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Opinion: Alberta’s post-secondaries get down to work graduating talent and problem solvers

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A shortage of talent or, as Calgary Economic Development defines it, “a skilled workforce of bright minds with big ideas,” is one of the tallest hurdles our city and province face in diversifying and growing the economy. Governments, industry, chambers of commerce and post-secondaries are collaborating to attract, retain and train talent. Universities are contributing to this mission in a number of ways.

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When employers consider recent graduates, they seek those with a solid base of instruction in their field, some experience and who can adjust quickly to a changing environment and work well with teams. Employers above all look to hire those who can solve problems and think critically. 

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An emphasis on teaching critical thinking and problem solving, as well as science, technology, business, health and community fosters well-rounded graduates who are prepared for a career or further studies, and for life. While some people panic at the notion of a broad liberal education or think it condemns graduates to a life of underemployment, countless research studies prove otherwise. As we tell students at Mount Royal University: you never know where life will take you. A multidisciplinary education means they are better prepared for whatever opportunities come their way. 

University was a life-changing experience for me. I’ve jumped from being self-employed to a career in human resources in the private sector where I focused on management training, before returning to a university setting as both an academic and a senior administrator. This was not at all what I would have imagined was possible growing up or even while studying at university.

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One of the ways students learn what is possible and what is expected is from work experience, and it is through Work Integrated Learning that universities combine academic learning in a program of study with problem-solving and its application in the workplace.

Decades ago, as a psychology student interviewing for a summer position at a locked residential facility for troubled youth, I was asked by skeptical staffers what I would do, given my purely theoretical education, if a client threw a chair at my head. 

My answer — “Duck!” — seemed to win them over as it suggested some basic problem-solving abilities. While the way we treat youth in crisis has thankfully improved vastly, I believe this experience still points to the underlying value of Work Integrated Learning, merging the theoretical with the practical.

With funding from the provincial and federal governments, CED is developing an online portal for WIL opportunities that will allow students from seven post-secondary schools in Calgary to connect with industry. These can be offered as co-ops, internships, applied research projects or field placements.

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Students from programs ranging from computer science, finance and justice studies to information design, education, nursing, social work and more have benefited from learning this way. Matched employer grant funding helps with hiring and mentoring emerging talent.

MRU works with close to 5,000 points of contact providing WIL opportunities and more than 70 per cent of MRU degrees have a practicum placement or co-op requirement. MRU and other post-secondaries also work with the Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning ihub, which is funded in part by the government of Canada’s Innovative WIL program. To make these initiatives work, particularly with small businesses and the not-for-profit sector, it’s important to invest time and resources to find what employers are trying to achieve, and to help them understand what students need, and can provide, in return.

Alberta’s strategy for post-secondary education aims to see the province become the first to offer work-integrated learning to all students. It’s a steep learning curve for all involved but the potential payoff is enormous. Personally, I love that students from all disciplines can teach me things about how the world works, and students can do that for a wide range of organizations as they gain practical job skills.

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As our economy evolves, many graduates are creating their own careers through contract work and by starting businesses. There is an assumption that entrepreneurs are born, not made, but Alberta’s business schools beg to differ. At MRU’s Bissett School of Business, the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship supports the development of high-impact talent. MRU was part of a consortium hosting LearningCITY 2022 at Platform Calgary’s Innovation Centre, rethinking the future of learning and talent.

The Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, of which MRU is a regional hub, is also enabling and inspiring business owners, most recently with an event bringing together Indigenous women entrepreneurs, artists, innovators, and sector leaders to celebrate Indigenous women entrepreneurs, and examine the opportunities and barriers they face.

Meanwhile, MRU’s Bridge to Canadian Nursing is helping internationally educated nurses get the credentials they need to join our health-care system. Students in the program, the only one of its kind in Alberta, come from all over the world. A provincial expansion of these programs will help address shortages of trained nurses, including MRU student Hana Sahyouni, originally from Lebanon, who has been trying to get back to practising nursing for seven years. 

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The potential for “bridging” programs in a variety of sectors to help new Canadians join the workforce is vast and much needed, according to a report from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce (Unlocking our Talent Potential: Refining our Immigration Policies to Grow our Talent Pool) that looks at barriers and solutions to filling jobs through immigration. Likewise, microcredentials will continue to grow as an opportunity for people in early and mid-career build their skills and pivot to new jobs.

While visiting MRU’s satellite Field of Crosses earlier this month, I was further reminded of an even higher need for the thinking skills and experiential learning discussed above. Freedom House looked recently at the rise of authoritarianism and a 16-year decline in global freedom, finding that only 20 per cent of the world’s population lives in a free and democratic country. As we face climate change, the ongoing pandemic, reconciling with Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, rising cost of living and shortage of talent, democracy itself is under threat. This has dire implications not only for the values for which the former students, alumni, staff and faculty honoured by those crosses gave their lives, but for our current well-being that depends on the rule of law, equality and embracing human rights. 

Governments, community groups, industry and the non-profit sector continue to work on solutions to these daunting challenges, but it is universities above all who are graduating the “bright minds with big ideas” needed to overcome them. 

Tim Rahilly is the president and vice-chancellor of Mount Royal University.

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