Assessing Canada’s support of international students: a comprehensive review of Canada’s retention and settlement of its “Model Immigrants”

Abstract

The unprecedented growth in the number of international students in Canada over the last decade has drawn the attention of policy makers at all levels of government in Canada. The federal, provincial and territorial levels of government have introduced permanent residency pathways to encourage international students to become permanent residents of Canada. International students are an attractive group as prospective immigrants because of their Canadian education and human capital. However, they experience variety of challenges transitioning to employment and permanent residency in Canada. Lack of limited co-operative education opportunities and labor market preparation hinders the process of finding employment while the absence of settlement services and the complexities of immigration policies complicate the process of seeking permanent residency in Canada. These realities hold significant policy implications for the federal and provincial levels of government because Canada continues to admit educated and skilled labor in order to address labor and demographic needs. Key words: socioeconomic integration, human capital, internationalization, transitional barriers, recruitment and retention