Building on education and training

The literature suggests a strong relationship between pre-migration level of education and immigrant integration after landing. The broad conclusions are that the more educated eventually fare better in terms of labour force participation, employment and earnings than those with less education.

However, literature also suggests that in the early years after arrival immigrants also experience a downgrading of their occupational status due to things such as: underutilization of their skills, lack of Canadian work experience, transferability of foreign credentials, lack of knowledge of at least one official language, lack of available jobs or through personal choice¹.

For some immigrants, taking education or training courses may be seen as a way to facilitate their integration in Canada . For newcomers surveyed for the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), respondents were asked how important it was to their future in Canada to further their education. The majority of newcomers reported that it was either very important (71%) or important (18%) to obtain education or training in Canada . At the time of arrival, approximately two-thirds of new immigrants interviewed had plans to take education or training.

According to research, higher education levels at arrival are associated with a greater probability of enrolling in school after migration². Data from the LSIC provide support to this as results indicate that 68% of the 109,300 immigrants who planned to pursue education or training arrived in Canada with a university degree and a further 15% with some post secondary, trade or college education.

The majority of those who planned to obtain education or training planned to attend university (40%), acquire language training (28%), or further their job related skills (25%). Almost half of the immigrants in the economic category who planned to further their education or training planned to attend university (47%) while immigrants in the family category and refugees planned to acquire language training (41% and 39% respectively).

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Most immigrants enrolled in language courses

Six months after arrival, 73,500 (67%) of immigrants who planned to further their education had started. Of these, the majority were enrolled in English language training (58%), followed by education leading to a degree or diploma (23%), French language training (9%), and job-related training (8%).

Immigrants of prime working age were most likely to be enrolled in training: 68% of immigrants between 25 and 44 years of age and 24% between the ages of 15 and 24 years. By category, 70% of economic immigrants, 20% of immigrants in the family category and 10% of refugees were enrolled in training.

Consistent with their plans at arrival, a higher proportion of family and refugee class immigrants were enrolled in language training while a higher proportion of economic class immigrants were enrolled in education leading to a degree or diploma or job-related training.

One reason that skilled worker principal applicants are less likely to be enrolled in language training may be that their language skills upon arrival were on average better than those of immigrants in other categories, and immigrants in the family category and refugees were less likely to report knowledge of either official language.

There were slightly more females (53%) than males (47%) enrolled in training. Higher proportions of females were enrolled in language training, while higher proportions of males were enrolled in job-related training and education leading to a degree or diploma.

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Difficulties getting education or training

Six months after arrival, two-thirds of newcomers had tried to obtain education or training. Of the 108,900 who reported trying to access education or training, four in 10 reported some problems or difficulties. There is only a slight variation by immigration category: for example, 42% of skilled workers, 35% of immigrants in the family category and 31% of refugees reported problems. Immigrants of prime working age and those of pre-retirement age were most likely to report problems or difficulties. Just over four in 10 (43%) immigrants between 25 to 44 years and 41% of those between 55 and 64 years reported problems or difficulties.

Among the five largest census metropolitain area's (CMA) where immigrants settled, those living in Vancouver (48%), Calgary (46%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (46%) were more likely to report problems or difficulties getting education or training than immigrants living in Toronto (40%) and Montreal (38%).

Language barriers and financial problems most frequently cited

Of those who had problems accessing education or training, 27% reported language barriers, and 25% reported financial problems to be the most serious. Just over one in 10 (11%) reported problems with classes being full.

Among categories, immigrants admitted under the family category, skilled worker spouse and dependants and refugees were more likely to report language barriers as a problem, while skilled worker principal applicants were more likely to report financial problems as the most serious problem. The proportion of immigrants who reported problems with classes being too full was consistent across categories; skilled workers (11%), family (10%) and refugees (14%).

Language barrier was the most commonly cited problem for immigrants between 15 to 24 years of age (45%), while financial problems were most commonly cited for those between 25 and 44 years (28%). This may be because immigrants of prime working age are also working as well as upgrading their education or skills. Immigrants of prime working age (25 to 44 years) are also likely to have more financial commitments.

For immigrants living in Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau, language barriers was the most commonly cited problem (32% and 30%) while in Toronto both financial and language barriers were the most commonly cited problems (29% and 28% respectively).

Foreign credentials

Research shows that the immigrants who arrived in Canada in the 1990s were the most highly educated cohort of immigrants to date and the national pool of foreign-trained immigrants is estimated to be growing by at least 60,000 a year³.

