A Year in Review

Introducing new programs focused on skills development

Skills development, including upskilling and reskilling, is of the utmost importance in today’s rapidly changing economy. It plays a vital role in helping learners and workers stay relevant and successful. Over the past year, we launched Career Launcher Apprenticeships, a program providing financial incentives to small and medium-sized employers in the construction and manufacturing sectors to help them hire first-year apprentices in 39 Red Seal trades. Over two years, 5,360 apprentices will benefit from Career Launcher Apprenticeships, including more than 1,300 from equity-deserving groups. (SDG 8 & SDG 10)

CICan’s Career Launcher Internship program experiences continued successes.

In 2023, Montreal’s Dawson college won the sustainability institution of the year award for its living campus composed of a vegetable garden, monarch nursery, beehives and so much more. Narcisse Hassan, an intern from CICan’s Career Launcher Internship Program played an integral part of the wellbeing and sustainability efforts at Dawson College.

On Canada’s west coast, Sayo Yazumi, arrived in Canada from Japan and found it difficult to find work.  Following the Career Launcher’s Supportive Care Assistant (SCA) program and with the $5,000 stipend from CICan, she attends Vancouver Community College’s personal care provider program. She says, “I’m looking forward to building a career as a health care assistant and open to jobs in long-term care, group homes, or home care.” She adds, “If anyone is considering taking the SCA program, my advice is to go for it!”

We also launched Skills Enhancement for Newcomers, which helps newcomers to Canada develop the skills, knowledge, and practices unique to Canadian workplaces, enhancing their employment profiles. Over two years, 1,000 newcomers will benefit from these targeted microcredentials designed to enhance their professional and employability skills and ease their entry into the Canadian labour market (SDG 4 & SDG 8).

Empowering members through shared resources

Creating and sharing resources with our members is one of the many ways we work to help build their capacity. Over the past year, we developed several new resources carefully designed to address our members’ specific needs and the challenges they face. For example:

• To address the acute labour shortages in the long-term care sector exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched a new National Occupational Standard (NOS) for Personal Care Providers as part of s part of our Building Capacity in Long-term Care For the first time ever, the NOS compiles and documents the duties, competencies, and skills required of the occupation. (SDG 4 & SDG 3)
• To enhance healthcare education and offer nursing, medical laboratory sciences, and paramedicine innovative hands-on learning experiences, educators across Canada can now freely access to over 130 new virtual simulations as part of our Virtu-WIL program. (SDG 4 & SDG 3)

“It was a wonderful opportunity to network across Canada with like-minded individuals who held the same passion for virtual simulation. The professional development sessions were extremely useful beyond the project itself. The creation of the virtual simulation was very professionally satisfying, and I was proud of the work completed.”

– Faculty Membe, Norquest College

• To support our member’s equity, diversity and inclusion goals, resources were created by the CICan Knowledge and Dissemination Centers as part of our CICan 50-30 Challenge Project. These resources are now available and complimentary to the Government of Canada’s What Works Toolkit – an online toolkit for Canadian organizations who are Participants of the 50-30 Challenge. (SDG 10)
• To help newcomers navigate the Canadian college and institute system and the many ways that colleges and institutes can fast track integration into the labour market, we also relaunched the Planning for Canada website with new resources to help newcomers navigate the Canadian college and institute system and many ways that colleges and institutes can fast track integration into the labour market.(SDG 4 & SDG 8)

Over the past year, 4,500 newcomers benefited from Planning for Canada’s pre-arrival services. “The Planning for Canada team equipped us with lots of information and contacts of agencies that supported us from Day 1. In no time, I had a job, too,” says Amar Desai who moved from India to Canada. “I’m glad I connected with Planning for Canada because not only did they guide us about the culture in Canada and what work-life is like, they also provided us with a personalized planning session to help us through the journey.”

Ensuring the continued success of leadership development programs

Year after year, CICan delivers targeted capacity-building programs that equip members with skills and tools to stay at the forefront of post-secondary education and contribute to succession planning. This past year, our leadership institutes, which draw on the latest management concepts and experiences to prepare participants to lead in the college and institute system, welcomed over 190 registrants. It was also the first year we offered a leadership institute for aspiring managers and faculty who are looking to progress in their careers.

