About TalentED YYC
Whether you want to hire a student, learn about government grants for interns, leverage Canada Summer Jobs funding, or create a student opportunity, TalentED YYC is the one-stop shop for integrating education and employment in our city.
The Secretariate
The Secretariate team manages the TalentED YYC pilot project and is based out of Calgary Economic Development. The team provides expert guidance to employers, collaborates with post-secondary partners to identify work integrated learning best practices, manages the TalentED YYC website and portal, and reports on the project’s progress.
Executive Director: D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika, P.Eng, PMP.
Community of Practice Development: Hilary Krygsman (Manager) Lucas Maliniak
Employer Engagement: Megan Kinal (Manager), Koli Agbing, Nihal Amin, Marie St. Antoine
Technology & Data Systems: Jose Tolosa (Manager), Maryam Revington, Olaleye Ojo
Marketing & Communications: Megan Matthies (Manager), Kyle Carbert, Judy Uwiera, Beth Legese, Maddie Murch, Linda
Research & Evaluation: Tang Choy (Manager), Jason Brooks
The Calgary WIL
Community of Practice (CoP)
The Calgary Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Community of Practice (CoP) is comprised of the Secretariate and staff from the 10 partner organizations. This includes post-secondary staff who work 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 includes employer representatives from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations.
The CoP meets 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 consists 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 meet 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 is 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 is the largest known work integrated learning collaboration in Canada.
The partnership aims 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 include the creation of a secretariate team to provide guidance and support, a digital resource platform that offers a central portal to post student opportunities and an independent evaluation to determine future scalability and expansion.
