Oh yeah, I guess I should mention this

Yesterday (or the day before that, depending on how you count) I mentioned a new scheme by the Nova Scotia government to attract young adult immigrants to the province. I made fun of this scheme as it appeared that the government had overlooked the, at least as far as I am concerned, more important problem of current residents leaving.

Anyway, it seems that today they announced a new program to try to encourage young'uns to stick around Nova Scotia. Though the details in the CBC story are somewhat sparse, I get the sense that this may be directed towards the math and science types instead of the social science or humanities types.

I would suggest that the major flaw in the program relates to whether these 'interns' will be able to get jobs when they have finished their degree program or not. If jobs are available in Nova Scotia many graduates would be willing to stay even without this program, and if there aren't jobs even this program isn't likely to keep them. I worry that the likely overall effectiveness of the program may be approaching nothing.

Furthermore, at $25 000 a pop, these are not cheap four-month internship spots. I wonder if Nova Scotia might be better off just annually offering 20 $25 000 fellowships for grad students. If these were open to out of province students they might even get a few people to move here.

Oh yeah, presumably this means a four month delay in finishing one's degree, just what everybody wants.

I guess my overall assessment, based on a single news story, is that the goal and program seem muddled. I am not sure that they are going to accomplish what is they want to with this program. Additionally, it seems likely that there may be better ways of keeping youth here with $500 000 a year than what seems to have been planned with this program.

I am quite curious if they actually talked to any students about launching such a program.

Edit: I just read the news release and the program doesn't sound all that much better or different.