A study on how to keep students in the region once they graduate from post-secondary institutions shows that one of the biggest factors is access to relevant jobs out of school.
The Southwest Region Graduate Retention Strategy includes answers from a survey with roughly 2,200 post-secondary students. Through this survey, the study found the majority of students across the board “job opportunities that are relevant to me” were the top factor for students to consider staying in the region.
Owner of Owner of Curve Strategic Research and top analyst for the report Charles McArthur says through both the study and the literature what they are seeing is if there is no employment then everything else is a moot point.
“So that is the top thing that students are looking for is good employment opportunities that actually relate to the skills they are learning in post-secondary,” McArthur says. “That is why it is so important for the post-secondary institutions to make sure the students really understand how their skills integrate with the local economy and how they can put those skills to work here.”
According to McArthur the disinchanting things for students is when they come out of school, whether it be for two years, four years or more, and the skills they learned do not feel appreciated because they are unable to find a job related to their education. He adds it is not just after school either, but some students, find it hard to find employment while they are in school as well.
“Some of the students mentioned that the labour market here is very challenging to enter unless you know somebody. So it is not like a big city where people are more anonymous. Everybody knows everybody in Lethbridge and if you don’t have that connection then it can be very difficult.”
“So somebody coming to school here from Calgary or Edmonton or an international student, they don’t necessarily have that network here and so it can be very, very difficult for them to break into that labour market.”
McArthur says what this study shows is there is a real need for ways for students to connect with employers, whether that be through more job fairs, where there can be “one-on-one interviews with employers right there on the spot” or integrating students into the region.”
“A big part of that is work integrated learning, like co-op placements, practicums and so on are excellent avenues for a local employer, whether it is somebody from Lethbridge or somebody even in rural communities outside of Lethbridge to try out a student for a while, see if they work well in their organization’s culture and whether that is a skill set that works for that employer. Then hopefully it will end up in an employment opportunity for the student afterwards.”
Other factors to keep students in the community after graduation include community safety, house and rental prices and community atmosphere.
Through the survey, the majority of students who said they would be likely to stay in the city are from Lethbridge Polytechnic, which at the time of the study was Lethbridge College, while the majority of students from the University of Lethbridge said they were unlikely to stay in the community.
The study was done in partnership with both post-secondary schools, along with community partners across the southwest part of the province and funded through the provincial and federal government.
