Funding & Incentives

Employers are able to apply for funding to assist with the cost of employing a student at your organization. Funding opportunities are often categorized by province or industry.

The programs listed below are the most commonly used to support the hiring of our business students and grads. For a complete listing of funding programs available, visit CEWIL Atlantic's Funding Resources webpage.  

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia employers can receive provincial funding through The Department of Labour and Advanced Education. The three programs offered are designed to assist employers by providing a wage rebate for hiring students. These programs include:

Cooperative Education Incentive (CEI)

Next application deadline: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 for Fall 2024 work terms.

CEI assists high-value businesses and organizations to recruit and retain university and community college students by providing quality work experience. It encourages youth retention leading to full-time long-term employment, while also improving workforce productivity. To contact Management Career Services' designated co-op coordinators, email ceibus@dal.ca. For more information, visit our Employer Resources page.

Student Summer Skills Incentive (SKILL)

SKILL partners with not-for-profit organizations to create career-related summer jobs for post-secondary students. The jobs are distributed across the province based on population and unemployment for each county.

Graduate to Opportunity (GTO)

GTO provides salary contributions to employers to offset the cost of hiring a recent graduate and help post-secondary graduates find career opportunities in Nova Scotia.

Innovate to Opportunity (ITO)

Innovate to Opportunity helps recent master's and PhD graduates start their careers while helping businesses become research and innovation focused. The program pairs recent graduates with businesses that are focused on research and innovation.

 

Canada-Wide

Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)

SWPP offers up to $5,000 toward the salary of every student you hire through the program (and up to $7,500 for every student you hire that is in their first year or is from an under-represented group) to help employers in designated sectors regarding their student recruitment, including remote positions. For more information, visit our Employer Resources page.

Employers can find the most up-to-date list of wage subsidies to hire students through SWPP's Employer Delivery Partners. Here is a list of selected SWPP Employer Delivery Partner programs that can support the hiring of business students like ours:

  • Information & Communication Technology Council: WIL Digital
    Work-Integrated Learning Digital (WIL) is a program sponsored by ICTC that develops talent for ICT sectors, supports businesses and increases digital adoption in the Canadian workforce. Employers can be subsidized by hiring a co-op student studying in business, social sciences, arts, science, technology, engineering or math. Employer does not have to be a tech company, but the job must be tech related.
  • Venture for Canada: Atlantic Internship Program
    The Atlantic Internship Program is a paid internship program that helps businesses looking to hire students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. 
  • Electricity Human Resources Canada: Empowering Futures
  • Technation (formerly Information Technology Association of Canada): Career Ready Program
  • Canadian Council for Aviation & Aerospace: Student Work-Integrated Learning Program
  • Mining Industry Human Resources Council: Gearing Up
  • Biotalent Canada: Student Work Placement Program
  • Environmental Careers Organization of Canada: ECO Canada Co-op Funding
  • Magnet: Student Work Placement program

Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ)

CSJ provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.

The Canada Digital Adoption Program

The Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) has been established to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realize their full potential by adopting digital technologies. Eligible SMEs can apply for a wage subsidy of up to $7,300 to retain a post-secondary student or recent post-secondary graduate as part of a youth placement opportunity. The youth work placement is designed to provide additional support for SMEs undertaking their digital transformation.

Mitacs Accelerate

Does your organization have an R&D commercialization or business challenge that requires outside expertise?  Would you like to hire an 8-month MBA intern through Mitacs funding to work on your business challenges? Click here to learn more about how to access funding to hire a Corporate Residency MBA student.