Analysis: One year later, Quebec’s anglophone universities still seek ‘respect’ from CAQ

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Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, the principal of Bishop’s University, is grappling with the institution’s first deficit in eight years and figuring out how to cut spending by $2 million, about three per cent of the school’s budget.

So he was “surprised and dismayed” when Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge said English-language universities last year “exaggerated” the impact of his government’s decision to target them with a tuition and funding overhaul.

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On Wednesday, Roberge told reporters: “If I read what they said a year ago, it was like the end of the world, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world right now at those universities.”

Roberge was speaking to reporters as he announced Quebec will cut the number of international students in 2025, a measure that may further hurt anglophone universities.

Reacting to Roberge’s dig, Lebel-Grenier told The Gazette: “It’s very disingenuous for the minister to try to minimize the impact or to imply that we had overstated what the consequences would be.”

Last year’s changes, which blindsided the universities, have had a “very significant impact on us,” even though Bishop’s was exempted from part of the reform, including the tuition hike for students from other provinces, he said.

Even with that reprieve, Bishop’s has had to stop replacing workers who leave, and more savings must be found. The cuts will “have a real impact on our capacity to provide the same level of quality experience for students,” Lebel-Grenier said.

In his comments, Roberge said enrolment has not plummeted at anglophone universities, noting McGill will have more students this year.

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Preliminary figures show a 1.1-per-cent increase in enrolment at McGill. Bishop’s expects enrolment to fall slightly. At Concordia, the head count dropped by 2.9 per cent.

However, the universities point out, those statistics don’t tell the whole story.

For example, McGill says its enrolment is stable in part because of the $3,000-per-year scholarship it’s offering to offset the tuition hike imposed by the Quebec government on Canadian students from outside Quebec.

In addition, McGill saw a nine-per-cent increase in registrations from CEGEP students compared with last year, the university said.

McGill will release full statistics next week with more details, including the impact on out-of-province and international enrolment.

Anglophone universities say interest among that clientele plummeted after Oct. 13, 2023.

That’s when Roberge and Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry announced the changes, part of an effort to boost funding to French universities and reduce the number of non-French-speaking students in Quebec.

Roberge said too much English is spoken on Montreal streets, with non-French-speaking university students partly to blame.

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That inhospitable message caused “a chill” in interest in English-language universities from other places, Lebel-Grenier said.

Compared with last year, Bishop’s in 2024-25 accepted 10-per-cent fewer out-of-province students and 43-per-cent fewer international students.

The federal government’s more recent decision to reduce the number of international students in Canada also had an impact.

Even if enrolment is relatively stable, a change in the makeup of the student population has an impact on university finances.

Both Bishop’s and McGill saw increases in students from Quebec but fewer international students. Students from other countries pay more and are in school longer than Quebec students. With fewer foreign students, revenue drops significantly.

Quebec also revised the funding formula for international students. That results in a loss of $5,000 in revenue per foreign student for anglophone universities, according to an analysis by the Moody’s credit-rating agency.

At Bishop’s, located in Sherbrooke and the smallest of the English universities, the changes will cost the university about $2 million on a budget of about $80 million, the university says.

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Reacting to Roberge’s suggestion that universities had exaggerated, Concordia said in a statement: “The numbers speak for themselves.”

This year, Concordia saw a 27-per-cent drop in new students from the rest of Canada and a 14-per-cent drop from other countries. Those students are lost not only for this year but also the three additional years they would have normally studied.

When it announced the changes, Quebec argued its plan would generate money to be redistributed to French universities.

But since there are now fewer out-of-province and international students, “the amount will be smaller and we don’t believe this is beneficial to the network as a whole, either in terms of redistributing funding or the image the policies have unfortunately created outside Quebec,” Concordia president Graham Carr told The Gazette.

Concordia says Quebec’s changes regarding out-of-province and international students will reduce its revenue by about $15 million “but the impact is also on the diversity of our student body and affordable higher education,” the university said.

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In May, Concordia said the provincial government’s decisions compounded its financial difficulties. It was already “in a deficit position since emerging from the pandemic, due to dropping enrolments, inflation and the increasing salary and service costs required to run the university.”

At the time, the university said it expected a deficit of $34.5 million for 2024-25.

Most of Concordia’s operating budget is tied up in fixed costs such as salaries and benefits. The university imposed a hiring freeze last fall. It’s looking to trim spending in various areas.

For example, it cut the hours of the shuttle bus between its downtown and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce campuses to save about $150,000. Frustrated students and employees are circulating a petition demanding service be restored.

McGill is also contending with a change in how Quebec funds infrastructure projects.

In August, the university said it must cut overall spending on construction and renovations by about half. In recent years, McGill has spent about $130 million annually on building and refurbishment.

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The university recently suspended its long-planned, $200-million plan to renovate its McLennan-Redpath library complex.

“The Quebec government’s decisions of the last year led to major changes in both funding and our ability to borrow and repay loans,” Fabrice Labeau, McGill vice-president of administration and finance, said in a statement on McGill’s website.

Labeau said McGill has “tough choices to make. Financial difficulties make it more challenging to fulfill our academic mission, but finding solutions and opportunities is what we do.

“McGill has every intention of fighting to remain a top university, one whose degrees are valued around the globe,” he said.

Asked if communication with Premier François Legault’s government has improved over the past year, Lebel-Grenier paused for several seconds.

“I wish I could tell you that the dialogue has really changed,” he said. “But I’m still concerned.”

Anglophone universities want “respect, dialogue and foreseeability,” he added.

“We can’t have these policy shifts befall us without any prior warning or without any consultation. This is attacking institutions directly, and that’s not acceptable.”

Concordia and McGill have asked a court to overturn the tuition and funding changes. The case is expected to take years.

The anglophone institutions have the backing of the federal official languages commissioner.

In a speech last month, Raymond Théberge warned Quebec’s actions weaken English-language universities.

“I don’t think there’s anything gained with this policy and I would hope that in the future it will be turned back,” he said. “Hopefully, the courts will do something about it.”

ariga@postmedia.com

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