From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
       
   So now the international students programs are being used as immigration   
   avenues into Canada?  Who wouldda guessed ?  I wonder . . .  could there be   
   any correlation between thousands of international students vying for jobs   
   with the huge number of    
   Canadian students who can't find summer or permanent jobs?   
   __________________________________________________   
      
      
   Globe and Mail - March 31, 2016   
      
   International student work program creating low-wage work force: report   
      
      
   Citizenship and Immigration Canada finds the majority of those employed   
   through a work permit are in low-skilled jobs in the service sector, and have   
   median earnings that are less than half of other recent university and college   
   graduates   
      
   A program that allows international students to work in Canada after   
   graduation is creating a low-wage work force, encouraging low-quality   
   postsecondary programs, and needs to be redesigned, says an internal report   
   from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.   
      
   Under the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program international students with   
   degrees from Canadian colleges and universities can work here for up to three   
   years after their programs end.   Between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of   
   eligible international    
   students applied for a work permit, the report says, with more than 70,000   
   people holding permits in 2014.   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   The program is designed to make Canadian postsecondary institutions an   
   attractive destination and to give international students work experience,   
   making it easier to apply for permanent residence.   
      
   But the 35-page report found that the majority of those employed through a   
   work permit are in low-skilled jobs in the service sector, and have median   
   earnings that are less than half of other recent university and college   
   graduates.   
      
   "Facilitating this large pool of temporary labour, largely in low-paid   
   positions, may be in conflict with the objectives of the Putting Canadians   
   First strategy," the report states.   
      
   That strategy was initiated by the former Conservative government to   
   prioritize employment for Canadians after abuses of the temporar   
   -foreign-worker program came to light.  The Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP)   
   report was commissioned as part of a    
   larger review of temporary-foreign-worker policies.   
      
   The Globe and Mail obtained the report after a nine-month battle.  The   
   government initially refused the request.     
      
   After an appeal to the Information Commissioner of Canada and discussions   
   between the commissioner, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the   
   newspaper, the government provided a partly redacted version of the report.   
      
   Marked "secret," the report reviews six years of the work-permit program, from   
   2008 to 2014. It raises many questions about how Canada attracts international   
   students and how they transition to citizenship.   
      
   Its findings are likely to complicate the recently announced review of how the   
   new Express Entry immigration system is treating international students who   
   want to become permanent residents.   
      
   Express Entry, introduced in January, 2015, does not award applicants any   
   extra points for studying in Canada, as had been the case under a prior   
   immigration program for international students.  As a result, it has been   
   heavily criticized for making it    
   much harder for international students to become permanent residents.   
      
   Earlier this month, John McCallum, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration,   
   said the government is launching a federal-provincial task force to look at   
   how Express Entry can better serve this group.         (>_<)       
      
   "International students have been shortchanged by the Express Entry system,"   
   he said at the time.  "They are the cream of the crop in terms of potential   
   future Canadians ..."   
      
   The PGWP report, however, suggests that most international students'   
   investment in a Canadian education is not being rewarded by the labour market.   
      
   International students with a work permit had median earnings of $19,291 in   
   2010, compared with about $41,600 for 2013 domestic college graduates and   
   $53,000 for Canadian university grads, according to the review.   
      
   There are no explanations for such a poor labour-market outcome in the report,   
   but international students have said it is difficult to find good jobs before   
   they have permanent residency.   
      
   Mr. McCallum was not available for comment.   
      
   CIC's provincial-federal task force has been widely applauded by advocates for   
   international students and study-abroad groups.   
      
   "The new minister fully gets it," said Amit Chakma, the president of the   
   University of Western Ontario and chair of a 2012 task force on Canada's   
   international-student strategy.  "In my view, tinkering with [Express Entry]   
   will not help.  My view is that    
   a new program should be created targeting international students who study on   
   our campuses," Dr. Chakma said.   
      
   About 47,000 international students graduated from Canadian universities last   
   year, according to recent Statistics Canada numbers.  They pay tuition fees   
   three to five times higher than domestic students.   
      
   A small group of international students fare better than others.  Four per   
   cent of graduates who had a work permit went on to become permanent residents   
   in 2014.  The group that chose to stay had earnings that are much closer to   
   those of domestic    
   students.   
      
   The report also suggests that the current system is leading to issues of   
   program integrity.  Changes to the PGWP program in 2008 removed the   
   requirement that students find jobs in their field of study and increased the   
   possible duration of the work    
   permit.   
      
   In response, some postsecondary institutions are now offering "low-quality   
   education programs with minimal entry requirements" to take advantage of rules   
   that match the length of the work permit to the length of the degree, the   
   report says.   
      
   Canada is the only country to structure work permits for international   
   students in this way.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)