Province boosts tech training openings
More than 400 seats to be created
The Alberta government is funding more than 400 new post-secondary seats, including a new master’s program in software engineering at the University of Calgary, in an effort to boost the province’s growing tech sector.
The additional seats are part of the government’s five-year, $50-million investment in growing Alberta’s tech sector. The goal is to add at least 3,000 new tech-related seats to post-secondary institutions across the province by 2023.
Most of the new seats announced for this September are being added to existing tech-related post-secondary programs that offer certificates, diplomas or degrees, and are one to two years in duration.
The chosen programs have already demonstrated high student and labour market demand, according to a government news release.
In Calgary, the U of C will receive funding for 40 student spaces in a brand-new master’s degree in software engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering.
According to the provincial Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Alberta is projecting a labour shortage of computer and information systems professionals by 2025, as well as a shortage of software designers, programmers and developers.
“The world is on the verge of a digital revolution that will transform how we work, live and play, and it is our responsibility to prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist today,” Bill Rosehart, dean of the Schulich School of Engineering, said in a news release.
SAIT will receive funding for 98 new seats in its Information Technology diploma program, and 48 new seats in its Object Oriented Software Development certificate program.
Bow Valley College will receive 30 new seats for its Software Development diploma program.
Outside of Calgary, Edmonton will receive 169 of the new techrelated seats and Lethbridge will receive 21 seats.
Earlier this week, the provincial government announced the creation of a Talent Advisory Council on Technology, which will work with the tech industry, students, labour and post-secondary institutions to advise government on how best to provide training opportunities so that Albertans can succeed in a tech-focused future economy.