Many Calgarians know SAIT as a leading polytechnic, but fewer understand the depth and purpose of its Continuing Education and Professional Studies division. For Anita Obiekwu, Product Manager for Emerging Technology, this area of SAIT is where career changers and career builders find learning options that fit the realities of modern work and life.
“People know of SAIT, but most times they are not aware of what continuing education within SAIT is,” she says. “And that is the part of the organization that is focused on reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning.”
Anita sees continuing education as a space for intentional career movement. “You see a lot of career switchers, career advancers; people who are looking for short, applied job-ready training that they could do to make the switch and grow ,” she says.
Building education like a product
With a background in technology and product management, Anita brings a product mindset to program design.
“Technology product management is simply the intersection between business needs, the ‘end users’ problems and technology,” she says. “How do we understand what problems our target audience are going through? What are their pain points and how can we use our technology to solve their pain points?”
At SAIT, that approach means designing programs based on labour market needs. “Product management at SAIT means asking: how do we understand where the market is going? How do we understand the needs of the market? What job roles do we see that are coming in or going out and what skill gaps we’ve identified in the industry?” she says. “How can we then build trainings that helps bridge the skill gaps and ensure they are built in a way that is flexible enough for our students to commit to?”
Flexibility is essential, as many continuing education learners balance full-time work, family responsibilities or major career transitions.
A career shaped by change and impact
Before product management, Anita started her early career in client experience roles, responding to issues created upstream. Wanting to create solutions instead, she learned to code and moved into development and product roles across startups and enterprise organizations focused on AI and automation.
Education played a pivotal role in her own career shift. “I had no technical background. I worked client experience and I made the decision that I wanted to transition into something else and education was able to help me do that,” she says. “It changed my career trajectory.” That experience inspired her to mentor others. “That was what filled my cup.”
At SAIT, the scale of that impact has grown. “Now I can work on the courses that we develop that would help change the trajectory of people’s lives,” she says. Messages from graduates continue to motivate her. “I get messages from people telling me they passed their certification exam or landed jobs and had no idea these career pathways existed before the training. I still have a bounce in my step from that joy.”
Industry partnership and AI leadership
Industry collaboration is central to how SAIT develops training. “I tend to see industry as our strategic partners,” Anita says. “We work very closely with industries and employers to understand their talent needs and the skill gaps that they are identifying.”
Industry partners review curricula and validate outcomes before launch. “Before we launch anything, industry has seen it,” she explains. “They have provided us feedback and have given their knowledge and shared insights.”
That collaboration expanded further through SAIT’s inaugural AI Summit, which brought together leaders from technology, government, education and industry to discuss AI adoption and workforce readiness. The conversations highlighted AI literacy gaps, talent shortages and governance uncertainty, while positioning SAIT as a convener and thought partner.
“What excites me is that SAIT is no longer just delivering courses, we’re actively shaping Calgary’s AI innovation ecosystem by bringing industry to the table, listening deeply and co-creating solutions that build long-term capacity,” Anita says.
Ultimately, Anita’s work in continuing education is about unlocking opportunity. Whether learners are advancing, pivoting or building digital fluency for an AI-driven future, SAIT is investing in pathways that help them get there.
To learn more about SAIT Continuing Education and Professional Studies, visit: https://www.sait.ca/continuing-education.
