Global Skills Opportunity: How Federal Funding Covers Outbound Study and Work Placements

What Global Skills Opportunity was

Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) was a federal pilot fund that paid for Canadian post-secondary students to study or work abroad, with a focus on removing cost as a barrier for students who study and work abroad less often than their peers. Employment and Social Development Canada funded the program, and Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada jointly administered it. It ran as a 5 year pilot and officially ceased operations on March 31, 2025 .

Over its run, GSO reached more than 11,000 students through 151 mobility projects across 131 participating Canadian institutions, made up of 64 universities and 67 colleges, CEGEPs and polytechnics.

Who it prioritized and what it covered

GSO specifically targeted students underrepresented in international mobility, naming low-income students, students with disabilities, and Indigenous students as priority groups. Funded placements paid up to 10,000 CAD per student toward the cost of an outbound study or work term, and the program leaned toward non-traditional destinations, meaning countries other than Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to support broader trade and education diversification goals.

Students never applied to GSO directly. A college or university applied for project funding, then ran its own funded mobility program that students accessed through their institution's international or global education office.

Why it still matters even though it has ended

GSO no longer accepts new applications, and no replacement federal program has been announced to cover the same ground. That does not mean every GSO-funded opportunity disappeared the day the pilot ended. Institutions received project funding in advance for their own mobility programs, so a placement your school announced before the program's end date might still run out its committed funding on a timeline separate from GSO's own application window.

If your school's international office lists a placement funded by Global Skills Opportunity or GSO, check directly with that office whether the specific project is still funded and taking students, rather than assuming the wider program's end date applies to every project it ever funded.

How students used to find a placement

While GSO accepted applications, students found opportunities two ways: through their institution's international office directly, or by browsing a public database of funded mobility projects on the program's own website. That database still exists as a historical record even though the program stopped funding new placements, so it remains useful if you want to see the kind of destinations and project types GSO funded before you look for alternatives.

Why the program targeted non-traditional destinations

GSO steered funding toward countries other than Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States on purpose, since Canadian students already study and work in those four destinations in much higher numbers than anywhere else. The goal was building language skills, professional networks, and cultural experience tied to markets Canada wanted to diversify trade and education ties with, rather than adding more funding to the destinations that already draw the most Canadian students.

What to do if you were counting on GSO funding

• Ask your institution's international or global education office directly whether it still runs active GSO-funded mobility projects, or has replaced them with its own funding.

• Look at your institution's regular study abroad bursaries and travel grants, which usually exist separately from GSO and continue regardless of the federal program's status.

• Check whether your destination or field of study has its own dedicated funding, like DAAD RISE Germany for science research internships or Fulbright Canada and the Killam Fellowships Program for US terms.

• If you already hold a GSO-funded placement offer from before March 31, 2025, confirm directly with your institution's office that the funding is still committed, since institutional timelines vary.

The bigger picture

GSO was built as a pilot, meaning it always had a defined end date rather than ongoing funding. Its results, more than 11,000 students supported and 151 projects launched across 131 institutions, made the case for outbound mobility funding, and its priority focus on low-income, disabled, and Indigenous students shaped what a future federal program, if one appears, would likely target. Watch for updates through Colleges and Institutes Canada and Universities Canada, since either body would likely administer a successor program the way they ran this one.