About TalentED YYC
Whether you wanted to hire a student, learn about government grants for interns, leverage Canada Summer Jobs funding, or create a student opportunity, TalentED YYC was the one-stop shop for integrating education and employment in our city.
The Secretariate
The Secretariate team managed the TalentED YYC pilot project and was based out of Calgary Economic Development. The team provided expert guidance to employers, collaborated with post-secondary partners to identify work integrated learning best practices, managed the TalentED YYC website and portal, and reported on the project’s progress.
Executive Director: D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika, P.Eng, PMP.
Employer Engagement: Megan Kinal (Manager), Koli Agbing, Nihal Amin, Marie St. Antoine
Marketing & Communications: Megan Matthies (Manager), Kyle Carbert, Judy Uwiera, Beth Legese, Maddie Murch, Linda
Project Coordinator: Oyungoo Ganbaatar
Strategy and Evaluation: Tang Choy (Senior Manager), Hilary Krygsman (Manager), Jose Tolosa (Manager), Lucas Maliniak, Jason Brooks, Maryam Revington, Olaleye Ojo, Rochana Ramanathan
The Calgary WIL
Community of Practice (CoP)
The Calgary Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Community of Practice (CoP) was comprised of the Secretariate and staff from the 10 partner organizations. This included post-secondary staff who worked in career services, academic departments, student life and wellness, partner engagement, work integrated learning, the registrar’s office, and many more areas that support students. The CoP also included employer representatives from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Nonprofit Chamber.
The CoP met regularly to collaborate, share best practices, and connect on how to make it easier for employers to work with post-secondary students in Calgary.
Executive Advisory Group (EAG)
The EAG consisted of senior executives from partner organizations, including Provosts or Vice-Presidents Academics from post-secondary institutions, and Presidents, Managing Directors, Executive Directors, or Vice-Presidents from other partners. They met regularly to oversee the project and provide high-level direction on how to collectively improve Calgary’s work integrated learning environment.
Project History
TalentED YYC was a collaboration of 10 partners working to build Calgary’s skilled talent pool by supporting employers to engage post-secondary students in relevant work experiences. This pilot was the largest known work integrated learning collaboration in Canada.
The partnership aimed to streamline the process for employers to engage post-secondary students through meaningful work integrated learning opportunities including internships, co-ops, field placements, community service learning opportunities, projects, and practicums. Empowering employers to involve post-secondary students in their organizations creates talent pipelines and equips students with job-ready skills, key factors for a strong economy.
Championed by Calgary Economic Development, components of the 2022 to 2025 pilot project included the creation of a secretariate team to provide guidance and support, a digital resource platform that offered a central portal to post student opportunities, and a 3rd party evaluation.
