Polytechs are trying to make more space available as record numbers sign up for apprenticeships.
Since July when the government made them fees free for the next two and a half years, twice as many have taken one on compared to the same time last year, with 17,000 now earning while they are learning.
And as reporter Conan Young and cameraman Nathan McKinnon discovered, many new recruits are older and pivoting away from industries decimated by Covid-19.
