The lawyer recalls his own experience applying to Canadian companies that did not recognize his master's degree in social sciences from the National University of Singapore. Among the top 10 universities worldwideAccording to a UK-based higher education analysis firm.
“It's like … you come from the University of Toronto or Harvard University and (you) go to Asia and nobody knows what those universities are,” he said.
The survey found that 44 percent of new entrants to the workforce said they were unemployed or working outside their area of expertise.
“There is no training and reskilling for the people who come here,” said Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Coalition for Change. “There is great disrespect and disrespect and devaluing of work experience abroad.”
This reality is all too familiar to Abdullatif, who was a doctor in Tehran but was unable to practice medicine after arriving in Canada. She spent $33,000 on her two-year postgraduate certificate at Funshawe College.
