Assiniboine College graduates are building Manitoba’s population and contributing to our economy.
Graduates surveyed nine months and four years following graduation are largely living in Manitoba—a stark contrast to the broader provincial trend of youth outmigration, reported in Canada West Foundation’s ‘Finding Their Place’ report (released September 2024), which reported Manitoba experienced a net loss of youth to interprovincial migration for the past decade.
Assiniboine grads show a significantly different pattern, with 96 per cent of graduates from 2023/24 living in the province nine months after graduation. This is even more impressive considering only 71 per cent of total graduates originated in Manitoba. That’s net population gain for Manitoba attributable to Assiniboine College’s activities.
And, as time goes on, that story remains the same. Four years after graduation, 91 per cent of grads from 2020/21 remain in the province. Again, only 74 per cent of that graduating class were originally from Manitoba.
That’s a net population gain for Manitoba as a result of studying at Assiniboine.
“Our programs are preparing people for Manitoba’s labour market,” said Mark Frison, President of Assiniboine College. “That’s helping us retain this important youth population.”
Of graduates who are not originally from Manitoba, 94 per cent reported still living here nine months after graduation and 97 per cent of graduates from Manitoba reported still living here nine months after graduation—that’s attraction and retention.
Manitoba remains a desirable home for Assiniboine graduates—and consistently so. The five-year average of graduates living in Manitoba four years after graduation is 89 per cent.
“It’s good news for graduates and good news for Manitoba, and helps illustrate that there are tangible investments we can make to stem the tide of youth outmigration raised in the Canada West Report,” added Frison. “We live in a part of Canada where you can afford to buy a house and raise a family. It’s great environment for a new graduate with industry-ready training.”
In fact, 96 per cent of graduates from 2023/24 were employed nine months after graduation, making an average of $54,500.
The survey of graduates from 2020/21, four years after graduation, showed that 96 per cent of graduates were employed. These grads were also making a solid income and had seen income growth in the early years of their career, with an average annual income of $64,500 —a 38% increase in average salary from when this same group was surveyed three years ago.
