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Martin Hicks – Still worth it, after all these years

Last week, the Globe and Mail dissected Ontario’s latest annual university graduate survey results.  Lead conclusion: “recent graduates of Ontario universities are doing worse on almost all measures of employment compared to those who graduated before the recession.”   And more pointedly: “humanities graduates have been particularly affected, with their real earnings dropping steeply from what […]

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Gail Smyth – Bring skilled trades and technologies to education discussion

Guest blogger: Gail Smyth Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades Today’s graduates are facing challenging times; they have been in school for most of their lives, have little to no work experience in their field of expertise and a large number of graduates may be facing years […]

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Stewart Kallio – Canadian apprenticeship completions lag far behind registrations

Guest blogger: Stewart Kallio Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades Work in the trades provides good, well-paying jobs, yet young Canadians do not see the skilled trades as a viable career. Often, they enter an apprenticeship path later in their work career. In Ontario, for example, the […]

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Barbara Endel – Accelerating Opportunity builds pathways to marketable credentials

Guest blogger: Barbara Endel Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades Right now, the United States is facing a major skills and educational attainment gap. Family-supporting jobs increasingly require a postsecondary credential.  It’s estimated that, by 2018, two-thirds of all jobs will require education beyond high school, but […]

What is an internship An inventory and analysis of internship opportunities available to Ontario postsecondary students

Ontario postsecondary internship programs should emphasize educational quality There is significant variation in the structure of internship programs offered in Ontario’s colleges and universities – from length of program to requirements for completion. But a new study from the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQCO) also finds that when viewed through the lens of experiential learning […]

Evaluating Essential Skills for Ontario’s Tradespeople (ESOT) Project

Some apprentices lack foundational math, reading, document use skills Some apprentices lack foundational math, reading and document use skills, which might contribute to low apprenticeship completion rates, according to a report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). Amid concerns by college educators about essential skill levels required for in-school and on-the-job success, […]

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Anthony Mann – Closing the gap between education and employment

Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades   Guest blogger: Anthony Mann If employer engagement in education were a snappier hashtag, it would be trending. Across the world, governments, institutions and organizations are asking themselves how can they close the gap between the worlds of education and employment, […]

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Sarah Watts-Rynard – Building the next generation of tradespeople

Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades   Guest blogger: Sarah Watts-Rynard Despite some debate about whether or not Canada is experiencing a skills shortage – economists say no, employers say yes – the reality is that a generation of expert tradespeople is moving toward retirement age.  Their […]

Employed Adult Learners in Ontario and Canada: Engaged and Disengaged

Research Summary: For employed adults, learning activities don’t (and shouldn’t) end at graduation The individual and social benefits of lifelong learning are well established and numerous government programs are in place to encourage adult participation in continued learning. But a new study from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) and Employment and Social […]