Socio-Professional Integration and International Mobility: The Case of French Engineers Under the France-Quebec Mutual Recognition Arrangements

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of admission into the professional practice of French-trained engineers into Quebec’s professional system. It also looks at the socio-professional integration of these engineers who have sought admission through the France-Quebec MRA since it went into effect on July 18, 2013. Therefore, we consider not only conditions of admission in the professional system, but also factors facilitating or impeding their socio-professional integration, and the impact of these factors on the entry into professional practice. This article also considers the roles of some stakeholders involved in the MRA process and the dynamics among them, as well as the effectiveness of policies that regulate immigration and the labour market, looking at the socio-professional integration as a multi-faceted process that brings together actors mainly from immigration, the professional system, the training establishments and the employers themselves. By analysing these professionals’ trajectories, we also look at the impact of institutional disjunctions, with the aim of identifying solutions towards a more efficient integration of these foreign-trained professionals (FTPs). Our methodological protocol involved a case study approach (Creswell 2007) combining semi-structured interviews, participant observation, informal meetings with some stakeholders and documentary analysis about professional systems, focusing on the dynamics between regulation of professions and the socio-professional integration of FTPs in this context.