Ontario colleges need 30,000 more students to fill job demand
While college teachers around the province are preparing to strike over workload and demanding the system hire more instructors, Ontario colleges want to add 30,000 more students and millions in funding.
During the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) conference held in Sudbury last month, all 24 Ontario colleges agreed that in order to meet the skilled workforce demand, full-time enrollment must increase by 30,000 by 2011.
“We aren't producing the numbers of highly skilled graduates needed to replace an aging workforce and strengthen Ontario's competitive advantage,” said Dr. Rick Miner, chair of the colleges' committee of presidents.
Presented in a report entitled, What We Heard, the colleges estimated that 70 per cent of new job openings require some form of postsecondary education, while only 53 per cent of young people between 25 to 35 years old have the corresponding education.
The goal in Ontario is to increase enrollment by 40 per cent by 2011.
“Ontario needs postsecondary graduates to succeed and most of the graduates will have to be educated and trained in the colleges,” Miner said. “Our political leaders must set a course of action for the workforce challenges ahead and Ontario colleges must be central to that vision.”
By adding 30,000 new full-time students to the college system the government would need to increase it's annual budget by more than $200 million; a price ACAATO says is necessary to keep jobs in the province.
“We need to establish a National Skills Strategy and set real targets for increasing the number of highly skilled and trained workers in Ontario,” said Fanshawe College President, Howard Rundle, who supports the initiative to increase college enrollment.
Report contributors, which include educators, students and businesses, are worried that a lack of skilled and educated workers in the province could create an employment backlash in manufacturing, the auto sector and Northern paper mills.
“Ontario is losing jobs, 30,000 in the manufacturing sector in January 2006 alone, and needs colleges to support a revitalized economic model,” a statement issued by ACAATO said.
In recent months Fanshawe has been chosen for skilled trades education improvements, such as a pre-apprenticeship course expansion and the new Centre for Construction Trades and Technology, which opened for student use in the fall of 2005.
During the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) conference held in Sudbury last month, all 24 Ontario colleges agreed that in order to meet the skilled workforce demand, full-time enrollment must increase by 30,000 by 2011.
“We aren't producing the numbers of highly skilled graduates needed to replace an aging workforce and strengthen Ontario's competitive advantage,” said Dr. Rick Miner, chair of the colleges' committee of presidents.
Presented in a report entitled, What We Heard, the colleges estimated that 70 per cent of new job openings require some form of postsecondary education, while only 53 per cent of young people between 25 to 35 years old have the corresponding education.
The goal in Ontario is to increase enrollment by 40 per cent by 2011.
“Ontario needs postsecondary graduates to succeed and most of the graduates will have to be educated and trained in the colleges,” Miner said. “Our political leaders must set a course of action for the workforce challenges ahead and Ontario colleges must be central to that vision.”
By adding 30,000 new full-time students to the college system the government would need to increase it's annual budget by more than $200 million; a price ACAATO says is necessary to keep jobs in the province.
“We need to establish a National Skills Strategy and set real targets for increasing the number of highly skilled and trained workers in Ontario,” said Fanshawe College President, Howard Rundle, who supports the initiative to increase college enrollment.
Report contributors, which include educators, students and businesses, are worried that a lack of skilled and educated workers in the province could create an employment backlash in manufacturing, the auto sector and Northern paper mills.
“Ontario is losing jobs, 30,000 in the manufacturing sector in January 2006 alone, and needs colleges to support a revitalized economic model,” a statement issued by ACAATO said.
In recent months Fanshawe has been chosen for skilled trades education improvements, such as a pre-apprenticeship course expansion and the new Centre for Construction Trades and Technology, which opened for student use in the fall of 2005.
