The placement rate at 3 months for Canadian schools is lower than the US schools. Even if Chinese or Indians go back and get a job in their home country they are counted as placed. So that is not the reason for low placement %.
It’s not a straight forward answer, couple of things are at play here.First of all, MBA as a degree itself is more recognized and valued in US and US of course is a much bigger market for placements. It’s not the same case in Canada, master’s degrees are still more recognized, just like Australia hence the low placement and low post MBA salaries as compared to US schools.
On top of that IVEY & Rotman are best schools in Canada, but not really on a global scale.
A recruiter looking to hire expensive MBA grads can easily fly 1 hour across the border and get much better recognized MBA grads in US. Therefore the presence of global companies offering global roles is very less. Most of the placement in IVEY or Rotman is oriented towards Canadian Offices only. For example, if the global recruitment team of GE or Amazon for say wants to hire MBA’s for roles in UK or Singapore, they will more likely go to US colleges rather than Canada. So think from that perspective a bit. Same thing happens with Australia.
However the cost of MBA in Canada is low and Indians do get an extend amount of time to stay back and look for a job, minimum 6 months at least. Once you find a job and a visa sponsor you are pretty safe and continue working there unlike US where you would have to go into lucky draw after 1 year again for the H1B1 visa.
So there are advantages and disadvantages. Look at it this way, no one is handling out jobs like ISB or IIM internationally. You have to network and fight for them. 3 months placement percentage of 80% or 93% should not matter much to you if you are committed to be in top 10 or 20% of the class. This is exactly what most Indians do. Every Indian going there knows the risk and that fear usually keeps him at top of his class and placements too. If you are ready for the hard work and fight you have favorable visa laws in Canada unlike US where it is more dependent on luck.
Quick feedback from my clients who joined B-schools in US this year, the placement scene for international students in US has deteriorated really badly because companies are in the wait and watch mode to see what finally happens with H1B1 rules. No one wants to take the risk now only to lose the employee later on. So that way also Canada is more appealing because if the company thinks you are good they will be happy to sponsor visa without the fear of losing it to a lucky draw.
When it comes to recognition of Canadian vs US MBA back in India, of course people look more favorably upon US MBA.