Majority of Nunavut Sivuniksavut grads find jobs in Nunavut

The vast majority, about 80 per cent, of students who graduate from Nunavut Sivuniksavut return to live or work in Nunavut after their studies. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NS)

The latest recent survey of Nunavut Sivuniksavut graduates shows that well over half of the Ottawa-based college program’s graduates are now employed full-time.

NS polled 236 of its graduates in November 2014 and found that 57 per cent of them are working full-time, while another 10 per cent work part-time.

But the 2014 poll results also note that another 21 per cent of NS grads are taking other post-secondary or training programs.

“It’s wonderful to see that, out of 212 responses, only 11 (five per cent) are unemployed and looking for work,” said NS instructor Murray Angus. “These are good numbers, and show how engaged alumni are, either with work or with further school.”

The majority of NS grads (57 per cent) have gone onto post-secondary education, the survey found. It also listed the grads’ most frequented post-secondary institutions: Nunavut Arctic College, and Ottawa’s Carleton University and Algonquin College.

Once NS students have graduated, the survey also found that the majority — 80 per cent — returned to live or work in Nunavut.

Among employed NS graduates, jobs in the civil service appear to be the biggest draw, with 31 per cent employed by the Government of Nunavut, four per cent by the federal government and five per cent by local hamlet offices.

Another 14 per cent of NS grads work for Inuit organizations.

The survey’s results come as the Ottawa program prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year.

The Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut, now Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., started NS back in 1985 to help young Nunavut Inuit understand the land claims process.

About 450 students have graduated from NS since then.

In recent years, NS has developed a much wider focus to help students prepare for higher education or employment. Expansions in 2004, when NS added its second-year program, and 2011, when it took on a new building, have since brought capacity up to more than 50 students per year in total.

NS has also begun to change its mandate and actively court Inuit students from other Arctic regions, outside of Nunavut.

The program, which has accepted students from Nunavik as part of a pilot, has also recently opened its doors to applicants from the Nunatsiavut region of Labrador.

Currently, about half of its students hail from the Baffin region, while 31 per cent come from the Kivalliq and another 18 per cent from the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.