This text is part of the special section Higher Education
Quebec universities are expecting an increase in applications for admission to engineering after the announcement of the new student bursary program intended to combat the labor shortage. These institutions nevertheless hope that other means will be deployed so that universities are able to respond to the call.
The measure will “certainly increase” the number of applications for admission to engineering programs, says Mourad Debbabi, dean of the Gina-Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University. “Government announcements motivate students to come to us,” he observes.
For his part, Pierre Baptiste, full professor and acting director of academic affairs and student experience at Polytechnique Montréal, believes that it is still too early to say whether the initiative will attract more future engineers. “We think it will have an impact in the long term, but, for the moment, we have not measured it,” he explains.
As of next fall, Perspective Québec, for which the government will invest $1.7 billion over four years, will offer scholarships to certain postsecondary study programs in fields where there is a labor shortage. This concerns, among others, the engineering and information technology sectors, as well as those of health and education. Thus, students in these programs will be able to receive up to $9,000 in CEGEP scholarships, $15,000 for a three-year bachelor’s degree and $20,000 for a four-year course.
This money will “considerably” improve the student experience and success, believes Mr. Baptiste. “Study attendance will be reinforced not because students will be afraid of losing the scholarship, but because they will not need to work in parallel with their studies”, he underlines.
More resources requested
Mr. Debbabi says that the faculty has already started to recruit staff and professors in order to be able to accommodate more students. However, this also means making new premises available. “The only missing link in the chain is meeting the need for space. I hope that we will have announcements in this regard, ”he wishes.
On the side of Polytechnique Montréal, we first plan to process admission applications before making the decision to set up additional measures. “We are quite responsive and we will open classes as needed when students are identified as newcomers,” explains Mr. Baptiste.
While all engineering programs are eligible for scholarships at Concordia University, this is not the case at Polytechnique Montréal. Biomedical engineering, aeronautical engineering and chemical engineering are excluded from the Quebec government’s initiative. “In these three programs, we have about 52% of women, whereas, in the nine others concerned by the scholarships, we only have 26%”, notes Mr. Baptiste.
However, the institution is concerned about the effects that the exclusion of these three programs will have on the number of students who apply for admission. “It’s difficult to measure the impact of a decision before it has been applied, but it is indeed a concern,” says Mr. Baptiste. If they go to other engineering programs, we won’t have lost any, but that doesn’t necessarily seem like a winning strategy for attracting more women. »
The establishment goes so far as to fear for the survival of the chemical engineering program, if the number of admissions drops. “We have already done a survey of students. And there are those who talk about changing programs and going to those who will be affected by the scholarships, ”he observes. According to the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, chemical engineering is experiencing a 9% labor shortage in the province.
Retain talent here
Under rules established by the Ministry of Higher Education, only students who are Canadian citizens born in Quebec and permanent residents who live in the province are eligible for scholarships. But once they graduate, will they stay here to enter the job market? Mr. Baptiste has “no doubt about it”. “The students concerned will stay in Quebec for sure. They sometimes go abroad for an experience, but always come back,” he observes.
For Mr. Debbabi, the measures announced by Quebec will meet labor needs. He also believes that most students manage to find fairly well-paid jobs afterwards. “I think it will continue to keep our graduates in Quebec. »