Posted at 8:00 a.m.
An improved student mobility program and enhanced scholarships: Quebec is pulling out all the stops to attract young people from major centers to regional CEGEPs.
The Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, unveiled her new plan on Thursday to boost student mobility: the Parcours program, which will allow 5,000 CEGEP students to study in the regions within five years.
PHOTO ERICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Danielle McCann, Minister of Higher Education
Starting next fall, students who enroll in one of the 18 eligible regional CEGEPs will receive an annual scholarship of $7,500, all programs combined.
Host CEGEPs will also be compensated. Quebec will give them $1,500 per student, so that they can ensure their integration and promote scholarships.
In total, the Department will inject nearly $112 million over five years into the program, of which just over $6 million will be paid in 2022-2023.
From the first year, Minister Danielle McCann hopes to convince 1,000 students to try the experience. The step will be high: last year, less than 400 CEGEP students left home to study in the region.
However, there has been a student mobility program in Quebec for several years. To attract young people, the scholarships have been generously enhanced. (In the old version, a scholarship holder earned an average of $1,500).
“We are also going to identify with the host regions and other departments the implementation of other incentives, for example, which affects transportation, access to cultural activities, sports and leisure,” said announced Mme McCann, visiting Cégep de Saint-Félicien.
Vitalize the regions
With a stronger program, Quebec hopes to promote the vitality of the regions and better distribute the students in the college network. Approximately 12,000 places are available in regional CEGEPs.
Meanwhile, CEGEPs in Greater Montreal are overflowing and preparing to face a wave of several thousand students in the coming years.
Student mobility, believes Danielle McCann, is a “part of the response to the demographic changes that our society is facing”.
Moreover, it will be possible to combine a Parcours scholarship with a Perspectives Québec scholarship, which targets sectors in need of labor in public services and targeted strategic areas.
A national promotion
For a long time, players in the college community have been asking for a reform of the student mobility program adopted in 2016.
The Regroupement des cégeps de region (RCR), which participated in the development of the new version, had one wish in particular: to promote the program nationally, which is too little known. “And the government is committed to doing so,” welcomed Marie-Claude Deschênes, spokesperson for the RCR.
The Quebec Collegiate Student Federation (FECQ) also insists on the importance of strong and concerted promotion, starting in high school. She wants a concrete plan from the Ministry.
If the original program did not fully achieve its objectives, it is because of the lack of “funding and national coordination” in its promotion, lamented the FECQ in a press release.
But the Ministry is moving in the right direction, believes Mr.me Deschenes. The new name of the program, more attractive and evocative, is a good example.
““Journey” refers to the academic journey, the life journey, to travel through Quebec. There is something more appealing to a young person,” she says.
Finding accommodation for students
If the program works as hoped, regional CEGEPs will face another challenge: finding a roof for all these students, while there is a lack of housing everywhere. The RCR is already tackling this, and feels the government’s will to do the same.
“It is part of our major work sites, the whole question of reception infrastructures. Attractiveness in the regions includes housing,” concludes Ms.me Deschenes.