Quebec English universities promise more French learning to avoid tuition hike

Weeks after Quebec announced it would double tuition for out-of-province students studying in Quebec's English universities, the schools are making a counter-proposal they hope will make the government reconsider.

McGill, Concordia and Bishop's universities are proposing several measures, including mandatory French-as-a-second-language courses, that they say will mean their graduates are better equipped to live and work in Quebec.

In a statement, the schools said they "recognize that French remains under threat in Quebec, particularly in Montreal, and reaffirm that all universities are the government's natural allies in the protection, promotion and influence of French in Québec and elsewhere in the world."

The government has framed the tuition hike as a way to stop Quebec taxpayers from subsidizing anglophone students who come from elsewhere in the country to study in Montreal, many of whom then leave without learning French or contributing to the province.

Premier François Legault has said those students contribute to the decline of French in Quebec.

The universities met on Monday with Legault and Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry to outline their plan, which they hope would mean at least 40 per cent of non-French-speaking students enrolled in undergraduate programs would attain an intermediate level of French by the time they graduate. 

In a statement today, the universities said they will also offer more opportunities for internships in French and activities to promote Quebec culture.

They warned that if Quebec goes ahead with the tuition hike it could find itself isolated and could "also expose itself to retaliatory measures that would jeopardize the ability of Québec students to study elsewhere in Canada."

The government's decision to hike tuition fees for out-of-province students was announced in October.

Starting in fall 2024, Canadian students who attend university in Quebec will be charged approximately $17,000 per year for — compared to the current cost of just under $9,000 — while international students will be charged a minimum rate of about $20,000. 

The extra money will go to the Quebec government and will be used in part to fund Quebec's French-language universities, according to the government. 

The news sparked protests and concern from Quebec's English universities that many students will no longer be able to afford to study in the province and that the policy will ultimately undermine Quebec society as a whole.

The universities argue in their statement that the government is essentially setting up a system "whereby funding for French-language universities becomes somehow dependent on the ability of English-language universities to recruit Canadian and International students."

But the tuition hike "is actually taking away the English-language universities' ability to do so," the statement said.