R. Lastra
University of Manitoba and Past CAUCE President
As technology transforms the workforce, lifelong learning must become a continuous journey. Apprenticeships, continuing education, and professional development all play a vital role in preparing Canadians for the future.
Canada’s skilled labour challenge cannot be solved by preparing people for one job at one moment in their lives. Apprenticeships and hands-on training are essential pathways into rewarding careers. But in an economy being reshaped by artificial intelligence, automation, demographic change, and the transition to cleaner industries, nearly every career will require continued learning.
This is not merely an economic issue. It is also a democratic and social one.
In his 1784 essay “What Is Enlightenment?”, Immanuel Kant offered a simple challenge: Sapere aude (“dare to know,” or “dare to use your own understanding”). His point was not that people lack intelligence, but that they can become accustomed to letting others think for them. Education, at its best, gives people the knowledge, confidence, and courage to think, judge, and act for themselves.
That Enlightenment ideal remains urgent. In the 21st century, education cannot end with a diploma, apprenticeship, or first job. An informed and adaptable population is essential not only to productivity, but also to democratic resilience, social cohesion, and our capacity to navigate rapid technological change.
For more than a century, university continuing education units have extended the social mandate of Canadian universities beyond the traditional campus and degree. Rooted in the extension movement, they were created to bring university knowledge to people and communities that might otherwise have limited access to it. Their mission remains remarkably current.
Today, university continuing education serves people entering postsecondary education for the first time, adults returning after many years, internationally educated professionals building pathways into Canadian workplaces, and working Canadians seeking to update or redirect their careers. Some complete full programs; others return at different stages of life for shorter, focused learning.
The education provided is equally broad. It includes career-focused programs in cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, clean energy, digital business, and artificial intelligence. It also includes learning that strengthens our collective capacity: reconciliation, leadership, community development, media and digital literacy, and other matters of public importance.
University continuing education is especially valuable because it combines responsiveness with academic credibility. These units translate university research and disciplinary knowledge into accessible, applied learning, often in partnership with employers, governments, professional associations, and communities. They can respond quickly to changing needs while maintaining clear learning outcomes and standards of quality.
The Canadian Association for University Continuing Education, or CAUCE, strengthens this work nationally. For more than seven decades, CAUCE has connected university continuing education leaders across Canada, supported professional practice, shared evidence and innovation, and provided a collective voice for lifelong learning and workforce development.
Canada needs skilled workers, but it also needs lifelong learners. Apprenticeships, degrees, professional education, and short-cycle training should therefore be understood not as competing pathways, but as parts of a connected learning ecosystem through which people may move over a lifetime.
Our future depends on more than filling today’s vacancies. It depends on cultivating the enduring capacity to learn, adapt, participate, and contribute. Sapere aude remains sound advice: dare to know and keep learning!
