The CEGEP model is a success in Quebec, according to a comprehensive study by a group of researchers including economist Pierre Fortin. Despite the effectiveness of this system, the chances of it being adopted elsewhere in North America, including in Ontario — the province to which Quebec is compared in the study — are low. Why don’t CEGEPs exist elsewhere? “The reason is political,” replies Pierre Fortin.
Research on the effectiveness of CEGEPs has not been extensive in recent years. “It takes a generation for you to be able to observe the phenomenon,” explains Pierre Fortin. Moreover, the research of his Quebec colleagues had not gone there, and even less elsewhere in the country. “The two solitudes are still two solitudes,” notes the economist.
However, the study is of interest to the rest of Canada. We discover that between 1976 and 1986, in Quebec, even if the university baccalaureate lost a year to the benefit of CEGEPs, the rate of university attendance grew rapidly. So quickly that in 1986, it caught up with that of Ontario. Today, the rate is slightly higher in Quebec. The promotion of university attendance was the “primary objective” of the creation of CEGEPs, note the authors.
The reform of the education system launched in the early 1960s in Quebec also increased the number of years of schooling for young adults aged 25 to 34. In 1971, four years after the formation of the first CEGEPs, Ontarians were ahead of their neighbors by 1.2 years. In 2020, Ontarians of the same age were ahead of Quebecers by only 0.1 years. Thus, Quebec has achieved one of the main objectives of the reform, which is to catch up with Ontario.
In some respects, according to the study published in the journal Policy analysis, Quebec is even better than Ontario: in 2020, the percentage of Quebecers aged 25 to 34 who had at least one postsecondary diploma was four percentage points higher than that of Ontario. However, the advantage is attributable to obtaining diplomas below the baccalaureate. In total, 38% of Quebecers aged 25 to 34 had a level of qualification equal to or higher than the baccalaureate, compared to 44% in Ontario.
Reluctance in Ontario?
Gerard Kennedy, who was inspired by the Quebec education system when he was Ontario’s Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, says that CEGEPs represent an “impressive” success. The former Liberal minister considered creating an Ontario version of CEGEPs, but agrees that it would have been very difficult to obtain the agreement of the universities. “We would have had to change a lot of things legislatively,” he said.
The Ontario education system differs from that of Quebec in a few aspects. Although students in the two provinces study for 16 years to obtain their baccalaureate, Ontarians finish high school after 12 years of school, compared to 11 for Quebecers (kindergarten excluded). Quebecers spend two years in CEGEP (unless they are doing a technique), then three years in university to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Ontarians go from high school to university, where they earn their first degree in four years.
Ontario students once had 13 years of primary and secondary education, but between 1999 and 2003 the Progressive Conservative government withdrew grade 13. In October 2003, the Ontario Liberal Party won the election and Gerard Kennedy was appointed Minister of Education. The latter then notes that the dropout rate has increased due to the compression of the school career. It was at this time that he studied how things happened in Quebec.
To remedy the “crisis”, the minister tried to recreate the “spirit of CEGEP” in Ontario. However, the government did not want to open new establishments across the province as Quebec did in the late 1960s. “The only possible new establishment would have been in rural areas, where the dropout rate was superior,” he says. A 2017 study shows that Quebecers in rural areas are not disadvantaged in terms of participation in post-secondary studies, unlike young people living in rural Ontario.
The province has finally put in place a series of measures in high schools and some post-secondary institutions to help students make the transition. Gerard Kennedy admits that the province had to act quickly given the education needs. She couldn’t afford to undertake changes that spanned several years. The universities also had financial difficulties, so the minister took a school year off them when he took office.
In this sense, Gerard Kennedy’s argument agrees with Pierre Fortin, who asserts that if no other province has adopted the CEGEP model, it is for political reasons. Éric Lavigne, assistant professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto and former professor at Collège André-Grasset in Montreal, says it is “bold” to conclude that Ontario should adopt the collegial structure because Quebec has caught up.
Éric Lavigne says the Ontario government’s goals in the 1960s when it created community colleges — institutions where Ontarians can get a vocational education without going to university — were different from those of Quebec. “There was no desire to use college as a gateway to university,” explains the assistant professor.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.