The new tuition price policies recently revealed by Quebec‘s minister of higher education bring national and political attention to a province-wide discussion that had mostly focused on university underfunding up until this point. This is a result of a review of its university financing policy (PQFU), which was revealed on May 12 and will have far-reaching effects. Pascale Déry, the province’s minister of higher education, said on October 13 that tuition prices for students from outside the province will increase.
In autumn 2024, the price would increase from $8,992 to about $17,000 annually. For overseas students, a minimum tuition of $20,000 per year was also established. Since then, the academic community in Canada as well as some Canadian people have expressed their worries over this move, which may make underfunding at certain institutions in
Quebec
worse. The concern has also been raised by several professionals, academics, and business executives.
One such scholar who identified the uneven allocation of resources in Quebec higher education is economist and retired professor Pierre Fortin of the Université du Québec à Montréal. According to a research he carried out in 2021, English-language universities have above-average resources whereas French-language colleges are underfunded in comparison to the provincial average. This is mostly because a substantial percentage of “lucrative” overseas students attend English-language institutions.
The budget gap for universities in Quebec that appeared between 2019 and 2022 was used by the government to justify its statement, saying it had existed “ever since the former Liberal government’s adoption of the deregulation policy.
” Three universities—McGill University, Concordia University, and Bishop’s University—saw a notable rise in their tuition fees from overseas students during that time, with a combined income of almost $282 million, as stated in the press release released on the day of the announcement. That makes up most of the $407 million that Quebec’s universities have produced. According to the press release, it left the ten French-language universities in the Université du Québec (UQ) network to split $46.9 million over the same time frame.
Alexandre Cloutier, president of UQ, responded right away. In a press statement released on the same day as the government announcement, he was among the few who publicly praised the shift, stating that it was the appropriate choice.
Minister Déry’s office refused our request for more information, citing her hectic schedule.
A question of identity
These new regulations disproportionately hurt Bishop’s University, since 15% of students are foreign and 29% of students are from regions outside of Quebec. Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, the university’s principal, described the situation as very disturbing and as posing an existential danger to his institution, which would find it difficult to recover from a sudden, significant loss of students.
Bishop’s identity is also at jeopardy because of the variety of its student body. Mr. Lebel-Grenier added, “This is a problem even more serious than the financial impact on the university.” Although he notes that the new regulations would only affect those starting classes in the autumn, he thinks that many “students from other Canadian provinces are extremely worried they won’t be able to afford Bishop’s because of the higher tuition costs.”
Mr. Lebel-Grenier regrets that institutions were not notified or consulted before these actions were taken. Despite expressing her awareness of the effects on Bishop’s and her willingness to explore methods to assist the institution, the minister has not yet offered any specific actions.
This has nothing to do with language. We are willing to talk about strategies for assisting foreign students in learning French. Bishop’s survival is in jeopardy, and that will not advance the French language in the Eastern Townships.
Although he applauds Yves-François Blanchet, the head of the Bloc Québécois, for endorsing Bishop’s position, Mr. Lebel-Grenier does not conceal his disappointment with the debate’s identity-based slant. This has nothing to do with language. We are willing to talk about strategies for assisting foreign students in learning French. Bishop’s survival is under jeopardy, and that will not advance the French language in the Eastern Townships. He finds it hard to draw any further conclusions from the justifications provided when the tuition increases were announced, except from the notion that “Bishop’s is merely collateral damage in the government’s political machinations.”
Daniel Jutras, the president of Université de Montréal, is also unyielding to the linguistic difference. In a newly published opinion piece, he makes the argument that there is still disagreement over the true concerns, which include the resources we want to commit to this enormous endeavor, the role our institutions, both English and French, should play in Quebec’s growth and its position in the orchestra of nations. “People who enhance the excellence, quality, diversity and relevance of our universities, just as Quebec students do,” he claims, are students from other provinces.
The discussions around the updated PQFU policy have resources at their core as well. “Quebec universities have complained of being underfunded compared to other Canadian universities for the past 20 years,” said Dr. Fortin. And with good reason—his analysis revealed that, in comparison to institutions outside of the province, Quebec universities had lost out on $1.25 billion in funding by 2018–2019.
“The capacity of the Quebec government to devote those extra funds to education, considering the financial strain from industries like health care and public services, represents a political and economic challenge.”
For months now, the academic community has been submitting funding proposals in large quantities. A few weeks after the revision process was formally announced, Mr. Cloutier and the presidents of ten UQ network institutions issued an open letter estimating that the network will have an annual mission-related deficit exceeding $100 million. The president of Université Laval, Sophie D’Amours, demanded a $150 million boost in financing for her university in September.
In addition to his plan to “close the funding gap between Quebec universities and other Canadian universities over a six to seven-year period,” Dr. Fortin has proposed ways to finance Quebec universities. This plan was sent to the Bureau de la coopération interuniversitaire. That would mean contributing an extra $250 million a year to the statutory subsidy provided by the Quebec government. The capacity of the Quebec government to devote those extra funds to education, given the financial strain from industries like health care and public services, is acknowledged as “the political and economic challenge.”
He thinks the government should “re-evaluate its debt reduction targets and consider reallocating debt reduction funds to education, while maintaining a healthy fiscal balance,” as financing for education is partially dependent on the province’s public debt reduction initiatives.
A work in progress
The UQ “deserves more support to continue fulfilling its mission to provide a wide range of programs to students across Quebec,” according to Mr. Cloutier, who also believes that the university “has been a work in progress since the Quiet Revolution.” Over forty communities are home to the University of Queensland, which boasts of “nearly 100,000 registered students, roughly half of whom are the first generation in their families to pursue higher education.”
In order to help equalize regional differences in graduation rates, he would urge the Quebec government to acknowledge and support this purpose more fully. Although “in certain regions it’s under 20%,” he points out that more than 50% of Montrealers have a university degree or certificate. He thinks that differences in the capacity to collect tuition fees are reflected in the underfunding. “UQ tuition fees are inherently lower, in keeping with its mission to be accessible to all.” This results in a negative financial impact.
In an effort to become less reliant on government support, the UQ is formulating a plan to collaborate more closely with charity organizations. Mr. Cloutier said, “We plan to strengthen our capacity to obtain philanthropic funding by appointing a new director for our foundation in the near future.”
Funding formula
Although he feels there is room for improvement, Mr. Jutras does not consider the financing mechanism to be unjust. The number of students at each level, weighted by discipline, is the main determinant. Nonetheless, the grid is implemented consistently and yields varying income streams based on the unique attributes of each institution. There are talks of tying a portion of the financing to persistence or graduation metrics, which would have different effects.
He said that changes may be required in a number of areas, including the allocation of cash via certain grants that have extensive reporting requirements, which he claims is not optimal from the perspective of the institutions. He thinks that more money should be allocated to Quebec institutions’ aging infrastructure renovations and that financing might be enhanced to meet the rising demands of the digital revolution.
As stated by the minister in October, early in 2024 will see the release of the revised PQFU formula.
source : universityaffairs.ca
