Building a Stronger Workforce by Retaining International Student Talent

Over the past two years, Greater Dubuque Development and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque have partnered with area institutions of higher education to advance a shared goal, ensuring that international students who choose the Greater Dubuque region for their education also see it as a place to build their lives and careers.

This initiative began with a simple observation: while our region’s employers consistently face challenges in filling high-demand hundreds of international students are studying at institutions within 30 miles of Dubuque. These students bring advanced skills, global perspectives, and a strong desire to stay and work in the United States. National research confirms that international students are a critical pipeline for STEM and other high-skill fields, comprising more than 70% of graduate students in electrical engineering, computer and information sciences, and manufacturing engineering. Yet too often, they are overlooked as a workforce solution.

From Welcome to Workforce

To bridge this gap, Greater Dubuque Development Corporation and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque launched an annual International Student Welcome Event in partnership with our higher education partners. The event provides students with a warm introduction to the community and helps them begin building networks beyond their campus.

• In 2024, the inaugural event drew 88 international students from across Dubuque-area schools.
• In 2025, the event was held on Friday, September 19, at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, welcoming 63 international students and featuring keynote speaker Cami Saenz, a Dubuque-area alumna now employed locally on an H-1B visa, who shared her journey from student to valued member of Dubuque’s workforce.

These events are more than a welcoming gesture—they are the foundation of a broader workforce strategy. Employers are being equipped with resources to understand Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT), the most accessible pathways for hiring international graduates. This complements national findings: in Iowa, more than 14,000 international students used OPT between 2003 and 2016, with roughly half choosing to remain and work in Iowa after graduation.

Why It Matters for Dubuque

The case for this work is clear. International graduates:

• Help fill unmet talent needs, particularly in STEM and healthcare fields.
• Bring diverse perspectives that drive innovation. Research shows teams with international talent are more innovative and resilient.
• Represent a major economic value-add for our colleges, who rely on international enrollment to stabilize tuition revenue.

For our higher education partners, retention efforts ensure that the investment made in recruiting international students pays off—not only in enrollment but for building a stronger community that students choose to stay in. For employers, it provides an often untapped source of ambitious, highly skilled candidates who are legally authorized to work in the U.S. for up to three years without visa sponsorship under OPT.

Looking Ahead

Greater Dubuque Development Corporation and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque are committed to expanding these efforts by educating more employers on hiring pathways, building out student workshops on resumes and interviewing, and spotlighting international-friendly employers at our AccessDubuqueJobs.com Career Fairs. Together with our institutions of higher education, we are working toward a simple but powerful message to students that YOU can be great here.

For more information on how employers can connect with this potential workforce, contact Nic Hockenberry, Director of Workforce Programming at nicolash@greaterdubuque.org or 563-557-9049.