The complaints of our English-speaking institutions are as dull and predictable as the return of bad music at Christmas.
• Also read: English-speaking universities: This lists the level of French that foreign students must achieve
The Legault government wanted to increase tuition fees for students from the rest of Canada enrolling in our English-speaking universities from $9,000 to $17,000.
In the end it will be $12,000.
Facts
McGill and Concordia are still complaining.
The Legault government also maintains the introduction of a minimum price of $20,000 for international students, with the rest varying depending on the discipline.
The amounts generated in this way, around 125 million per year, would be redistributed to English-speaking universities.
According to McGill, this policy would be based on “impressions.” Really?
In Quebec, about 75% of citizens have French as their first language, 8% have English as their first language, and 17% have other first languages.
The numbers vary depending on whether you look at the native language, the language most spoken at home, etc. But that gives you an idea.
English-speaking universities accommodate 25% of all university students and receive an even larger share of funding.
For what? There are three categories of students: Quebec residents who pay the basic fees, students from the rest of Canada who pay more, and foreigners (non-Canadians) who pay even more.
McGill, to speak only of itself, receives many more students from the last two categories, the highest paid, than other universities.
In 2022, 51.2% of McGill students were non-residents of Quebec.
I don't understand why the government of Quebec – you and I – should subsidize people who come here because it's cheaper and who, in the vast majority, will leave after completing their studies.
It is only normal that Quebec's higher education funding policies primarily serve the interests of the French-speaking majority.
But there's more to it than just tuition fees.
The university's funding also includes operating grants from the Government of Quebec, private donations, product sales, endowment revenues, capital resources, and amounts from federal and Quebec funds to finance research.
When you take everything into account, English-speaking universities receive around 30% more per student than French-speaking universities.
This gap is more than a billion a year, far from the 125 million that we want to give back to French-speaking businesses.
This alignment was in effect until 2015, when Philippe Couillard changed it to accommodate English speakers.
Beginning
This additional income from English-speaking universities also serves as leverage to attract more money and negotiate better with banks. Money attracts money.
Worse, what are HEC and UQAM doing considering it is English that attracts? They offer more English lessons!
If you can't beat them, join them!
The measures announced by the Legault government should be just the beginning.