The most common countries where the LSIC immigrants attained their education were China (18%), India (14%) and the Philippines (6%)⁴. The majority of immigrants who were educated in China received a university degree (68%) and/or some post secondary, trade or a college education (17%). In India 58% of immigrants received a university degree. For immigrants who were educated in the Philippines, 56% received a university degree and 27% had some post secondary, trade or college education.

Of the immigrants who arrived from abroad between October 2000 and September 2001, 76% reported having at least one type of foreign credential and almost four in ten of these immigrants (38%) had more than one credential.

In the Canadian context, accreditation is formally defined as "the process by which an agency or association grants public recognition to a training institution, program of study or service which meets certain pre-determined standards"⁵. Within the LSIC, any pre-migration education above a high school diploma is considered a credential.

To facilitate a better understanding of the credential recognition discussion within the LSIC, the type of credential has been broken down into three categories: 'courses' identifies some courses taken either at a trade school, college or university, 'diploma or degree' signifies receipt of a college diploma or university degree and 'professional credential' refers to immigrants who hold a degree in dentistry, law etc. or a technical or professional certification.

Most newcomers arrived with a diploma or degree type of credential (85%), followed by 10% with a course type of credential and 6% with a professional or technical credential. There was a slightly higher proportion of males than females who had at least one foreign credential (81% and 71% respectively). Again, this may be due to the higher proportion of male skilled worker principal applicants whose admittance is based on level of education and/or skill.

Although the majority of immigrants with credentials have a diploma or degree type of credential, there is some variation by category. Almost three quarters (72%) of immigrants in the family category and just over half of the refugees (54%) have a diploma or degree credential. While fewer refugees have diploma or degree type credentials, one fifth of them had a professional or technical type of credential – the highest proportion among all categories. This shows that although family and refugee category immigrants are not selected based on their skills or level of education, they are still quite educated.

Credential recognition major hurdle for newcomers

Credential and skill recognition are important to both immigrants as well as the host country. For newcomers, credential accreditation should enhance their employability and hence their economic success and subsequently facilitate the integration process. For the host country, credential recognition means a greater pool of resources available. It also facilitates the likelihood of immigrants being able to contribute to rather than depend on, society and the government to survive in Canada.

A delay in credential recognition is a major hurdle that many newcomers experience. Many immigrants come to Canada believing their skills or qualifications are needed and will facilitate securing suitable employment. After arrival some may become frustrated with the delay and in the lengthy formal recognition process they must go through to utilize their skills or have their credentials, skills and/or foreign work experience recognized. This process is often time consuming and may be costly, more so if further education is required.

For the host society an additional challenge to the evaluation of credentials may be the recent change in countries of origin of most immigrants. Previously, immigrants were most likely to come from European nations such as the British Isles, Italy and Germany, or from the United States where training and education were more likely to be similar to that of Canada . Currently the majority of immigrants are from Asian countries such as China, India and the Philippines where the culture, education and skills are quite different. This may present a challenge for the institutions responsible for credential assessment where they may not be familiar with the credentials or know how to assess their equivalence appropriately.

Within Canada, four major institutions or agencies are involved in the process of recognition of foreign credentials including: post-secondary educational institutions, provincial governments, professional self-regulating bodies and employers. Immigrants in the LSIC were asked about credential recognition within Canada from the following: employer when applied for job, work-related or professional organization, immigration officer, educational institution and/or federal or provincial government departments.

In the LSIC, questions pertaining to the credential assessment process may not meet the Canadian definition of formal accreditation, for example when asked whether or not their credentials were accepted respondents could have interpreted this as either a formal or informal acceptance.

Six months after arrival, 32% of the immigrants who arrived in Canada with at least one credential had checked to see if their credentials would be recognized in Canada. Of those, 83% had their credentials assessed by an organization or institution within Canada.

Among those with credentials, six months after arrival almost half (44%) of the skilled worker principal applicants, 21% of immigrants in the family category and 1% of refugees reported that they had had their credentials assessed in Canada.

While the majority of immigrants in each category checked with an educational institution or a work-related organization, refugees were more likely to check their credentials with an immigration officer. Immigration officers do not have the ability to officially assess foreign credentials and as such, this proportion may reflect immigrants who had their credentials assessed informally or may be a misinterpretation of the question. More research needs to be done in this area.

Majority of credentials assessed were fully accepted

Of the 40,442 immigrants who had at least one credential assessed 56% reported that their credentials were fully accepted, 19% partially accepted, 15% were still in the process of finding out and 11% reported that their credentials were not accepted⁶.

