Develop a skilled workforce to grow digital agriculture
We work with industry and academic partners to strengthen the digital agriculture ecosystem by leveraging funding for placements, and introducing students to career opportunities in a diverse and exciting sector! Hiring students through work-integrated learning programs not only helps students gain new skills and connections, it also helps build and strengthen the talent pipeline in the digital agriculture industry. EMILI is passionate about creating opportunities for those with non-agriculture backgrounds to learn new skills and gain work experience.
Don’t know where to start? Visit our student and employer resource pages to learn more. We’ve summarized various opportunities and funding pathways to help you narrow down what work-integrated learning is and what will work best for your situation.
What is work-integrated learning?
We know that there are many different terms to describe systems of funding that allow organizations, post-secondaries, and industry to provide students hands-on work experience. There are also many kinds of experiential learning, from work-integrated learning, to research projects, work placements, and apprenticeships, to co-op terms, service learning, and academic program placements.
According to the Future Skills Centre, experiential learning and work-integrated learning are often used interchangeably. They provide the following distinction:
- Experiential Learning is “the acquisition of knowledge and skills through practice and upon reflection on a period engagement, observation, and/or immersion.”
- Work Integrated Leaning is “a form of experiential learning where students or employees have working placements or work-based projects as part of a multi-modal learning experience.”
EMILI uses the term work-integrated learning to describe placement opportunities that bring students into the digital agriculture ecosystem.