higher education Archives - Polytechnics Canada

Workforce development key to industry success

By Randall Anthony Communications | June 4, 2025 | Originally featured in The Globe and Mail

Accounting for more than 10 per cent of Canada’s GDP and for exports of over $354-billion annually, manufacturing is a powerful economic driver that spans industries ranging from aerospace and agrifood to medical devices, wood products and beyond.

Bolstering the sector’s potential resilience and growth depends on a workforce with up-to-date skills and competencies, says Sarah Watts-Rynard, CEO at Polytechnics Canada, an association representing research-intensive, publicly supported polytechnics and institutes of technology.

New Report: Polytechnics Address Major Labour Market Gaps

May 22, 2025

May 22, 2025 – OTTAWA – At its annual gathering of polytechnic leaders last week, Polytechnics Canada released a new report connecting critical labour market demand in five key sectors to the skills development programming offered at its member institutions.

Linking hands-on education at the 2025 Polytechnic Showcase

By Aaron Wepp | May 14, 2025 | Originally featured in the Winnipeg Free Press

Representatives from more than 10 Canadian polytechnics are in Winnipeg for an annual conference that allows them to share ideas and projects in progress.

The 2025 Polytechnic Showcase kicked off Wednesday at Red River College Polytechnic’s downtown campus.

Under the theme, “Propelling Canada’s productivity,” the two-day event is exploring how polytechnics — post-secondary institutions that offer applied and hands-on learning — are propelling the country toward a more prosperous future.

It’s In Our DNA

Polytechnics operate at the intersection of learner and labour market – where Canadians go to become job-ready and where businesses go for solutions. Because leadership is in our DNA!

watch video

Download

Skilled & Ready: Polytechnic Solutions for Canada’s Labour Market Demand

April 29, 2025 | 2.58MB | Download pdf >

Polytechnics Canada worked with researchers at The Conference Board of Canada to illustrate the extent to which polytechnic education responds to labour market demand for talent in the five provinces where our member institutions are located. Using data from Vicinity Jobs, Statistics Canada and its proprietary Model of Occupations, Skills and Technology, The Conference Board assessed more than 2 million job postings in 2023, compared wages by credential and provided five-year job forecasts.

Key findings include:

The most in-demand skilled occupations can be found in five clusters: healthcare, skilled trades, information and technology, tourism and hospitality, and care occupations including childcare, social services and early education. All five clusters demonstrate robust hiring demand in 2023, despite cooling in the overall job market. Employment in these fields is projected to experience steady growth in the next five years.
Employment and job postings data reveal significant labour shortages in the five high-demand occupation clusters, particularly for skilled workers with post-secondary education. Job postings requiring apprenticeships, diplomas or certificates offered substantial wage premiums and increases in 2023.
Polytechnics Canada member institutions offer programming that prepares graduates to work in 86 per cent of in-demand skilled occupations within these five clusters.

Book Summary: Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre by Niigaan Sinclair

April 28, 2025

Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre is a compilation of 79 essays by Niigaan Sinclair, an Anishinaabe scholar and writer, as well as opening keynote at the 2025 Polytechnic Showcase. Divided into four parts – The Land, This Place, Streets and Rivers, and Gifts – the essays are concise and powerful, each offering a minute reflection of Indigenous life and experience in Canada.

The book speaks to the complexities of Indigenous life in Winnipeg, a city that is home to Canada’s largest urban Indigenous population with nearly 91,000 Indigenous residents (~12 per cent of its population) in 2021. It tackles themes of colonialism, resilience and reconciliation while exploring the stories and people behind the headlines.

Restoring Canada’s healthcare system: The role of polytechnics

By Alexandra Hornby | April 7, 2025

Canada’s healthcare system is under duress. Wait times for surgical and other therapeutic treatments were 198 per cent longer in 2023 than in 1993. More than one in five Canadians don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner and 60 per cent of those who do can’t get a same-day or next-day appointment.

While government investments in healthcare are critical, one of the biggest challenges that Canada’s healthcare system faces is timely and affordable access. This is where polytechnic institutions make important contributions, readying the future workforce, supporting sector innovation and by working directly within their communities to deliver healthcare training and services.

Download

Polytechnic Applied Research

March 31, 2025 | 531.31KB | Download pdf >

Applied research is an important way that Canada’s polytechnics support small- and mid-sized businesses that lack internal R&D resources. This four-page brief includes annual statistics gathered from our member institutions and provides ideas for how to maximize the impact of applied research in Canada.

Strengthening economic resilience through access to talent and applied research

By Randall Anthony Communications | March 28, 2025 | Originally featured in The Globe and Mail

While Canada continues to contend with long-standing challenges – including lagging productivity, lack of housing supply and labour shortages in the health sector – a recent call to safeguard national interests comes amid geopolitical upheaval stemming from disruptive U.S. foreign policy.

For a sound response, Sarah Watts-Rynard, CEO of Polytechnics Canada, proposes bolstering collaboration between industry, government and post-secondary education with a common goal: to strengthen economic resilience.