The president of the University of Quebec (UQ), Alexandre Cloutier, did not go there with a dead hand. To correct the underfunding of his establishments that he considers “chronic”, he asks Quebec to pay him a catch-up envelope of 100 million per year. The cry from the heart of the UQ is the first public manifestation of a tug-of-war in which Quebec universities will engage in the coming weeks. The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, has indeed undertaken to review the university funding policy. The consultation exercise is in full swing.
There will therefore be other demands from university leaders determined to defend the unique character of their institution and the distinct funding essential to deploy their mission. It’s fair game and, for the benefit of the uninitiated, let’s clarify this: this national sport of dividing the financial pie between the universities has been going on for ages and always gives rise, each time it is a question of revising the policy funding of universities, displaying healthy competition. Our university model is built on competition, whether we like it or not.
In 2022-2023, the budgetary envelope for universities is $3.8 billion. To these public funds, which constitute approximately 58% of the income of all universities—up to 70% for those belonging to the UQ network—are obviously added tuition fees and philanthropy. To support his request for catch-up funds, Alexandre Cloutier affirms that the distinct character of his universities deprives him of a significant part of these other revenues, which are gargled for example by McGill and Concordia. He is absolutely right.
Since 2018-2019, the year in which Philippe Couillard’s Liberals revised an 18-year-old university funding policy, tuition fees collected by universities from several foreign students have remained in university coffers. Previously, a large portion of the sum was returned to Quebec, which redistributed everything to all the universities according to a form of equalization. This “unfair” system was loudly denounced by certain universities accustomed to large contingents of foreign students, McGill in the lead.
Ironically, this “inequity” corrected in 2018 now leads to an imbalance in the kitty of universities less frequented by international students, such as the UQ network, which President Cloutier denounces. Over time, its universities have not been completely outdone, it must be recognized. The special nature of university education in the regions was recognized by special envelopes on many occasions. But the UQ lags behind the others, whose endowment funds are calculated in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions, in addition to tuition fees.
Quebec has 19 universities, including 10 members of the UQ network. It is an undeniable strength, both in diversity and in coverage of the territory, which makes it possible to achieve an accessibility objective set since the creation of the UQ, in 1968. This multiplicity of profiles and a funding formula based on the workforce, however, lead to setbacks: this divides more than it unites, and despite the government’s numerous calls to push for formulas that foster collaboration more than competition, rivalries remain palpable.
It must be admitted, however, that the UQ network is indeed in a special box, and this unique character must be maintained and financed at a sufficient level to allow it to carry out its mandate. From Trois-Rivières, Rimouski, Outaouais, Chicoutimi or Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the regional universities of UQ have contributed since their creation to allowing students who would never have set foot in university to go out a few years of study with a diploma in hand. This statistic alone underlines the essential role played by UQ: 52% of the 100,000 students who attend it are first generation, that is to say that no one before them in the family line had registered at the university. This is 16 percentage points higher than other universities.
To attract students to its distinct programs and succeed in attracting and retaining a faculty so courted by the major centers, UQ needs to better arm itself financially so as not to further widen the gap that separates it from the others. The perfect funding formula does not exist, and in its upcoming review, the Government of Quebec must take into account the changing socio-economic context in which universities prepare future workers and researchers, while preserving the sacrosanct principle of equity. The task is not easy, but the most fragile of the establishments must benefit from increased support, especially if their survival depends on access to higher education.