pease ss ia yee eee oR -the transmission, .. analysis. of data and falling trans- '. port and communication costs. , . He said the fastest route to fi-: “nancial. prosperity today lies in ware, ess facing BCIT President John Watson addresses NV Chamber of Commerce luncheon BCIT PRESIDENT John Watson recently shared a glimpse of some of the challenges facing the business world as the pace of global competition heats up and the demand for a workforce possessing the right skills becomes critical. ‘Watson spoke to 85 people gathered at a Nov. 18 North Vancouver Chambcr us Commerce luncheon, “Ordinary citizens in most ad- vanced industrial countries are confused and scared by what. is happening around them,”’ he said. Traditional jobs are either migrating to lower-wage ‘countries or just evaporating. New ones often require skills that many of the unemployed do not have. Rising government debts call into. question the ability of gov- ernments to provide the levels of support the unemployed — have ‘ come to expect. ; _ .“Falling competitivencss, failing resource change, and globalization are ail _ industrics, pervasive buzzwords in the discussion of the forces. disturbing our economies -today,’’ Watson said. Societal. revolutionary changes occur ‘intermittently. The first in- dustrial revolution. in the 18ih century moved production out of the cottage and isto the factory. ‘Steam power in the early 19th century allowed massive scale economies in production. The introduction of electric motors in the late 19th century allowed small-scale production to - be efficient. - Small decentralized parts man- “ufacturers' produce components .that.are assembled in | centralized assembly plants... @ and Africa has 50. According to Statistics Canada, Indicators of Science and Tech- ‘nology, 1990,.in 1987 in Canada there were four scientists and ‘engineers engaged in research and development for every 1,000 members of the labor force, com- pazed with eight in Japan and the U.S., six in Germany, five ‘in France and Sweden, four in the = Netherlands and three in Italy. In Canada today, the. informa- tion technology industry —- soft- hardware, telecommunica- tions. and electronics. — con- tributes more to GDP than the pwp and paper and transportation industries combined. — More Canadians work in infor- “mation technology than in bank- ing, mining, forestry or autc assembly. Watson said the same informa- tion: technology industry invests 35% of Canada’s industrial research and development. “In the 2Ist century natural resources will be irrelevant. Capi- tal will move around the world. “Technology will move around the world, in practice more slowly than product, but it will move. The thing that will move the slowest is human beings,”’ he said. Strategic asset will be measured in terms of the skills of the workforce. Competitive advantage in the 21st century will not be deter- mined by. cheap imports, by cheap labor or by natural resources, but by the capacity to innovate and adapt. Said Watson, ‘‘The ingredients that will make us competitive in tomorrow's world are not. those that made us competitive in yesterday’s world. “To put it bluntly, our com- parative advantage in the past derived largely from our rich en- dowment of natural resources. While many of those resources will continue to contribute to our well-being, they are no jionger the key to future prosperity.” On an individual level, a person will need a higher and deeper knowledge of science and techno- logy to be part of the new economy. But research shows that many continue to have trouble simply programming a VCR. “It has to do with the type of reading skills people are forced to develop to succeed in higher education.” . Watson said those skills are not the ones needed for entry level employment. “They are not useful in programming a. VCR, nor. in reading a safety code,’’ he said. “The skills knowledge and behaviors required for entry-level employment are higher and dif- ferent than those required for uni- versity.’’ Watson said that society must establish some different priorities for how it spends scarce public Tesources. “tT know some things that ap- pear to work. Co-op. education programs do a better job than Other programs in preparing our young people for the world ahead. “Ninety-three per cent of BCIT grads get jobs in the field for which they are trained within a few months of graduation. 15 “IT also know that BCIT is in- creasingly attracting students who already have a_ post-secondary credential, as are technical pro- grams at other institutions,’’ he said. According to Watson, expan- sion of practical, technical educa- tion has not been keeping up with pepulation growth in B.C. in the past seven or eight years. Growth in arts, humanities and other non-technical education has been growing ‘faster than the popula- Ist day free. Go direct to lift. accommodations and more. . ® Cool gift idea for family and friends Shi off the cost from’ski day one. Purchase your {st card al the regular price and choose your 2nd card of equal or lesser value at the special discaunt price. 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