Dreaming Big, Coming Up Short: The Challenging Realities of International Students and Graduates in

In the Maritimes, students from the USA and the Middle East make up the other two largest national groups (MPHEC Report, 2012), and although NL is not included in this reporting, the trend is sustained in the other provinces and in our sample. [...] A recruiter we interviewed noted: We have to recognize that we are in the lower end of the tuition scale in Canada, and Canada itself is a lot of lower than the UK, Australia, the US, so we know that Canada generally attracts students whose families aren’t in the socio-economic status where they should be sending their kids abroad, but they look at Canada as a destination that is close to the US b. [...] In our 29 sample, 16 of the 35 students noted that they had decided to immigrate to Canada at the time they were looking for schools (46%) and eleven more said they decided to immigrate after experiencing life in Canada, bringing the total number of participants hoping to immigrate to 27 (77%). [...] Newfoundland and Labrador continues to welcome international graduates to its Provincial Nominee Program, and their requirements are designed to be complementary and to the advantage of local applicants dedicated to building a life in this province. [...] Given the region’s ongoing investments in the recruitment and attraction of international talent (Chira, 2011), as well as the dire demographic crisis looming (Denton, Feaver and Spender, 1998; Statistics Canada, 2012), continuing on the path of cutting settlement support and programming is unlikely to serve the long-term economic and social goals of the Atlantic Provinces.