Up to 700 job losses, faculties “at risk” and the end of some sports teams: Tuition hikes for out-of-province students could have “very significant” consequences for McGill University, warns its rector Deep Saini.
Quebec announced in October plans to raise annual fees for new Canadian students at English-speaking universities from nearly $9,000 to $17,000 starting next year.
The government argues that most of these university students study in English and leave Quebec to benefit from favorable rates.
The changes “threaten the very culture of McGill University,” the chancellor wrote in a message to the university community Thursday.
Because tuition in Quebec is “significantly higher” than in other Canadian provinces, he believes many students will choose to go elsewhere.
The university is working to fill this gap by recruiting students from Quebec and internationally, but the rector says, “the most optimistic estimates” are that 80% of the places vacated by students elsewhere in Canada will be claimed this way. , and in the worst case scenario this ratio may not exceed 20%.
The cuts could result in annual funding losses of $17.6 million to $69.8 million and result in 700 job cuts and a hiring freeze.
Certain faculties may be particularly affected, Rector Saini continues.
“This blow will be difficult for the Sulich School of Music, where nearly 40% of its undergraduate student population comes from outside Quebec,” he writes.
Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Educational Sciences will also be affected.
Ultimately, Rector says, infrastructure projects may be compromised. “Banks have already increased the short-term interest rate charged on the university following the government announcement,” he writes.
The survival of some sports teams will also be at stake, with Rector talking about the “dissolution” or “ambulation” of certain Redbirds and Martlets teams.
In 2022, 47% of McGill University students reported English as their first language. 20.5% of students are French. The remaining 32.5% had a mother tongue other than French or English.
Almost half of the students are from Quebec, 22% from another Canadian province and 30% are international students.
A move to “counteract French decline,” Legault says
On Tuesday, more than a hundred members of the Estrie community gathered to show their support for Bishop’s University, whose survival is threatened by tuition fee hikes mandated by the Legault government.
On the same day, Concordia University warned of “catastrophic financial consequences”.
According to Rector Graham Carr, once the policy is implemented next fall, the university expects to see a 65 to 90% drop in undergraduate enrollment from other provinces.
On Monday, Prime Minister François Legault confirmed that “Quebec has 9% of English-speaking people,” but that “25% of the university places in Quebec” are in three English-speaking universities.
“Right now, there’s a decline in French in Quebec,” he said. Among others, there are many English-speaking students. Therefore, the idea of the announced measures is to stop the increase in the number of English-speaking students in Quebec,” he added.
The prime minister says he is willing to meet with Bishop, Concordia and McGill university presidents in the coming weeks.
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