Align curricula with industry labour needs: report

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada concludes that Canadian post-secondary institutions are failing to meet the skills needs of employers. Entitled Aligning Skills Development with Labour Market Needs, the report calls for improved curricula, partnerships between educators and employers to integrate cooperative education into post-secondary learning, expanding the scope and scale of employee training and ensuring that recent graduates have access to the latest labour market information. The report calls the current environment of rising education attainment and skills shortages a paradox resulting in gaps and mismatches. It notes that graduates of vocationally oriented disciplines are more likely to work in their field and earn more and that cooperative education is key to solving the paradox....