Judging by the outrage in the rest of the country, higher education in English would be threatened in Quebec. The establishments of the English-speaking minority are dying under the attacks of the CAQ government.
However, the numbers say something else.
Universities are right to criticize controversial and sometimes contradictory aspects of the new CAQ policy – I will return to this on Saturday. But before analyzing this problem, let’s put things in context.
At primary and secondary level, the English-speaking network is fragile. Enrollments there have decreased by 18% in the last 15 years. And Bill 40, challenged in court, would eliminate its school boards.
At CEGEP and university, however, its establishments are in excellent health.
Let’s start with CEGEP. The English-speaking community accounts for 8% of the population. CEGEPs in its language welcome more than 17% of students.
This percentage is constantly increasing. Since the 1990s, the majority of growth in membership has taken place in the English-speaking network. It would be even busier if two of the largest CEGEPs in Quebec, Dawson and John Abbott, did not have to refuse so many candidates because of their lack of places.
Demand there is strong. The majority of young people who attend them are now French or allophone. They will then be more likely to study at university in English. And then, to work in this language.
McGill and Concordia universities benefit from this slope which leads to them. This accentuates their advantage, especially for McGill.
Historically, it has always been in a position of strength. She is reaping the fruit of her academic and philanthropic work. But it also benefits from a virtuous circle, where its wealthy graduates become donors, which increases its budget and its capacity to attract the best professors and research grants, and so on.
In terms of investments, English-speaking higher education establishments cannot be pitied. Quebec is currently financing 17 real estate projects totaling 2.17 billion. The majority of the money ($1.23 billion) will go to McGill and Concordia, largely thanks to the project on the former Royal Victoria Hospital site. With a quarter of the students, they collect 56% of the investments.
To these assets, we must add that of international recruitment. The number of foreign registrants has almost tripled over the past 20 years. English-speaking universities benefit more, because they have made more efforts in the past, and also because they rely on a larger pool of wealthy candidates. In 2018, they collected no less than 47% of tuition fees from abroad.
Then, at the end of 2018, there was a major shift. Following lobbying by McGill and others, the Couillard government deregulated foreign students. The universities charge them whatever price they want and they keep all the money. They no longer have to share it with other establishments. This decision was made behind the scenes, without debate.
In the last three years, McGill, Concordia and Bishop have pocketed 70% of this revenue. French-speaking establishments are slowly catching up thanks to their recent increased efforts in recruiting abroad. The fact remains that their pool of students – particularly in French-speaking Africa – is generally less fortunate and populated than that of South-East Asia, where degrees in English are coveted.
Our English-speaking establishments do not just sell a diploma. They also offer an easier path to Canadian permanent residence. After completing a degree in English, their clients receive an open work permit for three years. At the end of these seven years, where they do not need to master French, they can then go to other provinces to complete their file and ultimately become Canadian citizens.
This puts pressure on French. There are currently some 80,000 foreign students and 20,000 Canadians from other provinces enrolled in higher education. At university, more than 40% and 80% of these foreigners and Canadians respectively attend English-speaking establishments.
They enrich our university life. They are also excellent candidates to become permanent immigrants – other countries are fighting to attract them. However, their Frenchization is laborious.
For example, Statistics Canada reports that 47% of allophones who completed their higher education in English work primarily in English in Quebec, compared to only 7% of those who studied in French. No less than 23% of French speakers who studied in English will also adopt this language at work.
This is because the job market encourages them to do so. And for allophones, it is also because their establishment did not encourage them to learn French adequately. Those who speak it sometimes master it less well than English – their asymmetrical bilingualism encourages them to prefer English.
This is the overall picture. There are therefore two issues: the weakening of French and the imbalance between establishments which has been aggravated by liberal deregulation.
To resolve them, it would be stupid to aim for a revanchist egalitarianism that would level down.
When McGill stands out internationally, the entire Quebec economy benefits. The Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, himself recognized this when he recently expressed regret that the University of Toronto is now ahead of it. Because competition is not only between Quebec establishments. It is also between Quebec and the rest of the world.
Still, we could do better to protect French and to help French-speaking establishments in order to restore a minimum of equity, without harming the small Bishop’s University in Estrie.
It is this rebalancing that the CAQ government was aiming for. Unfortunately, it seems to me to have missed the target, especially with its measure targeting students from other Canadian provinces. I will come back on Saturday.