Commentary Student debt debates have among other things enlivened conversation about the nation’s long-standing emphasis on college. With so many graduates unable to repay the cost of their education, questions naturally have arisen about whether college effectively serves the economy’s skills needs and, accordingly, whether many now in college might do better with some other…

The federal government is announcing nearly $247 million to help create more than 25,000 apprenticeship positions in the skilled trades across Canada. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough says the money will fund 13 programs to help small- and medium-sized employers offer apprenticeship training. In a news release, Qualtrough says that more than $45 million will go…

Prisoners in England and Wales will have the opportunity to enter apprenticeships or get trained in “skills of the future,” the government has said on Friday. Writing in The Times, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said they’re working on introducing apprenticeship programmes into prisons so offenders can turn their lives around and…

Canada has a shortage of tradespeople that will worsen this decade unless educators, employers, and policymakers respond, according to a recent report by the Royal Bank of Canada. “Powering Up: Preparing Canada’s skilled trades for a post-pandemic economy,” says the nation is on pace to be 100,000 tradespeople short within five years. The 56 Red…

In one of his latest executive actions, President Joe Biden has discontinued an industry-led apprenticeship system launched under the Trump administration, shifting the control over those programs back to the federal government. The Trump initiative, known as Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program (IRAP), was created in 2017 as a parallel to the existing Registered Apprenticeships, which are…