Nova Scotia’s Study and Stay program is helping international students break into the local labour market
Across Canada, international students graduating from post-secondary institutions face barriers to entering the local labour market. An innovative program in Nova Scotia is helping change that.
With its seminal Capstone program, Study and Stay Nova Scotia provides a cohort of international students in their final year of study with 10 months of pre-career, pre-employment mentorship, wraparound supports, learning resources, and networking opportunities. This year, Study and Stay also began delivering a Foundations program to first, second, and third year post-secondary students. Both programs are designed to help international graduates remain in the province and launch successful careers in their field of study.
The Capstone program, now in its seventh year, began with a small cohort of 25 students; by 2022, the cohort had grown to 100 students. So far, 500 international students have completed Study and Stay — and the program continues to grow.
“It’s been growing and evolving into new iterations with each cohort,” says Shawna Garrett, President and CEO of EduNova, the provincial cooperative association of educational providers that administers Study and Stay. “A lot has changed over the past seven years — COVID, all kinds of changes to immigration policy — so we’ve been fine-tuning and refining. We’re trying to make it the best program it can be for the students, and offer them the supports they need as time goes on and things change.”
International students face barriers to entering the Canadian labour market
Garrett says international students who want to stay and work in Canada face numerous systemic and structural challenges after graduating, including current immigration policy.
“One of the challenges is the number of points that international students need in order to [obtain] their permanent residency,” says Garrett. “In particular, it’s really hard for students if they arrive with a spouse and have a family, which is a demographic change we’re increasingly seeing post-pandemic. And we hear from students that there are processing delays and backlogs.”
There are also challenges related to what Garrett calls the “covert job market,” which favours native-born Canadians over newcomers.
“There’s an overt employment market with opportunities that are advertised. Then there’s the job market that is hidden,” Garrett explains. “If I’m a Canadian student, I’ve grown up here, I have connections, my family has friends, and I have the privilege of inborn networks. International students don’t have any of that privilege.”
Garrett says Study and Stay’s managed one-on-one mentorships help students gain access to the kinds of connections that give Canadian-born students a leg up when it comes to getting jobs.
For example, “mentors keep their eyes open for those hidden job opportunities and introduce [mentees] to their friends,” says Garrett. “In addition to providing [mentees] with advice, reviewing their resumes, doing practice job interviews with them, they also introduce them to colleagues that might know of a potential job.”
Study and Stay’s wraparound supports — including learning sessions on topics such as income tax returns, permanent residency, and digital marketing — give international students the information and skills they need to be well-positioned for the province’s job market.
“What [we’re] doing is providing wraparound support for global talent,” Garrett says. “To assist them with the pre-employment, pre-career, cultural and workplace etiquette — all the things they’ll need to successfully transition into the workforce.”
Study and Stay is changing a long-term pattern
Historically, the majority of international students graduating from postsecondary institutions in Nova Scotia have either left for another province or returned to their home countries.
“If you look at the conversion rates of graduates, those that become permanent residents in Nova Scotia and across the country, over the past five years it’s only been about 11 per cent in Nova Scotia, [whereas] the national average is close to 22 per cent. We lose a lot of global talent that graduated from our universities,” says Garrett.
The numbers show Study and Stay program is helping reverse that pattern.
“In this program, everyone has indicated that they want to live in the province and get a job in their field,” Garrett says. “Over the first six years [of Study and Stay], we retained 86 per cent of students — one year post-graduation, they’re in the province and working in their field. So it’s been quite successful in helping those students make that transition to the workforce.”
Nova Scotia benefits from retaining international talent
Study and Stay provides clear benefits to individual students graduating from post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia. But Garrett points out that the program also helps meet provincial labour market needs, which have shifted in recent years.
After years of ‘brain drain’ to other provinces, Nova Scotia’s economy and job market are growing.
“Essentially, we have a lot more opportunities for work in province because of the pandemic, but also because of a number of other industries,” Garrett says. “Ship-building and aquaculture, in addition to the digital space, are booming. And the government has set a goal to double the population by 2060…[it’s] a very progressive government that is looking to attract and retain newcomers. So there’s very intentional and strategic planning going on to ensure that the students that come are able to stay and get jobs here.”
Ultimately, Study and Stay does double duty, providing valuable opportunities to graduates while also responding to local labour market needs.
“Our province is looking to retain skills and talent, and global skills and global talent,” Garrett says. “These international students are just that. They’re right here in our backyard, and we’re working on ways to ensure that employers know they are desirable employees in our province.”
Click here to learn more about EduNova and Study and Stay Nova Scotia.
