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Five careers later, he's top of his SFU business class

Bernie Maroney, who notched up a near-perfect grade-point average at Simon Fraser University's Segal School of Business, had this to say about his stellar achievement: "I should have done better."  Source.

University gives tradespeople a lift into management

Thompson Rivers program tries to change the perception of skilled trades, universities. Source.

Lifelong Learning Plan

The Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) allows individuals to withdraw funds from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to finance training or education for themselves or their spouse or common-law partner.  Source.

Federal Budget: R&D, Science, Technology

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will make a serious nod to Canada's researchers, innovators and graduate students in Monday's federal budget, followed up soon afterward with a major government policy paper on science and technology. The plan now is for the policy framework to come out possibly within days of the budget, insiders say. It will dovetail with an upcoming policy paper on the environment, which will have a heavy emphasis on research and technology.  It will also mesh with increased transfer payments to the provinces for post-secondary education included in the budget. Full article here.

Training staff pays production dividends

Who needs training, anyway?  Is it really necessary to put employees through more training sessions? Does it help the company or just cost a bundle with no discernible results?  Training counts, says Anne Golden, head of the Conference Board of Canada. It's still the best way to improve productivity, and we'd better get on the bandwagon fast, Golden says.

It's a knowledge economy now, so an employee's knowledge must be constantly updated. If you don't get on top of changes, he warns, you won't be valued as much in the workplace.  One major skill that ought to be developed in any career is business acumen, Pangarkar said. "You have to understand the business side of things, no matter your type of business.  Full article here.

Your Money Matters

ASPECT has developed the first Canadian online financial literacy learning tool for people with barriers to employment called “Your Money Matters". With funding from Vancity and support from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) and Social Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI), ASPECT created an online program addressing basic banking, budgeting, credit and saving issues. A needs assessment survey of community-based training organizations identified a gap in the tools to help unemployed or under-employed individuals with their financial capability skills. Check this out. 

Seniors & learning in Canada

You don’t stop learning when you grow old; you grow old when you stop learning. This has been the motto for the Seniors Program at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for decades. Learning is widely recognized as an important factor in keeping a person’s mind active and agile. Brain experts believe that active learning helps maintain brain health by preventing loss of brain function and cognitive skills such as memory, reasoning, and judgment. Increasing numbers of older adults are enrolling in various forms of continuing education in Canada. At SFU alone, enrolment among mature students (age 55+) increased dramatically from 297 in 2000 to over 1,100 in 2005. Many seniors across Canada are also engaged in active informal learning.  Full article here.

BCIT - Non-Profit Management

Vancouver is home to scores of talented administrators who, perhaps fed up with the daily grind of having to maximize profits while yearning for something more meaningful in their lives, want to make the switch from running a private company to managing a non-profit organization.  Full article here.

New Driver Apprenticeship Program

Nineteen-year-old Janet Lembke is no stranger to the world of traditionally male-dominated pursuits.

Already an avid dirt biker and trained mechanic, Lembke is now set to start a career in an industry that has historically offered few opportunities for women -- trucking -- although that may be changing.

"It [becoming a trucker] just kinda' happened," said Lembke, who, according to others in the business, handles an 18-wheeler like she was born for the job. "It [trucking] is still male-dominated," she added in an interview. "But you get used to it. You have to definitely like what you're doing."

Lembke is one of the first three graduates of a new Professional Driver Apprenticeship Program by long-haul Surrey-based trucking firm Coastal Pacific Xpress (CPX) Inc. It was created to both train new drivers for the business and address a shortage of drivers.

Full article here.

Private Training

Private schools took the top 12 spots in the Fraser Institute's controversial annual ranking of B.C. secondary schools for 2006.

Six Lower Mainland private schools tied for top spot.   More info here.