Colleges and Institutes Canada, or CICan, is the national and international voice of Canada’s largest post-secondary education network. CICan’s work strengthens Canada’s publicly supported colleges, institutes, CEGEPs, and polytechnics and extends their reach around the globe.
Partnering With a College or Institute
Veterans Affairs Canada, or VAC, is a department of the Government of Canada with a mandate to assist veterans of the Armed Forces and Merchant Navy during the First World War, Second World War and Korean War; former and current members of the Canadian Forces; former and current members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and survivors and dependents of these groups.
VAC’s mandate includes assisting veterans with successful reintegration into civilian life. VAC provides eligible veterans financial benefits, medical and psycho-social rehabilitation services, as well as workforce reintegration supports.
Colleges and Institutes offer career-oriented programs based on applied learning approaches that enable graduates to transition to employment quickly and effectively. Their focus on student success coupled with the dynamic level of education offered makes them partners of choice.
Partnering with a college or institute on work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities gives VAC access career-driven students, who bring vibrancy, fresh perspectives, hard work, and much needed human resource capacity to field offices.
WIL partnerships capitalize on the strengths of the Canada’s largest postsecondary network to develop a talent pipeline solution addressing recruitment and retention challenges identified by Veterans Affairs Canada.
The Online Guide
The VAC-WIL Program is designed to support VAC in the recruitment and retention of highly skilled and talented students and new graduates as Veterans Services Agent (VSA) or Case Managers (CM).
This online guide to VAC-WIL placements outlines the steps CICan members and VAC agents should follow to put students in beneficial WIL placements in regional VAC offices across the country and ensure their success.
- Clear explanations of timelines and key characteristics of VAC-WIL placements
- Practical resources VAC regional managers and students can use
- Useful information for CICan members and VAC to navigate the hiring process and ensure a successful work placement
- Contact information to help VAC field offices connect with CICan members
This online guide was developed by Colleges and Institutes Canada through the Supporting Those Who Serve program.
Supporting Those Who Serve links colleges and institutes with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) field offices to design shared curriculum, tools, and work-integrated learning opportunities in fields like social work, nursing, and medicine.
Supporting Those Who Serve is funded by Veterans Affairs Canada.