Business + Higher Education Roundtable’s new three-year Strategic Plan commits to core mandate to connect and convene with purpose

DATE: 25, October 2022

The Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER)’s first-ever three-year strategic plan doubles down on its commitment to connect and convene with purpose as it leads Canada’s conversation on skills, talent, and innovation.

BHER's strategic objectives are to:

• Connect, convene and lead the conversation on skills, talent, and innovation with our members and other leaders from across the country.
• Build capacity and drive change in Canada’s skills and talent ecosystems.
• Create a stronger culture of innovation and research partnerships in Canada.

“We have bold ambitions. Through this strategic plan, we will tackle the big skills, talent, and innovation challenges facing our country, with a lens of maximizing social impact,” said Valerie Walker, CEO, Business + Higher Education Roundtable. “We are uniquely positioned to play this role as the only organization in the country where business and post-secondary leaders come together.”

BHER will remain a national leader and champion for work-integrated learning (WIL). We will continue to build new tools and resources for employers to explore, invest in, and create quality WIL. And they will live on our first-of-its-kind, free-to-use WIL Hub.

With this new, three-year blueprint, BHER is also ready to expand its impact beyond WIL to help employers navigate the future of work in areas including:

• immigration and international student recruitment and retention;
• inclusive quality hybrid work;
• upskilling and reskilling workers, and;
• Canada’s transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

BHER’s mission is to create opportunity through collaboration. We have worked hard to build BHER’s reputation as an organization that not only brings people together, but also creates the conditions and partnerships to drive sustainable change.

The full strategic plan can be viewed here.