Empowering others discover their leadership potential

CICan’s Mentorship Program capitalizes on the expertise and experience of current and past leaders in post-secondary education to build capacity and drive knowledge within the college and institute system. This year we responded to 15 mentorship requests through our ongoing mentorship program, which pairs experienced college and institute presidents and directors general with those who want to work one-on-one with a mentor to address topics or challenges unique to their mandate.

Breaking down financial barriers

CICan offers a number of bursaries that provide financial support to college and institute students in financial need. This year, 24 students facing barriers to participating in and completing post-secondary education, were award $110,000 in bursaries through the CICan Paul and Gerri Charette Bursary Program, and the Bird Construction Inc & Paul and Gerri Charette program.

Recognizing excellence

As we do every year, CICan recognized best practices from institutions across the country and exceptional individuals making a difference within their college or institute and awarded over $10,000 in awards to member institutions, their faculty, student, and staff. Our Awards of Excellence, distributed in partnership with TD Insurance, were announced in April 2022 at our annual conference. We recognized 23 institutions across seven provinces and territories, 11 individuals, one faculty team and introduced two new categories: Excellence in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Excellence in Global Engagement.

Advancing Student Mobility and International Recruitment

As part of our effort to facilitate student mobility and the recruitment of international students, we develop college-specific missions and sector-wide initiatives in collaboration with industry stakeholders to promote Canada’s colleges and institutes internationally and build partnerships abroad. Over the past year, CICan hosted two virtual student fairs. Our Pacific Alliance fair targeted Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico, attracting nearly 1500 student attendees and 17 member institutions. The Francophone Africa fair drew over 2000 students from Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tunisia, and Morocco, with ten member institutions participating. Later in the year, we then organized an in-person business-to-business event in Nepal, where 15 institutions from Canada met with select agents from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, expanding their reach in South Asia.

We also held partnership development missions in Madrid and the Basque region, Spain (June 2022), Abu Dhabi, UAE (Feb 2023), and Tra Vinh, Vietnam (March 2023) that featured 28 different member institutions and more than 50 individuals. Several agreements were signed with agents as part of these missions, while others formalized partnerships to support postsecondary program development in the region.

Strengthening social and economic development abroad

Stronger economies and improved social conditions can lead to reduced inequality, poverty alleviation and enhanced access to education and healthcare. These are among the many reasons we remain committed to strengthening social and economic development abroad, and in 2022-23 launched new initiatives with these goals in mind.

In partnership with Universities Canada, we launched the Canadian International Development Scholarships 2030 (BCDI 2030) program. This eight-year $80-million program strengthens social and economic development — particularly for women — in 26 eligible francophone countries, Commonwealth countries, and Small Island Developing States. More than 7,000 people will benefit directly, 51% of whom are women. (SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 13)

We also launched the Kenya Blue Economy Skills Training Program (KBEST). This seven-year program supports the Government of Kenya in building skills in the Kenyan workforce to establish the country as a competitive presence in the global blue economy. Over 5,000 young Kenyans are expected to benefit directly. (SDG 4, SDG 5 & SDG 13).

And we’re thinking differently about investment. During the last year, we launched FiveThirteen, our new blended finance facility combining a USD $60-million stacked capital investment fund with a USD $20-million grant-funded technical assistance facility investing in and supporting women-led and owned small and growing businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. (SDG 5 & SDG 13)

This year, the Kenya Education for Employment Program supported Kisumu National Polytechnic in an exciting Applied Research project to tackle invasive water hyacinth growth in Lake Victoria.  The lead researcher worked with students to develop a prototype of a water hyacinth harvester, succeeded in identifying a local bio-gas producing company that was interested in using the harvested water hyacinth, and raise awareness in the community about alternative uses of hyacinth such as for fertilizer and the production of artworks.

Enhancing skills through international experiences

When students work and study abroad, they bring back skills and knowledge that benefit everyone. Our Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) program, jointly administered with Universities Canada, increases the participation of Canadians in international learning opportunities.

As of March 31, 2023, 3,269 (59% from CICan member institutions) students have completed or were in the process of completing a GSO-funded mobility experience in more than 100 countries. Most participants (75%) identified as underrepresented students, and 78% of international experiences occurred in non-traditional destinations.