Getty Images/iStockphoto Starting in fall 2024, tuition fees will be increased for students from other provinces and countries at English-speaking universities.
Quebec's English-speaking universities are angry at the government's decision, announced Friday, to increase tuition fees for new foreign students or from other Canadian provinces starting in winter 2024.
This measure, which only affects English-speaking universities, will practically double the tuition fees of non-Quebec Canadian students. French and Belgian students, as well as postgraduate and second cycle research students, will however be spared.
“We are disappointed by these measures which will have a significant impact on Concordia and which, unfortunately, will discourage thousands of students, from outside Quebec and abroad, from coming to study in Quebec,” deplores Concordia University in a written statement sent to Devoir.
Deep Saini, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, also says he is “very disappointed”. “The measures announced today will have, in the long term, a major impact on the Quebec economy. The competent people that we manage to recruit and keep here contribute to the growth of Quebec and form the highly qualified workforce that our businesses need more than ever,” he said in a press release. /p>
“Stop the decline of French”
Concretely, Canadian students who begin their studies next fall will pay the equivalent of what their training costs the government, that is to say $17,000 per year, rather than $8,992 as is currently the case.
New international students will pay $20,000.
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Students who started their study program before fall 2024 will also be able to continue to pay the same tuition fees.
This increase corresponds to a “floor” rate, specified at a press conference in Montreal the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, since universities retain the right to bill “discretionary amounts”.
“Today, the government of Quebec is sending a clear signal: not only are we putting an end to a policy that subsidizes students who do not stay here at a loss, but we are slowing down the decline of French in Montreal,” said the minister. .
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With the money thus recovered, Quebec wishes to reinvest in the French-speaking university network, welcome more French-speaking international students and offer exemptions for certain special cases. He hopes to recoup $100 million.
“We must not put on rose-colored glasses: in Montreal, there are more and more Canadian and international students and they mainly attend our English-speaking universities [and] English-speaking programs,” said the Minister responsible for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, alongside his colleague Déry.
Minister Roberge also wanted to point out that the “historic” English-speaking community of Quebec would not be affected by this new measure. It will continue to benefit from much lower tuition fees than in other provinces.
“Inexact figures”
“Some figures presented to justify these measures are inaccurate: most out-of-province students already pay higher tuition fees in Quebec, with the exception of a few programs [law, medicine] in Ontario and Alberta “, deplores Concordia University.
“The Quebec government seems to be based on the idea that students from outside the province and foreign students will continue to come to Quebec in the same numbers and bases its financial redistribution on this hypothesis, adds the institution. We expect a decline in the enrollment of these students, which will translate into a reduction in general funding for the entire university network. »
Mr. Saini of McGill University says he is working to “analyze the consequences of these decisions with [his] student population.” “Quebec has 19 excellent universities, and each of them plays its own role that meets the broad needs of Quebecers.”
With The Canadian Press