Training team targets skilled trades shortage.

Everyone wants a win-win scenario, especially when dealing with big players.

Within the School of Skills Training at Cambrian College, there is a model that provides working relationships between the school and its students, its governing body, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), and industry.

Established in 1999, the win-win generating model is called Skytech.

Skytech provides industrial training for the existing workforce when there are skills that need to be acquired at employers' requests It also provides trades training programs to students that meet or exceed expectations for employers in cost, quality and technology, according to its Web site.

The college must provide up-to-date curriculum, as well as students whose education is current and meaningful to changing technology in industry. Industry players must provide meaningful placements to the students for their apprenticeships, and MTCU must be in agreement with the arrangements between the two so it meets ministry standards.

The Skytech board is made up of representatives from the college, MTCU, local unions and private industry players such as Inco, Falconbridge, Domtar and Ontario Power Generation, as well as other metal, machining and fabrication industries. The board meets about four to six times a year, and its subcommittees may meet more often depending on the demands of the industries involved.

Anthony Skopyk, the co-ordinator of Skytech, is responsible for organizing board meetings, and co-ordinating all of the industrial training for the School of Skills Training and Skytech, and co-op placements for the students.

"I receive all the incoming requests for employment, deal with all the internal paper work and liaise with the employer and ministry during the work term to make sure everything is moving smoothly," Skopyk says.

Traditionally, a student was required to find an employer with whom to acquire an apprenticeship that was registered with the ministry. Once they log their set number of hours and passed the exams, they write their Certificate of Qualification in order to become a journeyperson in their respective trade.

In the Skytech model, students receive 64 weeks of school training before they set foot in industry, making them more skilled and valuable to employers right from the start.

Due to the extensive educational component, which varies for each program, students are no longer required to write the three exams for possible exemptions. More stringent expectations of student performance are also required before they will be accepted with a prospective employer. They must have a grade-point average of at least 2.0 out of 4.0, with no deficiencies. The college also evaluates students based on a matrix, which covers 13 dimensions, specific to the practical lab components in their course.

Industry's part is to provide a meaningful placement. During that period, they monitor the student's progress and acquired skill sets.

The increased tracking of student performance during both their educational and work term placements has made the model a very attractive one for prospective employers, according to Michel Barbeau, dean of the Schools of Skills Training and Skytech.

"I tell the students in September that they are in a very good position when they graduate," he says. "It will be fulfilling, challenging and rewarding financially."

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He says employers that get the full benefit are the ones that will work this model to the fullest, as many of the apprentices could be future employees, trained to meet that company's needs.

Skytech also provides training for industry. Today, industry board representatives can combine their requests and create training modules that meet similar needs at a lower cost, according to Barbeau.

"If you develop a model for something all the partners can use, then they'll be able to share the course development and cost," Barbeau says.

The school offers customization specific to industry, too. For example, Domtar recently had a laser light alignment course delivered via the college's eDome, an electronic delivery agent on Cambrian's Sudbury campus. They also deliver material via their WebCT, an online educational system. These innovative methods are becoming the pick of the litter for employers due to the current skilled trades shortage.

"As an educational sector, we need to be at the front end to try to meet the increased demand as new technology comes out," Barbeau says. "We have one goal: to bring skilled labour up in numbers and competencies."

To date, the Skytech model is a one of a kind, but Barbeau believes other colleges will implement similar models because it works so well. Cambrian's most recent partnership with Confederation College in Thunder Bay and Northern College in Timmins is a strong indication other educational institutions are getting onboard.

Cambrian will receive $2.8 million over two years from Queen's Park to support its existing co-op apprenticeship programs: millwright, heavy equipment mechanic, industrial instrumentation mechanic and industrial electrician, all of which are under the Skytech model. The money will also enable them to start a machining apprenticeship program in September 2005 and to bolster the present Skytech program, in partnership with the two Northern colleges.

Presently, Northern College's millwright program is one year long. This new partnership will enable them to adopt Cambrian's Skytech model so their students can transfer over to the second year of the millwright program at Cambrian.

In the same model, Confederation is partnering with Cambrian's heavy equipment program, which will be available for second-year students.

Barbeau calls these positive developments for students and industry.

"The more that industry is aware of the model, the more placement opportunities will happen for our students," he says.

http://homepages.cambrianc.on.ca/skytech/

By ADELLE LARMOUR

For Northern Ontario Business