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Partners
Calgary Economic Development
Locations
Alberta

Additional Partners

Mount Royal University, University of Calgary, Ambrose University, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, St. Mary’s University, Bow Valley College, Magnet, Orbis Communications

Topics
Future Skills
Pathways to Jobs
SME Adaptability
Work-integrated Learning
Home| Innovation Projects|Project

Calgary Regional WIL Secretariate and Portal 

Work-integrated learning (WIL) gives people the chance to apply the skills they have learned in the classroom while gaining on-the-job experience and pathways to meaningful careers in  emerging, high-demand sectors. 

Evaluation Report:
Work Integrated Learning Evaluation Report

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Through FSC’s $2.9 million investment, Calgary Economic Development (CED) is developing a one-stop, online portal for WIL opportunities in the region. These paid work placements focus on gaining hands-on experience from industry experts over the course of a student’s academic studies. Placements can be co-ops, internships, applied research projects or field placements.

person using a laptop and writing in a notebook

This innovative model and central platform will support economic growth and inclusion through WIL for post-secondary students, and will benefit jobseekers, employers and the Alberta economy.This initiative will also make WIL more accessible to non-traditional participants such as mature learners, youth, and organizations not typically connected to post-secondary institutions. 

CED and multiple local stakeholders have come together to form a consortium with technology partners Magnet and Orbis Communications, in order to demonstrate the viability of deploying a regional WIL model and to identify and address issues around broader applicability for communities and regions across Canada. 

This work is immediately contributing to Calgary’s economic transformation, while also providing insights for a more systematic way for employers to collaborate with post-secondary institutions. 

Featured Projects

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Research

Making up time: The impact of the pandemic on young adults in Canada

  • November 2021
  • Diversity Institute, Environics Institute
This report explores the experiences during the pandemic of younger adults, defined as those between the ages of 18 and 34. It documents, not only the extent to which Canadian youth as a whole have been especially hard hit economically by the pandemic, but also how specific groups of youth – notably Indigenous youth, Black youth, youth with a disability, youth without a post-secondary education, and recent post-secondary graduates – have each encountered particular challenges.
1 Related Reports
Research

Lost opportunities: measuring the unrealized value of skill vacancies in Canada

  • March 2022
  • Signal49 Research (formerly The Conference Board of Canada)
When an employer wants to fill a vacant job, they are really looking for a set of skills to help them complete specific tasks. Until that employer can recruit a new employee, they don’t have access to the skills they need. So job vacancies can actually be thought of as skill-set vacancies: an unmet need for particular skills.
1 Related Reports
Persons in conversation around a table
Project

Retail Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program

  • September 2025
  • de Sedulous Women Leaders
The Retail Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP) + iLaunchHERproduct, led by de Sedulous Women Leaders and funded by the Future Skills Centre, is a single program with two components that was designed to address the systemic barriers faced by Black, racialized and immigrant women entrepreneurs in retail.
2 Related Reports
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