The Student Work Placement Program gives students the opportunity to gain digital and human skills through work-integrated learning opportunities while helping employers build vital talent pipelines.
About the Project
Launched by Economic and Social Development Canada (ESDC) in 2017, the Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) provides eligible employers with wage-subsidy funding when they hire a post-secondary student for a quality, paid work-integrated learning (WIL) experience.
Magnet became a program delivery partner in 2019.
Solution
Magnet provides a digital infrastructure to bridge the gap between employers and student talent while also ensuring timely reporting to ESDC.
The Outcome Campus Connect platform lets employers create one job posting and use it to reach students on more than 125 post-secondary job boards based on skills, program of study, location, and other criteria. Outcome Campus Connect eliminates the need to build relationships with co-op offices and manage job postings and applications across multiple platforms.
The Outcome Adjudicator tool allows delivery partners to effectively administer wage-subsidy funding, manage applications, communicate with applicants, and deliver accurate, timely datareporting to ESDC.
Strategic Alignment/Impact
Canada’s economy sits at the intersection of labour shortages and a growing demand for digital and human skills among new workers. Policymakers, employers, and post-secondary institutions have increasingly recognized the value of a pan-Canadian work-integrated learning solution that allows more students to realize their potential and enter the workforce with a strong foundation for long-term success.
Through our involvement as a SWPP delivery partner, Magnet has supported more than 40,000 WIL placements and counting across Canada as of November 2023. This uptake of SWPP was made possible by the efficiencies created by the technological infrastructure behind the Outcome Campus Connect network. The outcomes of the SWPP have supported further positive social and economic outcomes. These are detailed in The Impact of Workforce Integrated Learning on Student Success and the Canadian Economy: An Evaluation of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program, the most recent report in an ongoing research effort led by the Information Communications Technology Council (ICTC) and Magnet.
The report finds that the SWPP has generated almost $100 million in economic benefit and value for participating students and employers in every quarterly placement period since April 2022. The report also cites data showing an approximate value of $13.33 million in economic benefit generated by employers per SWPP period, and an approximate $84.1 million benefit per period for participating students.
Partners
