Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how work is performed, decisions are made, and services are delivered across the economy. In all sectors, employers are looking for graduates who can work with AI while applying sound judgment, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making. 

This reality raises an important question for polytechnic institutions: How do we ensure graduates are prepared for an AI-enabled workforce when technology, workplace expectations, and required skills continue to evolve? 

At RRC Polytech, that question became a key focus of the Academic Programming Working Group, one of several working groups established through the institution’s 2025-26 AI Strategy. Through research and engagement with faculty, students, and industry partners, the group developed the AI Readiness in Academic Programs Initiative, a structured process that helps academic programs understand how AI is transforming their industries and identify opportunities to update curriculum accordingly. 

Research Points to a Growing Need for AI Readiness

Signal49’s report, Preparing an AI-Ready Workforce found that few institutions offer coordinated approaches to AI-related learning. Slow curriculum approval processes, inconsistent AI literacy, and challenges in scaling training create uneven student experiences and limit institutions’ ability to respond to workforce demands. 

At the same time, Canada’s federal government is calling for increased AI literacy and workforce preparedness. Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, emphasizes the need for Canadians to gain meaningful, career-relevant experience with AI and identifies post-secondary institutions as critical partners in preparing learners for changing workplaces. 

This research mirrors what RRC Polytech is hearing from its own community. In a 2025 RRC Polytech AI survey: 

• 72% of staff and faculty indicated that providing AI-related skills through coursework was important or very important 

• 70% of faculty reported that students were receiving only basic AI instruction or no AI instruction at all. 

• 78% of students indicated rarely or never doing instructor-directed AI related coursework. 

This incongruency illustrates a gap: staff and faculty recognize the importance of teaching students industry specific AI skills, but few have made the shift to adjusting curriculum. 

These findings reveal a clear opportunity. Employers increasingly expect AI-related knowledge and skills. Governments are prioritizing AI readiness. Faculty recognize the importance of preparing students for an AI-enabled workforce, and students have indicated a gap in AI skills. The response is to create a practical approach that allows academic programs to respond effectively as workforce needs continue to evolve. 

Addressing the AI Readiness Gap 

RRC Polytech is uniquely positioned to connect education and industry, so graduates achieve practical, field-specific knowledge that reflects the realities and opportunities of their chosen careers. 

The AI Readiness initiative provides a structured, evidence-informed process that helps academic programs examine how AI is affecting their specific discipline, engage industry partners in identifying emerging workforce expectations, and integrate relevant AI-related competencies into curriculum. These changes ensure that students develop both the technical and human skills to thrive in an AI-enabled rapidly changing world. 

AI Readiness in Academic Programs Initiative: How it Works 

The initiative follows a structured process that helps programs explore the impact of AI while maintaining academic governance requirements. Participating programs follow this framework:  

1. Explore an AI Impact Report to assess how AI is affecting the profession. 

2. Document current AI-related activities and identify additional opportunities for learning. 

3. Validate findings with industry and other interest holders such as credentialling bodies. 

4. Work through curriculum approval processes to formally update program information. 

The goals of the initiative are twofold: to improve visibility of existing and planned AI-related learning within programs and to develop sustainable approaches for ongoing industry-informed curriculum updates as AI continues to evolve. 

AI Impact Report: A Starting Point for Industry Discussion 

The AI Impact Report is a unique element of the initiative that involves prompting a large language model with a pre-designed prompt to generate an industry-specific scan of how AI is already affecting a profession and where it may create new opportunities to enhance work.  

Designed as a brainstorming tool, the report gives program chairs and instructors a starting point for discussion on the impact of AI on a given profession. Its findings are then validated through consultation with academic teams and industry partners, to ensure curriculum updates are grounded in both emerging AI trends and real workplace expectations. 

Phase 1: Pilot Programs 

The initiative launched as a pilot in Winter 2026 with five programs representing diverse industry contexts: 

• Nursing 

• Early Childhood Education 

• Teaching for Learning in Applied Education 

• Professional Sales and Strategic Marketing 

• Digital Media Design – Interaction Design and Development 

The pilot programs updated 19 courses, including changes to course descriptions and learning outcomes. Examples include Digital Media Design students using AI to support coding projects and evaluate its limitations; Early Childhood Education students examining responsible AI use in research and early learning environments; and Nursing students considering ethical AI use in scholarly writing and research. 

Phase 2: Expanding Across the Polytech 

Building on the success of the pilot, the initiative expanded during spring/summer 2026 to include an additional nine programs: 

• Business Administration 

• 3^rd & 4^th Class Power Engineering 

• Culinary Arts 

• Baking and Pastry Arts 

• Legal Assistant 

• Architectural Technology 

• Construction Management 

• Engineering and Construction Technologies 

AI Readiness means more than Technical Skills 

One of the key insights from the initiative is that AI readiness is more than learning to use AI tools. Industry partners consistently emphasize the importance of human skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and professional judgment. As AI becomes more integrated into the workplace, the ability to evaluate AI-generated content, manage risk, protect sensitive information, and make informed decisions aligned with regulations, ethics and standards becomes increasingly important. 

As a result, curriculum updates focus not only on how to use AI, but also on when to use it, and how to use it responsibly, considering privacy, academic integrity, bias, transparency, disclosure, and risk management. The initiative recognizes that the most valuable skill in a rapidly changing environment may be adaptability itself. 

Looking Ahead 

The long-term vision for the AI Readiness in Academic Programs Initiative is to create a sustainable, scalable process that supports continuous curriculum renewal as technology and workforce needs evolve. Future plans include expanding participation across additional program areas, strengthening industry partnerships, and developing toolkits so academic programs can regularly assess and update their own AI readiness. 

By helping students develop both AI-related competencies and adaptability to navigate continuous change, RRC Polytech is positioning graduates to succeed in an AI-enabled future while supporting Manitoba’s industries and economy. 

RRC Polytech’s AI Strategy is led by Rebecca Molly Hiebert. For more information visit rr.ca/artificial-intelligence.