I thought this was kinda crazy. I know Quebec is obsessive about French, but why would it think undercutting its English-speaking universities is a good idea? Especially one as highly rated as McGill?
I agree. It makes no sense: If they want to increase knowledge of French, they could just require French modules or classes.
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It will be amusing to hear Americans criticize this increase in tuition for out-of-province students when every public university in the US has the same tuition policy.
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I was born in Quebec, as were both of my siblings. I have three close relatives, including both siblings, who attended and graduated from an English language university in Quebec.
I think that this is very unfortunate. Both of my siblings have said the same (one called this “Appalling”).
One issue is that McGill is a very, very good university. Weakening it does not help anyone. The other two English language universities in Quebec (Concordia and Bishop’s) are both also quite good.
Also, Quebec has a reciprocal agreement with France, whereby a resident of Quebec can get the same tuition as a citizen of France at a university in France, and a French citizen can get the same tuition as a Canadian at universities in Quebec. This significantly expands the number of universities available for a resident of Quebec who wants to study at a French language university. While there are some very good French language universities in Quebec (and a few decent French language universities elsewhere in Canada), there are a lot more in France. However, for this agreement to work, it has to work both ways. The majority of French citizens who want to study in Quebec choose McGill to study. I actually in my business trips around the world have run into a couple of French citizens who, as soon as they knew I was originally from Montreal, just wanted to ask me about McGill specifically for this reason. Weakening this agreement might come with unanticipated consequences.
Apparently the three English language universities in Quebec offered to make some study of French (I think probably one year) a requirement for graduation, with the hopes of offering this instead of the tuition hikes. The people I know who have studied at the English language universities in Quebec or who have considered attending one would have be fine with this proposal (although half of them already spoke French relatively well before applying to universities). This proposal however did not get accepted.
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Well, provinces already have the equivalent of instate and Oos tuition: right now, there’s there’s Québec tuition (about $2,000) and Canadian out of province or French-speaking (~6-8,000) (plus, at some universities, international tuition (~15-40,000?)
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This may sound like a cop-out, but whenever the issue of tuition policies at publicly-subsidized universities comes up, I always think it is really up to the people providing the subsidies to decide what balance of outcomes they want to achieve. Of course that doesn’t mean I will agree that any policy is a good idea, but if the people of Quebec, on balance, would rather spend more of their money promoting French than subsidizing out-of-province students to (edit: disproportionately) English-speaking research universities, eh, that is kinda their call, no?
Based on University tuition to double for out-of-province students in Quebec starting next year | CBC News , it looks like the out-of-province tuition increase (from CAD $8,992 to about CAD $17,000) is not limited to English speaking universities, although English speaking universities have a greater proportion of out-of-province students than French speaking universities (French speaking Canadians are heavily in Quebec and would therefore be paying in-province tuition at Quebec universities). Hence, the English speaking universities would be most affected by the out-of-province tuition increase.
I note that article also says the new tuition policy will not apply to Belgian and French exchange students.
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Yes, their call, but this kind of tuition increase at only their English speaking universities seems like a bad call.
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I think technically it is all their universities, but they know it will disproportionately affect the English speaking universities on the front end due to higher out-of-province enrollments, and then on the back end as well because they plan to use the increased revenue to disproportionately support the French universities.
Which may well be a bad idea, but still, it is their money.
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This doesn’t come off as a general, out-of-province tuition increase that happens to disproportionately affect English-speaking universities in Quebec. Even Quebec politicians say a major, if not THE major, point of the tuition increases is to discourage English speaking students from studying in Quebec.
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Yes, I agree the disproportionate impact is intentional.
This wasn’t something Quebec residents voted on. This was suddenly and arbitrarily decided by the government as a solution to the fact that they lost a seat in Quebec City to the PQ (nationalist separatist party) a few months ago, and are attacking anglophone institutions to shore up their support among nationalists who might vote PQ in upcoming elections.
Yes, it was literally described as a measure to decrease the amount of English heard in the streets of Montreal, and as a way to increase funding to the francophone universities who do not have the same opportunity as English institutions do to shore up deficient government funding by attracting international students (for whom tuition levels are not regulated). The francophone universities do not have this opportunity both because U de M and UQ universities do not have the name recognition as English universities, and because the government gives internationals from French-speaking countries very reduced, government-regulated tuition so that even to the extent that francophone universities can attract international students, they do not get much money from it.
If the government were less hypocritical, they would divert money from the $150 million in the 2023 budget directed to increasing tourism in Quebec in the next five years – tourism which is mostly anglophone and increases English on the streets – and put that into French universities. This would serve the dual purpose of reducing English in the streets and increasing the money flowing to French universities. However, it is not really about reducing English in the streets, it is about targeting anglophone institutions to shore up votes among Quebec nationalists. The economy be d@mned.
A more rational argument for these hikes is that we are subsidizing the training of students who do not stay in Quebec so that Quebec society is not benefiting from the training that their tax dollars pay for for these students. However, approximately the same percentage of Quebecers leave the province for education as other Canadian students enter the province of Quebec for education, and students in both directions pay tuition of about $8,000 (for generic undergraduate programs). If there are retaliatory hikes from other provinces, these measures will affect Quebecers who want to study outside the province. This is fine with the current government because they do not want Quebecers to study elsewhere and learn English. They want them to stay home and contribute to the local economy since people who leave are at a high risk of not returning to Quebec to work.
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More than that, this is a way of encouraging linguistic and geographical separation from English-speaking Canada. This will strengthen the separatist movement. In 20 years or less, the vote to separate from Canada will be successful. Problem is, it looks as if Quebec receives more from the rest of Canada, economically, than it gives, and hence Quebec as its own country will probably be pretty poor.
The CAQ does not want to separate and has, even in recent weeks, spoken out against separation. In current polls, because of Legault’s party’s voting for legislators immediate raises of 30% while offering teachers and nurses 2%/year for 5 years (while predicting inflation of 18% over the same time period) they have seen their popularity plummet. They want to attract PQ supporters so are borrowing elements of its nationalist, separatist platform; they do not want the entire PQ platform/i.e. the nuclear option, and most Quebecers don’t want it either.
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seriously?
And they complain about a teacher shortage?
It boggles the mind.
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Doubt this very much. If they didn’t accomplish separation in 95, they’re even less likely to now. My whole childhood in Ontario, Quebec was “on the verge of separation.” Back then, they were more of an economic factor in Canada, and they might have been ok, these days not so much. They need Canada and they know it.
That said, the Quebecois have a very different mindset than the rest of Canada and especially different than the US. They don’t care if McGill is successful or about the economic impact English speaking students might bring to Montreal. They’re more concerned about their language and their culture.
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Sure, but of course that is how representative rather than direct democracy works.
My point is just that this is an issue for those voters, who can choose to factor it into their future votes, or not, as they see fit. And what they decide will be a matter of their priorities, not mine.