But it’s probably not going to be enough to stem the tide of damage that McGill is already starting to undergo.
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Like in the US, lots of Canadians apply to multiple universities. Some would-be applicants have taken McGill off their list amid the uncertainty, reducing current application numbers (applications for some programs remain open till March) but other students will apply anyway, waiting to decide what to do till they know if the tuition hikes or French language requirements will go through. Either way, the uncertainty is going to affect not just applications but yield, with a massive dent if the hikes go through and a dent even if they don’t, as people will have set their hearts on other options as the government drags this out.
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I find it ironic that from the Conquest in 1760 until the mid-1970’s the French language and Québécois culture survived and flourished; a period when the English in Quebec could do pretty much whatever they wanted to do. Now with Bill 101 and the other language laws the CAQ government feels that the French language is in decline and that Quebec is destined to become another Louisiana. That projection was made by Premier Legault.
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The government’s new plan: raise tuition 30% for out-of-province Canadians, and unregulated for internationals (minimum 20k if not from France or Belgium). Require 80% of these students to achieve Level 5 spoken French on Quebec government scale by graduation. This is a lower level than initially proposed. The link provides examples of what is required. (Corresponds to B1 level?) Explaining Quebec's new French requirement for out-of-province university students | CTV News
Some of these examples had my university student cracking up – make a hotel reservation over the phone (?? If you have a phone, you don’t need to talk to make a reservation!)
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B1 actually makes sense - and because they only require B1 in 1 instead of 5 skills, (ACTFL Intermediate Interpersonal Speaking only, no interpretative nor cultural/presentational//AP interpersonal speaking) it basically means “interact with French speakers in French during your 4 years in Montreal”, which is a reasonable expectation.
You can look at expectations for a 5 (a 3…) under Interpersonal Speaking - should not be controversial for someone who just spent 4 years in a bilingual city. All immersion students would meet this “les doigts dans le nez”.
Minimum 20k for internationals not from France/French speaking Belgium also sounds reasonable if you look at other Canadian universities’ international tuition fees.
Not sure the +30% for out-of-province Canadians makes them competitive or uncompetitive. Ideally mcGill would be similar/competitive with UT and UBC, Concordia with Simon Fraser, Dalhousie, McMaster…
McGill already charges more than this for internationals. The new plan will have the government clawing back a significant portion of that tuition through a reduction in the grant.
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But Montreal is not a bilingual city to the provincial government. It is a French speaking city! That is the crux of the situation.
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Yes but anyone who makes a modicum of effort to learn and interact in French should be able to meet the requirement. They will benefit from being able to function in both languages.
It doesn’t matter how the provincial gov’t calls it, students will become bilingual.
Logistically I do not know how McGill is going to be able to offer enough new French language courses to get all these students up to speed conversationally (of course the number of students will be less than it used to be). 80% pass rate for non-Quebecers means everyone is going to be in French conversation classes, which have to be taught by someone who is qualified and paid, in classrooms that are available. No idea where this salary money is coming from considering the current plan involves the government giving McGill LESS money than currently, and taking away even more money if the 80% mark is not hit. In an ideal world, there would be available classrooms but McGill is in downtown Montreal where space is tight; already some classes are taught at night because classrooms are full in the day…
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It will be interesting how this will affect American applicants. There will likely be fewer. I wonder, for example, if an applicant’s high school transcript shows they took four years of French (and maybe a 4 or 5 on the AP French exam) it would give the student a boost even if their other grades were below the usual cutoffs.
It appears that applicants from France and Belgium will be able to pay the in-province rate even if they study at McGill or Concordia. That has long been a sore point among language hardlines.
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I think that giving preferential admission to people with AP French or 4 years hs French is a very likely possibility.
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My understanding is that international students are not currently part of the per student grant funding that the provincial government provides to universities and that the universities currently keep the entire portion of the tuition revenue. The government has proposed adding them to the grant so that universities would receive about $3,000 per international student but then the government would scoop the full amount over and above that. That would result in a net reduction in funding to the universities of ~$17,000+ per international student. For OOP students it would result in a current decrease of ~$6,000/student to the universities ($9,000-$3,000).
