How will canada’s polytechnics prepare workers for an automated future?
The automation revolution will be business as usual for polytechnics.
According to a study by the Brookfield Institute, nearly 42 per cent of the Canadian workforce is at high risk of being affected by automation in the next decade or two.
But being affected by automation doesn’t necessarily mean something negative, says Daniel Komesch, senior policy analyst with Polytechnics Canada.
“Some of the rhetoric you hear on job loss from automation is overblown or alarmist,” Komesch says. “As we’ve seen from history, jobs may change, but I don’t think there will be net job loss…. Things will evolve but automation won’t steal the jobs at the level people are reporting.”
Nobina Robinson, CEO of Polytechnics Canada, says she is a “techno optimist” rather than a pessimist. “That seems to be the schism in the broad discussions that are out there,” she says.
In approaching our automated future, polytechnics are uniquely positioned to provide value to the economy. This type of post-secondary institute is closely tied to industry – every program has an advisory committee made up of employers who help direct learning. When automation starts being applied in various industries, the employers will be leading the adaptation of polytechnic programs.
Robinson says it’s the polytechnic students that will be applying the automation, and once it’s applied, they will be the ones programming, monitoring, and repairing the new technology.
The cars might be automated, but someone will still need to fix them.
“HVAC electricians now need to know how to operate the smart grid. People working in the energy sector need to know how to deal with instrumentation to be automated,” Robinson says. “It’s not about seeing programs abandoned or proliferating new ones, but about building that skill as needed by that particular profession or career.”
Automation isn’t always about robots or driverless cars. At Saskatchewan Polytechnic, students helped Regina company Lexcom Systems apply an integrated asset management system – a way to automate documentation for safety and maintenance checks.
Automating this system didn’t eliminate any jobs; it made the company more efficient so it could focus its efforts on more important endeavours.
“To deal with automation you are going to need a combination of people who are going to know the technology and see the application in a real world context,” Robinson says.
For many students, that might mean expanding the number of topics they’re learning. The future of learning is multidisciplinary.
“Multidisciplinary students are learning skills from project management to welding. It’s including learning that’s usually seen in business,” Komesch says. “It’s a curriculum that’s designed for an automated world.”
This fall, Saskatchewan Polytechnic launched the Innovative Manufacturing program, a two-year diploma that’s designed to be cross-disciplinary. Students will learn mechanical and engineering technologies, welding and machining, project management, industrial design, and quality control strategies.
“There are automation changes coming to the manufacturing sector, and tradespeople are integral to that and need to be working right alongside the robots,” Komesch says.
The workforce is changing rapidly, and Robinson says polytechnics allow students to gain a wide variety of skills that will help them succeed.
“For example, how to run your own business, how to be entrepreneurial, how to be part of the innovative companies that are bringing new products to market.”
She calls this “wraparound” training. “It’s training that’s enabling the technician to function as an economic actor in society.”
There may also be a need for experienced workers to return to school. In trades, traditionally the students learn from the journeyperson, but Robinson sees a near future where it will be the journeyperson who needs training in automation.
Whatever changes may come, Robinson says polytechnics are responsive to what the industry needs, which is why those institutions and the people learning there will always be an integral part of the economy.
“[Polytechnics] are institutions that take all the breakthrough knowledge and make it relevant and applicable for the companies that need to know how to use it,” Robinson says. “We’re not training people to become obsolete, we’re training them to be relevant in an automated world.”