University to Work Transitions of International Students in Canada

University to Work Transitions of International Students in Canada

Research Team:

Nancy Mandell, Professor, Sociology, York University
Sutama Ghosh, Associate Professor, Geography and Environmental Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University
Larry Lam, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, York University
Noor Din, Founder & CEO, Human Endeavour
Saad El Hakmi, PhD Candidate, Policy Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University
Sohail Shahidnia, PhD Candidate, Policy Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University
Jana Borras, PhD Candidate, Sociology, York University
Janice Phonepraseuth, PhD Candidate, Sociology, York University

This project advances a critical understanding of the transition process undertaken by undergraduate and alumni international students at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University as they move from university into the Canadian labour market. Our research identifies the academic, economic, familial, institutional, social and cultural barriers and facilitators affecting university to work transition processes as well as the individual coping strategies employed by international students while transitioning. In collaboration with Human Endeavour and international student groups, the project will provide a concrete set of recommendations for international students, universities, employers, immigration policy makers, and informal community settlement services all implicated in the university to work transition. We aim to contribute to the growing body of scholarship on critical migration studies by revisioning the transition pathway of international students. Our two-year project fills an urgent gap in the scholarship on the student to employee transition, highlights a relatively invisible social issue and facilitates public discourse on the roles and responsibilities of governments, post­secondary institutions, non-profit agencies in addressing this urgent issue.

This project is funded by an Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Reach the research team at: utwtproject@gmail.com.