Anita Budisa-Bonneau works with North Island College. She has a personal mission to help students find work on graduation.

Anita is part of a session at this year’s Vancouver Island Economic Summit. That session will focus on the opportunity that international students bring to businesses in our region.

Vancouver Island colleges and universities are attracting lots of international students. At the 2015 Vancouver Island Economic Summit, economist Susan Mobray cited the “knowledge industry” as one of our growth areas – fuelled in large part by our attractiveness to students from abroad. The challenge, says Anita Budisa-Bonneau of North Island College, is retaining these students after they graduate.

That’s why Anita and colleagues, as well as a number of international students who’ve stayed on the Island, have put together a session at this year’s Vancouver Island Economic Summit. The purpose, as Anita explains, is to present businesses and prospective employers with the wealth of talent and energy that international students are bringing to our region – and then to ask these businesses what they need to grow. It’s the beginning of a bit of matchmaking that Anita hopes will help grow the Island’s economy.

FMI see http://www.viea.ca