Several Quebec universities claim to be unable to increase the number of admissions to doctoral programs in psychology next fall, as recommended in the report by former Minister of Higher Education Hélène David, tabled almost a year ago. year. The establishments argue that the government only offers them non-recurring funding, which prevents them from hiring regular professors. Quebec says the amounts are there for good.
Increasing doctoral cohorts in clinical psychology is one of the main recommendations of the Working Group on the Optimization of Training in Psychology and Mental Health, chaired by Hélène David. The Quebec government is committed to supporting university establishments in this regard, in order to counter the shortage of psychologists in the public network.
At the University of Montreal, 63 new doctoral students in psychology will be admitted next fall, as was the case in 2023-2024. “To be able to increase the cohorts, we would need to be able to hire new teachers. Which we are not currently able to do, due to lack of sustainable funding for this,” indicates its spokesperson, Geneviève O’Meara. The university explains that the additional sums made available to it are “envelopes over two or three years”. “It is therefore not possible to make new hires in this context. »
In her report, Hélène David reports that the University of Montreal considers it “possible” to admit 12 more doctoral students in psychology, “through, among other things, significant investments in its university clinics” to hire psychologists and neuropsychologists who will supervise the internships. Teachers should also be hired. “To move forward, we need additional long-term funding which we do not have at the moment,” continues Geneviève O’Meara.
The University of Sherbrooke admitted 38 new doctoral students in psychology in 2023-2024 and plans to do the same in 2024-2025. “The Department of Psychology is very open to developing and taking its social responsibility,” says Philippe Longpré, who is its director. We would be ready to significantly increase the figures, but for that, we would need to have the assurance of sustainable funds to initially hire teachers and then support staff. »
Same story from the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, which has not yet increased the number of admissions to doctoral programs in psychology, due to a lack of professors and resources available to supervise internships. “The Ministry of Higher Education has budgetary envelopes to help us support short and medium-term projects, but these envelopes unfortunately do not allow us to disburse sums in a sustainable manner, which would be required to pay salaries professors,” says Daniel Lalande, director of the psychology doctoral program.
Laval University claims to be “in the process of setting up a structure which aims to facilitate the path of doctoral students and increase the number of people admitted”. Concordia University also says it is “examining” how it can increase admissions for the start of the 2024 school year. McGill University, for its part, sent The duty to the Interuniversity Cooperation Office, which did not grant us an interview.
For its part, UQAM plans to welcome more doctoral students next fall. It admitted 68 at the start of the September 2023 school year, compared to 63 in 2022. However, it maintains that it faces the “same problem” of non-recurring financing. “To the extent that there is no hiring of new regular professors, the increase in the number of admissions results in an increase in the workload of regular professors in terms of supervising doctoral students,” explains Isabelle Rouleau, director of the Department of Psychology.
At the Université du Québec en Outaouais, the number of admissions has increased since 2021. The establishment will admit 22 new doctoral students next September, or 3 more than the previous year. Starting this fall, Bishop’s University will launch a new doctoral program in clinical psychology, which will welcome 16 students.
A recurring sum, according to Quebec
The Ministry of Higher Education (MES) created a working group, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, to implement Hélène David’s recommendations. In its report, the latter advises Quebec to reserve, “for a minimum of three years”, a “specific budget of at least $4 million” to increase the number of doctoral students in psychology.
The MES reports that a sum of $2.7 million per year was announced in the 2022-2023 budget speech (before the report, therefore) in order to increase the doctoral cohorts in clinical psychology. A new budgetary rule has been put in place. “The sums for 2022-2023 are sustainable: 2.7 million have been announced until 2026-2027,” says the MES.
The ministry specifies that this “budgetary rule” is a “specific subsidy” in addition to the “general subsidies” which make it possible to “financially support the recruitment and salaries of teachers”. According to the MES, 24 more new doctoral admissions were recorded last fall compared to the previous fall.
Financing is the subject of discussions within the working group led by the MES and in which universities participate. During a meeting in September, Cathia Bergeron, a vice-rector of Laval University who co-chairs the BCI Psychology Concertation Table, estimated that a sum of $8 or $9 million “appears more realistic” than the 4 million proposed by Hélène David, indicates an internal document, of which The duty got a copy. Asked to react, Laval University responded that “this extract comes from a discussion which has evolved in recent months and does not in itself constitute the aim of the committee’s work”.
The University of Montreal emphasizes that its teams are not “twiddling their thumbs” and are working with the government and other university establishments “to find solutions to the problems mentioned in Mr.me David.” Around 30 more students were admitted to social work this year. “We are in the process of setting up a new program, a firmware of 2e cycle for those who hold a baccalaureate in psychology and who wish to move into youth protection,” adds Geneviève O’Meara. The first students could take part from the start of the 2025 school year.