• Canada’s educational and training programs are world class in terms of both curriculum and resources – at the leading edge of manufacturing requirements.
• Educational and training programs combine both practical and academic skills.
• Education encourages cross-disciplinary learning.
• Educators and students are aware of manufacturing and business requirements.
• Young people have the opportunity to enter a vocational path in technical and trades training.
• Manufacturers and businesses generally are knowledgeable about the educational and skills training capabilities resident in Canada’s colleges and universities.
• People across Canada have access to local educational and skills development programs relevant to business in their communities.
• Educational and skills training programs are customized for business and easily accessible by workers.
• Academic and skills credentials are easily portable across the education system.
• Manufacturers, schools, colleges, and universities working together to identify and meet future skills requirement.

Challenges

• Manufacturers do not rate the effectiveness of Canada’s educational system very highly when it comes to its ability to meet the current skills requirements of the industry. While 47% of participants in CME’s 2004 Management Issues Survey say that community colleges and institutes of technology are either effective or very effective in meeting their requirements, the approval rating drops to 44% for university graduate programs, 28% for post-graduate programs in universities, and only 27% for high schools.
• Primary schools in Canada are seen to lag behind those in other countries in reading, writing, mathematics, and science.
• High schools are not effectively equipping the workforce with basic employability skill, including discipline and responsibility for health and safety.
• There are not enough opportunities for young people to enter into technical education of trades training programs in Canada’s high schools. Technical programs have been cut back in many school systems.
• Those aspects of Canada’s primary and secondary educational curriculum most in need of improvement include problem-solving, trades and vocational training, personal responsibility and basic employability skills.
• Primary and secondary school diplomas are widely seen only as records of attendance, rather than credentials of achievement.