Preparing the Next-Generation Workforce
By engaging students, polytechnic institutions provide hands-on opportunities for learners to work alongside employers to solve real-world challenges. This ensures graduates enter the labour market with strong problem-solving skills, employer connections and relevant experience. Employers gain access to a talent pipeline to deal with skills shortages and an aging workforce. More broadly, the lessons learned in applied research are folded back into classroom instruction, creating an innovation ecosystem that gets stronger with each project. Applied research is about leveraging these benefits for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors, creating and supporting an environment that pushes innovation boundaries and propels us forward as a country.
Work-Integrated Learning
Work-integrated learning connects students to employers, allowing them to develop the hands-on, applied and soft skills that are in high demand and can be difficult to develop in a classroom environment alone. While polytechnics offer a breadth of work-integrated learning opportunities to students, one of the most compelling is involvement in applied research projects.
Capstone/In-class
A capstone project, also known as a culminating project or experience, is a research project that allows a student to demonstrate their learning. Capstones and other in-class projects often involve external partners as part of the experiential learning process.