Sheridan’s Davis Campus has been handed $559,837 in funding from the province for its Pre-Apprenticeship Programs.
The investment will create placements for an additional 50 students in Sheridan’s General Machinist and Industrial Mechanic Millwright pre-apprenticeship programs. Premier Doug Ford, together with Ministers Prabmeet Sarkaria, Monte McNaughton and Ross Romano, visited the college to announce the funding.
The funding is part of the Ontario government’s total investment of $20.8 million in Ontario’s Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program. The government is also increasing annual spending on the program by $2.5 million this year, creating an additional 200 placements in the program.
“Over the next five years, one in five jobs created will be in the skilled trades,” said Premier Ford. “We need more skilled workers to help us build the roads, transit and infrastructure that we need, both now and in the future.”
Sheridan’s 130,000 sq. ft. Skilled Trades Centre, which opened in 2017, houses technology and equipment, 22 flexible classrooms, a learning commons, and dedicated machining, millwright, welding, tool and die, plumbing and electrical programs. More than 1,700 students are currently enrolled in its training programs.
“In an economic environment where the competition for talent is global and young people are looking for stable, meaningful and prosperous work, the skilled trades offer financially secure and rewarding careers,” said Dr. Janet Morrison, Sheridan’s president and vice-chancellor. “That’s why Sheridan invested $47.5 million in this state-of-the-art facility and is committed to building on our proud history of teaching skilled trades.”
Pre-Apprenticeship training programs are publicly funded, last up to one year, and often combine classroom training with an 8 to 12-week work placement.
Quick hits:
Ontario’s colleges train over 80 per cent of the province’s apprentices.
Retirements in the skilled trades are creating a shortage of skilled workers. In 2016, nearly one in three journeypersons were aged 55 years and over.
Ontario also recently announced $12.7 million in funding for the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, aimed at encouraging more high school students to consider the skilled trades as a viable career.
For more information on Sheridan’s skilled trades programs, visit its website.
