Alberta is Investing $43M to Plan the Advanced Skills Centre at NAIT, to Train an Additional 4,200 Apprentices Yearly

May 31, 2024

Alberta’s workforce is currently facing a shortage of skilled trades workers, making life more expensive for families and leaving job openings unfilled. To meet the demands of a growing economy and create opportunities for students in high-demand fields, Alberta’s government is investing in the new Advanced Skills Centre (ASC) at NAIT.

The ASC will deliver the most comprehensive, leading-edge apprenticeship and technology-based education in the world, focused on training in four key sectors: construction, transportation, manufacturing, and energy.

Planning funds will help prepare for construction, which will start in 2025. The centre will add 640,000 square feet of new, state-of-the-art learning space to NAIT’s main campus and support the evolution and growth of programming over time, allowing NAIT to meet emerging needs to support Alberta’s diverse and competitive industries.

This investment is crucial for ensuring students and faculty have access to the most up-to-date learning and training spaces. In some cases, purpose-built facilities at NAIT are more than 60 years old and have reached their end of life, requiring replacement. When construction is completed, the Advanced Skills Centre will include flexible and adaptable learning spaces that can be expanded to accommodate program growth or the introduction of new programs to meet labour market demand.

Quick facts

• Each year NAIT will see between 30,000 to 40,000 students enrolled in programs across its campuses. Of those students studying in full-time programs, well over 30 per cent are enrolled in apprenticeship and skilled trades programs.

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