Best Practices

Canada’s 13 leading polytechnic institutions are critical to building the skilled, adaptable workforce needed to strengthen Canada’s productivity and competitiveness. In 2024–25, Polytechnics Canada members served 481,900 students and graduated 161,200 workforce-ready learners, while providing industry-aligned education, hands-on training and pathways for lifelong learning. Their programs directly respond to Canada’s national priorities, from skilled trades and infrastructure to artificial intelligence, defence, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Polytechnics also help turn Canadian innovation into economic growth. Through applied research, they partner with businesses to develop new technologies, solve real-world challenges and bring ideas to market. In 2025–26, our members conducted 4,166 applied research projects with 2,825 partners, with every dollar invested in polytechnic applied research generating between $8.09 and $18.49 in economic and social value. Strengthening Canada’s polytechnics means investing in the talent, innovation and productivity needed for a more competitive and resilient economy.

This brief provides high-level, collective statistics gathered annually from our members.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action provide a roadmap to reconciliation and the revitalization of relationships between Canada, Canadians, and Indigenous Peoples and communities. Within the Calls to Action, education is a prominent theme.

Polytechnics recognize their role in the healing journey between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. While acknowledging they have much to learn on the path to reconciliation, these institutions have made an ongoing commitment to addressing the history and legacy of colonialism in education. This is a long-term commitment.

In this publication, learn how Canada’s polytechnics have attempted to reflect on and embed the diverse knowledge and culture of Indigenous Peoples in:

• Institutional frameworks & plans
• Campus spaces & symbols
• Pathways to post-secondary education
• Cultural supports on campus
• Partnerships with Indigenous communities
• Teaching & learning programs

The critical role of Canada’s frontline workforce has never been more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In industries like healthcare and emergency response, technology, agriculture and construction, Canadians rely on the essential workers who keep the country fed, functioning, safe and healthy.  When it comes to developing the skills of Canada’s frontline workforce, polytechnics are the post-secondary institutions feeding this talent pipeline.

Preparing Canada’s frontline workforce is no easy task.  Training essential workers requires developing a combination of skills, techniques and knowledge that prepare students to respond to dynamic workplace realities.  An applied, hands-on approach to learning that is aligned with sector-specific needs includes workplace experience, simulation, virtual and augmented reality, and practice.

In this publication, learn more about the credentials, programs and professional development opportunities that contribute talent to our frontlines by:

• Keeping Canada healthy
• Keeping Canada safe
• Keeping Canada fed
• Keeping Canada connected

Report after report on the future of work speaks to the skills that set humans apart, including dynamic problem-solving, teamwork and adaptability. The challenge is to develop the workforce we need today while empowering learners with the skills to succeed tomorrow. Canada’s polytechnics are ideally positioned to lead the charge. Among Canada’s post-secondary institutions, polytechnics have proven themselves to be adaptable, agile and well-connected to industry. They deliver up-to-date and in-demand skills across sectors and to all age groups. They support hands-on, applied and technology-enabled classroom and workplace learning. Best of all, they have the unique ability to pivot quickly as the ground shifts.

In this brief, learn how polytechnics are creating a work-ready talent pipeline that is prepared to take on the future of work, featuring:

• Industry-responsive education
• Industry-academic collaborative spaces
• Mid-career retraining
• Bridge training and advanced placement
• Applied research

The global climate emergency represents one of those rare occasions when the interests of youth, business and politics converge. Even as the social and economic impacts of climate change are increasingly apparent, questions persist about how to move forward and from where leadership will come.

At the intersection of talent development and business innovation, Canada’s polytechnics are well-positioned to address environmental sustainability in three important ways:

• As publicly funded exemplars of net-zero and eco-friendly buildings, behaviours and experimentation
• As hubs for the development of “green skills” among the thinkers and doers who will drive continuous improvement
• As innovation intermediaries, helping businesses rethink their processes, products and systems

Applied research refers to an exceptionally broad range of supports delivered in response to industry demand. Polytechnic institutions across Canada mobilize state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and expertise to deliver solutions for partners across industrial and social sectors, often with the help of student talent. As a result, institutions have a flexible and agile applied research infrastructure that adapts to the unique requirements of a partner and their project. In most cases, intellectual property is retained by the business partner, creating an environment that amplifies the incentive for creative engagement and supports ongoing collaboration.

In this brief, we highlight a number of the projects underway and expertise available at our member institutions. Together, they showcase:

• How applied research supports business development, leveraging innovation know-how to drive business performance
• How applied research contributes to social development by leveraging innovation to improve life in Canada
• How applied research is developing next-generation talent by leveraging innovation challenges

Canada’s workforce is facing two distinct pressure points – an aging workforce and the emergence of disruptive technology. As new technologies become pervasive, the current workforce and recent graduates alike must develop new and in-demand skills to stay relevant in the labour market. As the pace at which Canadians are retiring also increases, the talent pipeline must become more efficient, with qualified workers ready to fill looming vacancies. While these issues are affecting the workforce broadly, the skilled trades are facing these dual challenges faster than most.

In this compendium of stories and examples from across our institutions, we identify the four ingredients of excellence in skilled trades training:

• Future-focused facilities that reflect the ongoing critical role skilled tradespeople play in Canada’s economy
• Innovative training delivery that responds to the pressures apprentices face to both return to trade school and maintain workplace connections
• Supporting greater diversity and inclusion in the skilled trades by building confidence and competency among those groups currently under-represented
• Inspiring leaders, who share their expertise and experience with apprentices who are just starting to imagine where a career in the trades will take them