As Franco-Ontarian Day approaches, celebrated on Sunday, the university where the Franco-Ontarian flag was raised for the first time in 1975 is finalizing its steps to offer courses for the first time as an institution. by and for » Francophones. The University of Sudbury recently submitted documentation to an independent review board so it hopes it can soon open its doors to students.
Rector Serge Miville affirms that Sudbury’s Francophone community “has never been so close” to obtaining the university it has dreamed of for a century: an autonomous, public, French-language establishment. Since its inception over a hundred years ago, the university has been associated with other institutions, including Laurentian University, except for a three-year period. However, the agreement with Laurentian ended in 2021 when the latter sheltered itself from its creditors and dissolved the agreement.
The University of Sudbury then began a transformation to survive and become entirely francophone. “We are the first institution to say: we will stop being bilingual and we will become French-speaking,” explains Serge Miville, a historian by training. In this sense, the university’s project is emblematic of the philosophy of the green and white flag, which notably represents the empowerment of the Franco-Ontarian community. The rector thinks he can contribute to this empowerment.
To achieve this, and to obtain provincial government status as a publicly funded degree-granting institution, however, the university must go through a rigorous approval process. On August 22, the establishment submitted to the Commission for the Evaluation of the Quality of Postsecondary Education (CEQEP) a document crucial to this process. The CEQEP is an independent Ontario organization that evaluates, among other things, the capacity of universities to offer courses before making recommendations to the Minister of Colleges and Universities. The minister has the last word.
The document submitted details the administrative capacity of the institution to receive students. This precedes an evaluation process with independent experts who analyze the dossier and then produce an evaluation report. The management of the university will respond in turn and then send it to the board of directors of the CEQEP. Serge Miville, citing the confidentiality of the process, prefers not to comment on its evolution, except to say that he is “really satisfied with where the university is at”.
Financial costs of the breakup
According to Serge Miville, the status that the province could grant to the University of Sudbury if it is satisfied with the evaluation of the PEQAB will allow it to obtain provincial funding, and thus be able to deliver quality programs. The rector says the community wants the university to get the status and not be a private university. However, the financial situation of the institution as described in the submission also testifies to the importance of public funds.
The dissolution of the agreement that united the University of Sudbury to Laurentian University until 2021 has “abruptly cut” the funding of the establishment, we read in the submission document to the PEQAB. To help with its transformation efforts, the federal government awarded the university $1.9 million in March. The amount was intended for the development of a business plan and to support the institution in the PEQAB process. The fact of having obtained this amount “is not trivial” affirms Serge Miville in an interview. “These are real accomplishments,” he says.
In its submission, the establishment argues that it has demonstrated its administrative capacity since its founding in 1913. Among other things, it notes that it has acquired a Academic Freedom Policy “which recognizes and protects the rights of individuals in the pursuit of knowledge without fear of retaliation from the organization”. The university also now has a Organizational Assessment Policy which provides for an evaluation of its administrative processes and policies every seven years.
Serge Miville has an entire community behind him to support him in his efforts, from people working on the file for 50 years, to Franco-Ontarian students. “We would benefit from avoiding the exodus of young Francophones from the North,” says Marie-Pierre Héroux, a student from the University of Ottawa whose program at Laurentian was eliminated in 2021. “The future will tell where we will be. on the next Franco-Ontarian day,” commented Serge Miville. “I’m very happy and satisfied with where we are at,” he said.
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This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.