Legal confusion presents challenges for expanding work-integrated learning opportunities As experiential education and work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities expand across Ontario and the rest of Canada, a new paper by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) cautions that a lack of clarity on a number of WIL legal issues is becoming increasingly challenging for […]
Tag: Work-Integrated Learning
Work-Integrated Learning
Work-integrated learning (WIL) and experiential education (EE) are hot topics. This focus has been amplified by recent recommendations from the Business Council of Canada and the Ontario Premier’s Highly Skilled Workforce Expert Panel, as well as reinforced by comments from the Premier, that 100% of postsecondary students should have at least one WIL or EE […]
The Business Council of Canada has added its voice to the now ubiquitous call for the expansion of postsecondary experiential education. The general direction and intent of the recommendations are sound, although we worry about the capacity to find meaningful experiential education opportunities for all students. HEQCO and others have long argued the benefits of […]
New guide helps practitioners enhance the quality of work-integrated learning opportunities Work-integrated learning (WIL) is becoming increasingly popular in higher education; almost half of Ontario’s postsecondary education students will take part in some form of co-op, placement or internship by the time they graduate. A new guide from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario […]
David Trick, Guest blogger Having occasionally chided my friends at universities and colleges for not knowing enough about each other’s systems, I should confess to one of my own blind spots: I have not paid enough attention to apprenticeship. For historical and institutional reasons, apprenticeship in Ontario is often seen as being outside the realm […]
Work-integrated learning benefits students’ careers – but some benefit more than others Internships, field placements, co-op and other forms of postsecondary work-integrated learning (WIL) help college and university students clarify their career interests and get jobs relevant to their education and career ambitions, according to a new report from the Higher Education Quality Council of […]
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Martin Hicks – Wrenches and scalpels
I was thinking about this fall’s HEQCO conference “Hands on: Exploring apprenticeship and the skilled trades.” We are broadening our focus to embrace pieces of the postsecondary mosaic beyond public colleges and universities, and the conference is but one manifestation. And yet, even as we do so we are aware of a trade off (pun […]
We can puff out our chests with pride. The most current OECD numbers show that Canada still tops the charts for postsecondary attainment — number one in college attainment, number one in overall attainment for 25 to 64 year olds. And Ontario’s at the top of the heap in both college and university attainment for […]
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 […]