources committee  And giving the apprentice the option of either EI or a student loan would be a fine compromise.

Human Resources committee  Yes. Our apprenticeships are paid, so 80% of the training is done on the job, paid, and then 20% is go back to the classroom and learn to get to your next level. I've recently read a study that compared 20 different variables of all the European countries and their apprenticeshi