The government of François Legault in Quebec approved the amendment of its new university funding policy, which it presented two months ago, so that the tuition fees for Canadian students coming from outside the province of Quebec are lower than what was decided.

Under the new amendments issued by Quebec’s Minister of Higher Education, Pascal Dery (Drahi), the minimum university tuition fee for Canadian students from outside Quebec becomes $12,000 annually, after it was decided last October to raise it from $8,992 to about $17,000 annually starting fall 2024.

Dery announced this amendment in a message she sent this morning to the heads of the three English-speaking Quebec universities, which are McGill University, Bishop's University, and Concordia University, who protested the decision to increase fees issued in October.

The new amendments also stipulate that "a portion of the funding allocated for non-Quebec students will be subject to assessment and development of French language skills by the (university) institutions."

"Starting from the 2025-2026 academic year, 80% of the new enrollees from outside Quebec in an English-language study program must reach level five of oral skills from the 'Quebec Scale' in French language skills by the end of their first-level university program," noted the Quebec minister.

Consequently, without respecting this condition, universities will see a reduction in their funding from the state.

Also, the requirements imposed on Bishop's University will be reduced due to its special situation; it is a small university located in one of Sherbrooke city's neighborhoods, unlike the larger McGill and Concordia universities situated in Montreal, the largest city in Quebec.

Ultimately, Bishop's University will be allowed to admit 825 Canadian students from outside Quebec annually at the current tuition fees.

Also, its funding will not be affected by the condition related to the French language skills for 80% of new enrollees from outside Quebec for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Many of the reforms announced by Minister Dery two months ago were maintained. For example, foreign students, except the French, will have to pay no less than $20,000 annually to study in Quebec. According to previous announcements, the new tuition fees are supposed to take effect in fall 2024.

However, the amendments announced today by Minister Dery are not sufficient in the eyes of McGill University, whose administration called the press early this afternoon to demand "Premier Legault cancel his decision regarding tuition fees," a decision which, according to the university administration, will have "devastating effects."

It is noted that McGill University suspended a $50 million French language teaching program following the announcement issued by Minister Dery in October.

Since the mentioned government announcement, the three English-speaking Quebec universities have been presenting proposals to convince the Quebec government to retract its decisions. Among the proposals, for example, are that the three universities develop strategies ensuring that 40% of their students who do not speak French are able to speak the language by the end of their university studies.

These universities benefit more than others from the current funding policy. This situation resulted from a policy imposed by the liberal government of Quebec led by Philippe Couillard, who led the only Canadian province with a French-speaking majority from 2014 to 2018.

This policy also allowed Quebec universities to earn an additional revenue of $407 million thanks to tuition fees from international students from 2019 to 2022.

However, the share of the three English-speaking universities reached $282 million out of the mentioned amount, compared to only $47 million for the ten universities belonging to the Université du Québec network that teach in French and are spread across the province. The latter supports the Coalition Avenir Québec government in its current approach.