Welding Education:
While many good programs exist, more are needed in Canada

By Cheryl Rego

Want to become a welder? There’s a choice of private skills training schools, colleges and universities that offer programs in Canada. However, employers in the welding industry are not sure the education in Canada is sufficient to produce the labour needed to supply manufacturing across the country. One thing is apparent – at every level of education and across the country, industry involvement is essential to keep welding instruction current.

The biggest news for people in Ontario looking to welding as a career is the initiation of a welding apprenticeship program in the province. The program is administered by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), and will be ready for enrolment by Fall 2003. Brian Newman is the manager of skills training services for Babcock and Wilcox, and is also the Chair of the Industry Committee for the apprentice program. He explained that while new welders were well versed in the mechanics of the trade, employers still had to perform on-the-job training. He said that Babcock and Wilcox had to establish their own welder training school to cover the shortfall. It was clear a solution was needed.

Bennett with one of his students.

Working on a class project.

The Ontario welder apprentice program has been developed with input from stakeholders throughout the industry. "The Ministry chose the group that put the program together very well, covering all segments and industry areas of the province," Newman said. The apprenticeship is competency based, but in general it would take a student three years to meet the program requirements.

Currently, welding students can choose a number of avenues to pursue their training. These include private schools, community college or university undergraduate and graduate level programs.

Jonathan Bennett is the owner of Canadian Welding Skills, a private welding school in Bridgenorth, Ontario. Bennett is a welder by profession and has been running his school for ten years. The impetus for opening a welding school came when he realized his colleagues lacked the skills they needed to function effectively in their jobs.

"In the latter part of my career, my employers were often asking me to repair other welders work. That used to rub me the wrong way until I realized that they did not have the skills," Bennett said. "I did some research and realized there was a severe shortage of welder training."

Bennett said his students are primarily people in their twenties who left high school without choosing a career. His school caters to students of all ages and offers upgrade courses and corporate training.

Bennett said that training students in skills currently in demand is essential to the success of his school. He often customizes courses to accommodate the requirements for specific job openings. "Customized training is very important because quite often someone can get a job right away if they have the specific skill. I get a lot of calls from different placement agencies and they tell me what skills they need. As a private school, if my graduates don’t find jobs immediately, then nobody will want to come here," said Bennett.

Bennett uses a number of different avenues to ensure his courses are current with the market. "Quite often, usually monthly, I go out into the field and train onsite. I also get a wide variety of requests from within the industry to do onsite training. I read all of the trade magazine articles that I can get my hands on. I probably spend about three to four hours a week looking at what the industry wants. I also go to machinery and welding trade shows," he said.

Private welding schools can be found throughout the country. Fees range from a few hundred dollars to about $6,000 for basic training, which usually lasts about six weeks. Bennett said his students all find jobs in welding by the time they graduate, and often are recruited out of his program even before they graduate. Bennett’s school sees about 40-50 graduates a year, and he acknowledges he is one of the smaller private schools in Ontario.

For those who prefer a longer term with more specialization and theoretical knowledge, colleges offer a variety of welding programs. However, students looking for a particular specialty at the technology or technician level have fewer choices. Ontario’s Conestoga College offers prospective welders a good selection of programs. Students can choose from full-time diploma programs for welding engineering technicians and technologists, a full-time welding fitter certificate program, a welding apprenticeship program, and various courses offered through its continuing education program. Conestoga is also adding a new three-year engineering technology program specifically targeted at the integration of welding technology with robotics and automation to support the high-volume manufacturing industries in southern Ontario.

Some colleges are more aggressive than others at restructuring courses and offering specializations that will produce the required skilled labour in their area. In September 2002, Holland College in Prince Edward Island began a new Underwater Welding, Inspection and Maintenance program offering advanced training and certification for underwater welders and fabricators.

Most colleges pursue private sector partnerships. While providing the colleges with a direct view to the industry, these partnerships also serve to give students access to the latest technology and processes. For instance, a partnership between Kwantlen University College in British Columbia and Air Liquide Inc. has created a high-tech welding environment. Air Liquide provided equipment to Kwantlen that can weld almost paper-thin materials and non-ferrous alloys such as aluminum and magnesium. Kwantlen provides the training and state-of-the-art demonstration facility at its welding shop on the Langley, BC Campus. Air Liquide is one of the world’s largest suppliers of welding related products and has three manufacturing plants in Canada.

When it comes to welding engineers, Canada’s education system does not have the capacity to produce enough graduates for the welding industry. Each year, Canada’s welding industry is short about ten to twenty welding engineers. At the university level, there are only two schools in Canada that offer welding programs, the University of Waterloo and the University of Alberta.

The University of Waterloo offers a welding specialization through the Mechanical Engineering degree program. Since welding engineers in the manufacturing sector should be knowledgeable in machine design and manufacturing methods, the welding specialization at Waterloo builds on core courses in materials engineering and mechanical design. Students have some flexibility in course selection to accommodate interests in robotics or design. Waterloo partners with Conestoga College to give its students hands-on laboratory work.

The welding specialization at Waterloo is closely tied to the industry and is sponsored by a number of Canadian companies. The companies not only provide funding, but also opportunities for loaning equipment, donating materials and welded specimens, organizing tours and giving information or lectures about various topics. Several of the companies employ cooperative engineering work-term students and look to employ graduates of the welding specialization. University of Waterloo is also active in welding and joining research. Although the welding specialization program only began in 1998, the University has been conducting welding research since the 1960s.

The University of Alberta offers a post-graduate degree in welding engineering. This program is tied closely to the welding industry and was in fact initiated by a gift from Alberta Gas Transmission Lines (AGTL, now Nova Corporation). Students in the program work toward either an M.Eng. degree or an M.Sc. degree. Of the two programs, the M.Sc. is more research based.

Barry Patchett is a Professor of Welding Engineering at the University of Alberta. He worked with AGTL to set up the program in 1979. He said that industry involvement is fundamental to the program. "I’ve got six graduate students and five of them are supported with industrial contracts to do research. Students come financed by different companies. Our policy here is unless there are exceptional circumstances, the students have to have an industrial partner," said Patchett.

Alberta’s welding education programs seem to provide the best vertical integration in Canada. However, the top level of education is in danger of disappearing. Patchett is due to retire in two years, and no potential replacement has yet been identified. There is also the problem of funding. He said the industry is considering ways to donate money to chair the program, and the University is investigating opportunities to match industry funds.

No matter which stream students choose to pursue their welding training, the Canadian Welding Bureau is now offering an internationally recognized qualification for welding personnel. Richard Bonneau, General Manager of the Gooderham Centre for Industrial Learning, explained why international qualification is becoming increasingly important. "We know that with globalization, international qualification eventually may be specified as a requirement to work on a specific project. Also, there is a lot of international trade and interaction going on. It is expected that this qualification will be required more often. For welding personnel, because these programs are recognized throughout the world, this adds to their credentials and allows them to transfer their qualification," Bonneau said.

Bonneau added that there are "transition arrangements" that allow people who completed courses in the past and that have the necessary experience to apply for international qualification. "We have already started to see applications from people who want the recognition under the transition arrangements," he said. For new candidates, there is a list of requirements they must complete, depending on the level of qualification they want to obtain. There are four levels of qualifications in the program: the international welding engineer, international welding technologist, international welding specialist and international welding practitioner. Candidates for qualification complete their course requirements through colleges and universities accredited for the international curriculum programs.

International qualification completes the cycle for welders. As education programs for Canadian welders grow from basic courses to apprenticeship and higher qualifications, fulfilling requirements of other jurisdictions, particularly Europe, opens new markets and broadens horizons for welding students.