Government should expand student placements into social sector

Employment and Social Development

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Canada is spending $73 million over the next four years to create 10,000 paid work-placements for university, college and polytechnic students from across the country.

This Student Work-Integrated Learning program (SWLIP) sounds like a good thing for students. But it’s a selective band of students and companies that will benefit. The students must be from science, technology, engineering and mathematics related disciplines (STEM) or from business. This narrow focus raises serious questions of equity, both for students and for Canada’s extensive social and not-for-profit sector.

I am the director of a community service-learning (CSL) program at the University of Alberta. CSL is unique among experiential learning activities in that we partner specifically with not-for-profit and community-based organizations, as well as with social enterprises and government departments.

https://theconversation.com/government-should-expand-student-placements-into-social-sector-86192