Six months after arrival, immigrants in the economic category were most likely to have their credentials fully accepted, while refugees were least likely to report their credentials were fully accepted (Table 7.5). A large proportion of refugees were still waiting to find out whether their credentials would be accepted or not (38%) and 22% reported that they were not accepted.

In addition to certification examinations, in Canada, candidates for accreditation must often show an ability to communicate in either English or French⁷. Six months after arrival, immigrants who reported the ability to speak English only or both English and French were more likely to have their credentials fully accepted (53% and 50%) than those who reported the ability to speak French or neither French nor English (39% and 36%). At the time of the interview, 37% of immigrants who spoke French only were in the process of finding out whether or not their credentials would be accepted, while for 34% of immigrants who spoke neither French nor English, their credentials were not accepted. Differences between credential acceptance and language ability may reflect provincial variation and/or legislation on foreign credentials, this is examined further in the next section.

Credential assessment is a shared jurisdiction

Currently there is no centralized system of accreditation in Canada. Official recognition or accreditation of post-secondary programs and institutions takes place through a combination of legislative, regulatory and/or formalized methods. Responsibility for post-secondary education lies within the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories. For this reason, accreditation of foreign qualifications varies across the provinces. In regulated professions and most trades, the provincial associations have power to determine licensing and certification requirements, to grant recognition of credentials, and to set standards and qualifications in general.

In most of the provinces, the majority of credentials were either fully or partially accepted with the exception of Quebec where following those whose credentials were fully accepted, immigrants were still waiting to find out whether or not they would be accepted (24%). Since credential recognition falls under provincial jurisdiction, one would expect to see variation between the provinces. The higher proportion of immigrants waiting to see if their credentials will be recognized in Quebec may be the result of provincial differences in the evaluation process.

Waves two and three will provide a better understanding of the credential evaluation process over time and help determine whether the evaluations from wave one helped newcomers or if further actions (such as language training) were required.

Future plans for credential recognition

Just over four in 10 (44%) of the 88,250 who did not have their credentials assessed six months after their arrival, still planned to do so.

When asked why they had not yet had their credentials assessed, the majority reported lack of time (41%), while a further 15% reported not knowing where to go to have their credentials assessed. This latter point identifies the need for more information about credential recognition to be readily available for new immigrants who are interested in having their credentials assessed.

Other reasons reported for not having their credentials assessed were plans to further their education or training first, and lack of funds (7% and 5% respectively).

Some immigrants had no plans to have their credentials assessed

Although credential recognition is said to be a major hurdle for new immigrants, more than half of the 88,250 LSIC immigrants who did not have their credentials assessed at the time of the interview did not plan to do so (56%).

The majority of immigrants who did not plan to have their credentials recognized were not looking for a job and although one in 10 reported knowing their credentials would be accepted, they had no plans to have them assessed.

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Conclusion

Although the majority of immigrants from the LSIC population were highly educated upon arrival, a large proportion of immigrants have continued with their education or training: specifically taking language training and education leading to a degree or diploma or job-related training. Many immigrants may be taking education or training to increase the chances that their credentials or foreign work experience will be recognized.

Credential recognition may better the chance of immigrant integration as well as permit the immigrant to more readily contribute to their new society. It is difficult to determine if credential acceptance as captured in the first wave of the LSIC has been interpreted as informal or a more formal acceptance of qualifications. This will require further analysis and waves two and three will provide a more detailed examination of the credential recognition for newcomers.

Notes

1. D. Drachman and A. Halberstadt. "Stage Migration Framework As Applied to Recent Soviet Emigres", Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees, published under the direction of A.S. Ryan, New York, Haworth Press, 1992.
2. A.G. Green and D.A. Green."The Economic Goals of Canada's Immigration Policy", Canadian Public Policy, vol 25, 1999, p. 425 to 451.
3. Open Learning Agency (OLA). Draft Proposal to Develop the Open Learning Agency Credential Evaluation Service (OLACES), OLA, September 1993.
4. See Table A.
5. Employment and Immigration Canada. 1993 Occupational Standards and Certification: Issues and Trends, Ottawa, Minister of Supply and Services, p. 39.
6. This analysis focuses on credential assessment within Canada – credentials assessed outside have been removed.
7. B. R. Chiswick and P. W. Miller. "The Determinants of Post-Immigration Investments in Education," Economics of Education Review, vol. 13, no. 2, 1994, p. 163 à 177.