Softening auto sales may be troubling executives at the Big Three automakers, but not the approximately 140 students enrolled in Canada's first dedicated automotive engineering degree program.
The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, which launched the program in September 2005, will celebrate the graduation of its first automotive engineering students in two years.
Marc Rosen, dean of the faculty of engineering and applied science, said the future looks bright for the automotive sector in Canada and further afield.
"The breakdown of shares between the different companies and different players is shifting, but generally the automotive field is growing," said Rosen. "Some are doing better and growing at the expense of others who are shrinking a little bit, but it's a growing field."
The Big Three - Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group - have lost billions of dollars recently while Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda have increased their market share.
For example, Toyota is building a 1,300-worker factory in Woodstock while Ford, Chrysler and GM have cut tens of thousands of jobs and closed plants in response to slower sales, at least partly caused by competition from their Japanese rivals.
Despite the cutbacks at the Big Three, Rosen emphasized that graduates won't have any trouble finding work, even in a changing automotive job market.
The Big Three are still big, they'll remain big and they will continue to hire, if not in the same numbers as in the past, he said.
At the same time, training of automotive engineering students is not brand-specific and the skills learned are transferable to any brand of automobile or parts manufacturer.
Also, while students are getting automotive-specific engineering training, they essentially graduate as mechanical engineers and can use their skills in other markets, he said.
As well as the degree program, the university is preparing to launch a master's in automotive engineering. Rosen said he's waiting for final government approval, but expects the university will begin to accept its first master's students in January.
Graduates of the undergraduate program will find jobs in all types of automotive-related fields, from economic analysis and engineering sales and marketing to systems engineering and integration and research.
"Anything to do with automotive, they will probably be ideal for," he said.
Students are getting a strong mechanical engineering foundation that includes manufacturing and electrical engineering elements.
In the first year, they study the building blocks of most engineering programs.
In the second year, they learn fluid mechanics, materials properties, thermodynamics, electrical circuits and the mechanics of solids. In their third and fourth years, students study a range of applied and advanced automotive engineering subjects, such as computer-aided design, control systems and robotics.
Rosen said he decided to start the program after leaving Ryerson University, where he was director of aerospace engineering.
He recognized there's plenty of work for aerospace engineers, but there is even more work for people trained specifically for automotive work.
With the university based in Oshawa, one of Canada's key automotive manufacturing areas, he said he figured it made sense to launch an automotive engineering program there.
Also available is a five-year program that features an extra year of schooling, which includes extra business and management courses.
"It's kind of like half an MBA," Rosen said.
In this engineering and management program, students study in a particular discipline and also learn management skills in areas of business management such as finance, finance and managerial accounting, engineering operations and project management, organizational behaviour and management of human resources, and marketing.
Students who complete this program will receive a bachelor of engineering and management honours degree.
Rosen said graduates of the five-year program will be in particularly high demand among employers for their unique combinations of engineering knowledge and business and management skills.
He said they should expect to find careers in the same areas and companies as typical engineering graduates, but they'll have even more opportunities due to their extended expertise.
UOIT isn't the only university to offer automotive engineering training.
The University of Michigan offers an automotive engineering degree and a master's program. So does Ohio State University. And there are others in the U.S.
In Canada, the University of Windsor has a massive mechanical, automotive and materials engineering program that offers undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees.
Rosen said Windsor is different in that it offers an engineering degree with an automotive component, while UOIT's program is all automotive-related.
Dennis DesRosiers, of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, said UOIT is filling a serious need in the automotive sector.
"The Canadian auto sector is not in crisis. The Canadian auto sector continues to grow," DesRosiers said. "Every single job loss at GM, Ford or Chrysler has been replaced by non-union jobs at the Hondas and Toyotas of the world, so it's just a shift in terms of where the jobs are, not a net loss."
According to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, Canada is the eighth-largest vehicle producer in the world and accounts for 4.5 per cent of total world production.
The association says the auto sector is the country's largest contributor to manufacturing gross domestic product and the country's largest employer, employing an estimated one in every seven Canadians.
The association says the automotive industry supports jobs at 13 auto-assembly plants across the country, at more than 540 parts manufacturers and 3,900 dealerships.
DesRosiers warned, however, that the future of the Canadian auto industry is not about blue-collar jobs, but intellectual ones.
"The future of the Canadian automotive sector is the six inches between our ears and we have to move up the intellectual curve," he said. "There's unfettered opportunity to do more research, development, design and testing, and our universities have to respond by providing the bodies."
Between 3,000 and 5,000 engineers work in the Ontario auto sector.
DesRosiers said it's anticipated that the number of automotive engineers could double every decade.
Having said this, DesRosiers said the exact future of the Canadian auto industry is still unknown.
(Frank Armstrong can be reached at armstrong@businessedge.ca)
