At the end of their baccalaureate, 80% of foreign students who attend an English-speaking university must at least be able to reserve a hotel room over the telephone in French, according to the new francization requirements put in place by the Legault government.
In an effort to convince Quebec to back down on the increase in tuition fees, McGill and Concordia universities proposed on November 6 to implement compulsory French courses to Frenchify 40% of their non-French-speaking students. According to this proposal, these students would have reached level 6 of the Quebec scale of French proficiency levels.
Despite a “favorable reception” of this suggestion, the government ultimately concluded that it did not meet its expectations, after the ministry’s analyses, writes the minister.
“To reverse the decline of French in Quebec, we believe that it is imperative to aim for more ambitious targets,” she underlines.
- Listen to the interview with Pascale Déry, Minister of Higher Education on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s microphone via QUB radio:
To reserve a hotel room
The government wants more students to be French-literate, but to reach a lower level. More precisely, universities will have to Frenchify 80% of new non-Quebec enrollees in an English-speaking study program from the year 2025-2026 to receive public funding. But rather than a level 6, Quebec will only require a “level 5 oral”. No written requirements will be imposed.
According to Minister Déry’s office, this is a “realistic and achievable” level. To reach this level, students must be able to communicate in a “predictable”, “undemanding”, “sometimes formal” and “facilitated by occasional help from an interlocutor” context, indicates the Quebec scale.
Concretely, it is a question of being able to understand the essence, and not the detail, of “the information transmitted by a neighbor on the occasion of the organization of a neighborhood party”, and of ” book a hotel room over the phone.
In her email, Minister Déry also confirms that the government will increase the minimum rate for foreign students and those coming from other Canadian provinces from $9,000 to $12,000 per year. Bishop’s University, in Sherbrooke, will be exempt from this increase, which means that its funding will not be conditional on achieving francization targets.
An “unattainable” target, according to McGill
“This target is unattainable both academically and technically and will only dissuade students from coming to Quebec,” protested the rector of McGill University, Deep Saini, in a press release.
Mr. Saini argues that a student who has no knowledge of French will need “the equivalent of a full course session” to acquire the level of French that Quebec requires. “Seeing themselves obliged to extend their training by one session to obtain their diploma, the majority of students will choose to do their training elsewhere,” we can read in the press release.
French level 5 of the Quebec scale
Oral comprehension
– Understand the essential information related to current subjects (sports news on the news)
– Understand the essence of descriptions relating to a current situation (description of a position to be filled in the company where a friend works)
– Understand the essence of the story of a personal experience (story of a colleague’s stay abroad)
Oral production
– Tell a personal experience (tell the story of a driving test)
– Explain your decision to accept or refuse an offer linked to a current situation (explain why you changed your internet plan)
– Formulate procedures of a few steps to meet current needs (formulate to a friend the procedure for registering at the Family Doctor Access Counter)