ARTICLE IS AS APPEARS IN POST MEDIA, PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 29,2025
Atlantic Canada’s future depends on talent, from here and abroad
By Dr. Andrew Hakin, President and Vice-Chancellor, St. Francis Xavier University
With a federal budget to drive nation-building and competitiveness, Atlantic Canada’s universities stand ready to make every dollar count. In fact, every major nation-building initiative on Ottawa’s priority list relies on university-trained talent. Our most efficient future is one in which we develop, build, own and operate the technology we need – from generation-defining infrastructure to next - generation defence technology. Whilst doing this, universities must continue to graduate the professionals who keep hospitals running, design our cities and drive technological, social and creative innovation.
The most efficient way forward is to establish a stable balance: educating, developing and training domestic talent, while attracting global talent to augment and fill labour, innovation and declining population gaps through deliberate, coordinated effort.
Like government, postsecondary leaders want a high-quality, sustainable international education system built on a predictable framework that connects research, immigration and labour-market needs. That vision is poised to take shape in Atlantic Canada through the Atlantic Education Destination proposal, in which colleges and universities work together to build and sustain international student enrolment in ways that drive regional growth. By aligning recruitment, housing and work-integrated learning with local labour and social priorities, the initiative helps ensure international students can stay, work and contribute to the communities that need them most.
Budget 2025 provides potential support for this approach, investing $1.7 billion through a new International Talent Attraction Strategy to bring world-class researchers, doctoral students and new faculty members to our campuses. It also commits more than $600 million over three years to expand the Student Work Placement Program, creating 55,000 co-op and internship opportunities for postsecondary students each year. In Atlantic Canada, where more than 60,000 job openings are expected in the coming years, many in health care and engineering - these placements can help connect graduates to the careers their communities need. It’s an initiative that could serve as a model for how partnership between universities, business and government can turn national education policy into sustainable growth.
Across Atlantic Canada, universities are already showing how local solutions can address national challenges - turning policy priorities into real progress. Protecting coastal communities from rising seas and erosion requires ocean scientists, engineers and emergency management professionals. At Dalhousie University, students and researchers are restoring salt marshes and developing digital tools to help communities adapt to rising seas and stronger storms. In health, that same spirit of innovation is evident at St. Francis Xavier University, which has launched the Victor and Mona Dahdaleh Institute for Innovation in Health, a collaborative research and teaching centre developing new models of care with a focus on rural and underserved communities. At Memorial University, engineers and scientists are advancing offshore wind, marine safety and digital energy systems.
Our publicly funded institutions educate the thinkers, communicators and problem-solvers who drive those outcomes, graduates of the arts, humanities and social sciences working alongside scientists and engineers to bring the creativity, collaboration and ethical judgment every major project requires. The sciences, humanities, social sciences and the arts collectively fuel understanding, discovery, and innovation. Their combined strengths and approaches will produce the best outcomes for Canada.
With population growth stalled and birth rates falling, Atlantic Canada must build a sustainable system to attract and develop international talent alongside domestic graduates. Achieving that requires stable funding, predictable policy and clear, consistent messaging to global education and research communities. When policies align, universities can plan for the right mix of Canadian and international students; when they don’t, Canada risks sending the wrong message to the world’s best and brightest.
If Canada wants to grow, compete and deliver for its people, it must draw on the combined strengths of domestic and international talent - and sustain the universities that develop them. The Atlantic Education Destination initiative will help build a sustainable international student system that links education to workforce needs. Attracting talent isn’t an expense - it’s an investment in our shared future.
