The number of satellite campuses in Quebec’s public college network has increased by 29% in the last decade, according to a survey by DutyA spread which has made it easier to access higher education in several regions, but whose supervision raises concerns.
In 1984, there were 6 satellite campuses in Quebec, including The duty included college study centres (CECs) and secondary campuses, which allow CEGEPs to expand their presence across Quebec. This number has since increased steadily, before accelerating in the last decade. There are now 27 satellite campuses within the public college network, and 11 among subsidized private colleges.
These satellite campuses include, for example, the one that Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles opened in 2019 in Montreal, which already has many CEGEPs, as well as the one inaugurated the same year by Cégep de Valleyfield in Saint-Constant, in the southern suburbs of the metropolis. Others are located further from major centres. This is the case, in particular, of the Lac-Mégantic campus, associated with Cégep Beauce-Appalaches, or the CEC de Saint-Zénon, inaugurated this year by Cégep régional de Lanaudière.
However, despite these advances, “when we look at the map of Quebec, we see that there are gaps, there are areas that are less well served” than others in CEGEPs, notes economist Pierre Langlois. Last summer, he published a study on behalf of the Fondation pour l’alphabétisation in which he identified 39 regional county municipalities (RCMs) “whose college offerings are located more than 20 kilometres from the territory.” He noted that “almost all” of them had a “weaker” academic profile than neighbouring RCMs with a CEGEP or satellite campus on their territory.
“This has an impact on the educational path and therefore on the literacy” of young people in MRCs where college studies are less accessible, since fewer of them obtain a post-secondary diploma, continues the economist.
MRCs demand their campus
Pierre Langlois notes that more and more regions are “mobilizing” to demand the development of a CEC on their territory, where the arrival of such a facility can contribute to economic development, in addition to reducing the exodus of young people who move to large urban centers to study.
The mayor of the municipality of Neuville, Bernard Gaudreau, has been fighting for some time now for the MRC of Portneuf, of which he is the prefect, to have a CEC in this region, some of whose municipalities are located more than 50 km from Quebec City, where the nearest CEGEPs are located.
“We have a CEGEP that has expressed to us in writing its desire to continue [l’analyse de la faisabilité du projet] and move on to the next step,” confided Mr. Gaudreau, in an interview with Duty. Once a concrete satellite campus project has been determined, an application will be sent for approval to the Ministry of Higher Education, says the municipal official, who hopes that a satellite campus will be set up in his region in time for the start of the school year in fall 2026. “For the moment, the file is progressing well,” says the official, who wants to facilitate access to higher education for residents of the Portneuf region.
In fact, currently, “the distance from study centers, the costs associated with having to rent an apartment and buy a car […]these are all obstacles that mean that students who are unsure about continuing their studies at CEGEP will choose to stop after their fifth year of secondary school,” notes the mayor.
Joined by The dutythe Ministry of Higher Education indicates that it has not imposed any limits on the “number of sites that should exist on Quebec territory.” The government thus remains “on the lookout for opportunities to energize regions by bringing college education closer to the population, if this helps promote access to a greater number of people,” while “limiting the impact on existing institutions” in the college network, the statement adds.
CEGEPs in “competition”
In union circles, however, this explosion of satellite college campuses raises some concerns.
“We’re not against it, as long as it facilitates access to higher education,” says Yves de Repentigny, vice-president of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN). He gives the example of the CEC in Chibougamau, attached to the Cégep de Saint-Félicien, which is the only institution of its type in the entire Nord-du-Québec, the largest administrative region in the province. “It helps prevent young people from uprooting themselves to study,” he notes, also highlighting the example of the CEC that the Cégep de Saint-Jérôme opened in 2008 in Mont-Tremblant to serve students from this sector further north.
The unionist nevertheless notes that certain satellite campuses have emerged in recent years near other CEGEPs in the greater Montreal area and on the South Shore in the Quebec region, where they risk “competing” for a similar number of students rather than responding to demand from the community, according to him.
“If we let the collegiate organizations decide where they set up, there would be a lot of organizational cannibalism,” analyzes Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant, associate professor at the École nationale d’administration publique, who compares this logic to that which encourages two gas stations to set up very close to each other, on both sides of the street.
“Public regulation can slow this down, but the ministerial decision still needs to be [d’approuver ou non l’aménagement d’un nouveau campus satellite] be based on the desire to curb this competition,” adds the expert, who underlines the importance of having “tight supervision of college construction” in Quebec.
The Ministry of Higher Education assures that it only gives the green light to study centre projects “for which there is perceived good potential to increase accessibility to college studies”, by serving, for example, areas far from existing CEGEPs or poorly served by public transit. The ministry also assures that it collects various data to ensure that the repercussions of these new study locations on existing CEGEPs are “as low as possible” and that the “viability” of these centres is ensured by a “reasonably predictable” student pool.