NSERC's CREATE program increases funding for graduate skills training, review underway

The ongoing debate on whether universities are graduating students with job-ready skills has prompted the Natural Sciences and Research Council to boost its support for a program that is attempting to change the training and mentorship culture for young researchers seeking careers in industry, government and academia.

A May 16 announcement launched nine new research teams to develop training programs under the CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) program, offering job-related training for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The announcement brings to more than 100 awards CREATE will have awarded by the end of the year.

CREATE has evolved into one of NSERC's more popular programs, and one that is seeing its budget grow. Funding has risen from just $3 million in its first year (FY09-10) to $29 million in FY 14-15…..

Some 60% of CREATE awards are in the government's four priority S&T areas: environmental science and technologies; manufacturing; information and communications technologies; and natural resources and energy.

"This is beyond technical skills … It's not sufficient to be a technical expert," says Janet Walden, NSERC's chief operating officer. "It's a bridge between academic studies to potential future careers."

A review is currently underway to determine whether the awards' lifespan, funding levels and value-add,are appropriate. It will also examine the current prohibition on renewals — a program feature that's unlikely to be changed. "The intention is not to set up permanent structures but to change the training culture," says Walden. "The intention is to work towards sustainability after the six years."

Expansion of the program's budget has pushed up its success rate from 12.7% in FY09-10 to 16.2% in FY12-13.

Results already evident

For one award holder, the CREATE grant is supporting a team of researchers from three universities and six departments to share best practices while providing a higher level of training for students in advanced degrees. McMaster Univ's Dr John Preston, a professor and chair of the department of engineering physics and director of the NSERC CREATE Program in Photovoltaics, says it affords his team the opportunity to be more adventurous and creative in their research

"It's needed to augment the standard approach to graduate student training with a wider set of skills. It's also given a prod to faculty to think that way," says Preston. "Within the Canadian system, flexible operating dollars are very precious. It allows us to be agile and go after new ideas immediately and capitalize on new opportunities."

Preston's only caveats are the cap of 10 faculty members within the program and the inability to apply for additional funding.

"We want to make sure our students working within the esoteric field of plate cells realize the importance of the technology being commercialized now," he says. "CREATE should also be renewed to 10 years, not just five years (excluding the initial ramp-up year)."

Now in its fourth year, Preston says some students have gone on to jobs in industry and related fields as well as unrelated professions as they discover that the skills they have acquired are widely applicable.

CREATE for aerospace

Two of the nine new CREATE teams are based at McGill Univ, where the May 16 announcement was made. One award recipient is a team led by Dr Stephen Yue, a professor and chair of McGill's Department of Mining and Materials Engineering. The idea for establishing the CREATE Program in Competitive Manufacturing for the Aerospace Industry: Technology and Design came from the highly successful Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ).

The program will focus on advanced manufacturing and design in areas such as aerodynamics, sensors, and manufacturing and materials like 3-D prototyping for designing aerospace components.

Yue says there's a perception and some anecdotal evidence that the aerospace industry was not hiring graduate students once they finished their studies due to cultural differences between industry and academia.

"There's a perception that graduate student are difficult to assimilate and industry was not taking them on —they are more expensive than undergraduates and less flexible," says Yue, who's also director of the McGill Institute for Aerospace Engineering (MIAE). "CREATE will help move the sector up the value chain technologically."

Yue says the CREATE program will serve an equivalent function to the MIAE which provides a steady stream of undergraduates for the aerospace sector, which is largely concentrated in Quebec. He expects more than 100 graduates will move through the program over its six-year lifespan.

"CREATE will provide a top-up to student stipends as participating will take time so it's a kind of incentive," he says. "There will be a formal internship with workshops and seminars and I hope a commitment that industry will interview CREATE students as part of their graduation to see if they want to hire them. The program will change and evolve as the industry says what they want from our graduates."

Students will have access to a wealth of state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, much of it supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Quebec government and NSERC. They will also have access to equipment and facilities of the National Research Council.

"There's a great cross-pollination between the CREATE idea and other programs," says Yue. "The ultimate goal is to make the program sustainable. I hope CRIAQ will take it over once our CREATE funding is finished. CRIAQ has an academy but they haven't done anything with it yet. This is helping to develop a dialogue with them as they are the voice of industry."

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