⚙️ New Models for New Jobs: apprenticeship-integrated degrees, advanced manufacturing collaborations, and more.
With job-ready skills in demand, colleges are embedding apprenticeships, co-designing curricula with employers, and adapting to global shifts in workforce strategy. 🇺🇸 Back to School Summit Sept 9-11 in New York.
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Higher education is under mounting pressure to deliver job-ready talent as clean energy and digital infrastructure investments and demand for skills accelerate. New U.S. commitments, from Corning’s $1.5B solar materials facility to Turner’s xPL Offsite construction arm, highlight demand for skilled labor at scale.
Institutions are responding with new models: degree-embedded apprenticeships, employer co-designed programs, and cross-border collaborations. From Ohio University’s advanced manufacturing collaboratory to India’s apprenticeship-integrated degrees, we’re seeing a shift toward faster, work-integrated pathways. Expect continued momentum around practical, career-aligned education as funding and policy converge on workforce-readiness. Track these new models and other global developments shaping postsecondary education and workforce training on HolonIQ’s platform. Request a Demo today
Ontario Manufacturing Jobs Are Slowly Recovering
📊 Ontario’s manufacturing sector peaked at 1.12 million jobs in 2002 but has declined sharply since, with 321,000 jobs lost from 2003–2018.
🧑🔧 Since 2018, only 8,300 jobs have been added—recovering just 2.6% of prior losses. The sector remains 312,700 jobs below its peak.
🏭 Despite a sharp decline since 2004, Ontario has experienced a significantly smaller drop in manufacturing jobs compared to US states such as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York.
📈 While Canada’s manufacturing activity reached a 22-month high in December 2024, with the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rising to 52.2, challenges such as US tariffs will play a significant role in the sector’s growth.
Subscribe to our Advanced Manufacturing newsletter for more insights on the industry.
Join us in NYC for the 2025 Back to School Summit — September 10–11 🇺🇸
Join 700 CEOs and influential leaders at the 2025 Back to School Summit, September 10–11 in New York City 🇺🇸. Two days of high-impact presentations, private roundtables, fireside chats, and curated networking with top companies, global foundations, and major institutional investors.Register now for Early Bird Tickets. Connect with us to receive the 2025 Sponsorship Brochure.
💪 Power Moves
🤖 The UAE has introduced an AI curriculum in public schools, starting in kindergarten.
🚀 The Nigerian government announced an initiative to train 5M individuals in globally relevant skills to support a knowledge-driven economy.
💡 Udemy launched an Innovation Studio to experiment with new modalities, personalization, and skill-building.
💰 Education Funding
HolonIQ actively monitors and tracks capital flow in the education market, spanning across all regions and transaction categories.
🎓 ubiMaster, a German online education provider, has raised $7.9M to accelerate its growth and international expansion.
💡Skillvue, an Italian skill assessment solution, raised $6.3M to accelerate the development of Skills Assessment Agents.
🏫 Alice.Tech, a Y Combinator alumnus, raised $4.8M for its AI-powered platform that offers personalized learning materials to students.
🖥️ UpMat, a Brazilian EdTech that supports K-12 math education, raised $1.5M to integrate artificial intelligence into its platform and expand its reach in Brazil.
📢 Accenture, a professional services company, has acquired Ascendient Learning, a provider of instructor-led training and industry certifications.
Thank you for reading. Have a great week ahead!
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