I would not put Concordia/SF/Dalhousie in the same category as McMaster. McMaster is equally competitive for undergraduate admission as UofT, McGill, and UBC even if it doesn’t have the same level of international recognition.
Beyond that is the issue of accredited programs like Engineering or Nursing that don’t have space within their degree structures to be able to accommodate the higher number of electives that would be required for language classes.
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Yes, the situation with international tuition is not good because it means that tuition is going to go up by $17k for internationals. However, currently McGill charges $30K Canadian for BA and BSc whereas Toronto charges 60k and UBC charges 48k. (U of T is higher ranked, but not a better experience and both places are more expensive to live. On the plus side for U of T, if one is looking to immigrate, the process is easier and faster in Ontario than Quebec.)
Agree re: the standing of McMaster vis a vis Concordia. Concordia is still a very good school and offers more programs (e.g. fine arts, theatre etc.) and caters to a broader range of studies (e.g. evening studies for non-traditional students) than traditional medical-doctoral schools.
Also agree re: accredited undergraduate programs, they are not going to be able to fit these courses in. Students will have to come in to the programs with some French competence (which makes sense since the government is trying to train people who will ultimately work here.) Law already requires French competency to enter and Medicine introduced this requirement last year. (Similarly, University of Ottawa is now only taking applicants for their med school who lived in the Ottawa region during high school to try to address the shortage of Ottawa doctors. So there may be a growing strategy of regionalism in admissions to address labour shortfalls.)
Edited to clarify $ are in Canadian
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The latest announcement is that McGill will be offering out-of-province students scholarships of $3,000/yr x 4 yrs to offset the increase in tuition from $9,000 to $12,000. Also apparently the new French proficiency requirement will not be in effect for the entering class of 2024.
McGill will still be seeing a significant cut to their funding and will have to make additional cuts to be able to afford the new scholarships. I’m wondering what kind of an impact it will have to the overall student experience and if there will be any collateral impact on it’s graduate programs as a result.
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Smart move by mcGill. 
Working in Québec as a nurse would require French proficiency, even more than in the US where speaking a language other than English is a more than recommended skill for medical professionals.
(btw, anyone aiming for Health professions with decent French skills should pivot to Haitian Creole once they’ve reached A2-B1 level because there’s a big need and with that foundation they should have usable skills quickly.)
AFAIK nurses have to take the French language exam as part of their DEC or if they come from another province must pass a specific French exam. Nurses with non Canadian degrees have 4 years to pass the French exam.
The level they require is basic conversational French - for Canadians, all of whom have had some French, it’d only require a brush up course or even just hanging out with French speakers.
For Americans with only 3 years of French rather than AP, the matter is different. I imagine it’d take 2 semesters of elementary/intermediate college courses + daily life in French speaking shops etc.
And for internationals whose foreign language was likely English, even more complicated since they’d likely need 3-4 semesters
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I think short-term immersion with French speakers is the way, assuming you have taken high school French for 4 years. There was an article in the paper about this recently, interviewing McGill students about their experiences trying to get to conversational French. One took a 5 week summer immersion option and came back conversational. The people who tried to improve their French in downtown shops and restaurants couldn’t because francophones switch to English when they hear an accent. A friend of mine did a 2 week immersion in Baie-Comeau and came back massively improved. I did 6 weeks immersion in Paris back in the day after 4 years of high school French and just 2 university courses in French, and went from understanding nothing of what people were saying (they spoke crazy fast) to being able to enroll full-time in a French university at the end of immersion and do fine. (The secret is committing to speaking not one word of English during the immersion.)
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They can make up the loss of international money by increasing the tuition to 17k, which will still be well below UBC and U Toronto for typical UG degrees but the new scholarship money, if it really comes from the operating budget will be a blow. I hope they start an immediate fundraising campaign to finance it from separate monies. I still think enrolments will suffer because of the new French requirement, and McGill will have to change its recruiting strategy to attract international and OOP students with stronger base French. I think the main thing is that the perception of instability is bad for everything, from recruiting students and faculty, to borrowing money to finance projects, to world reputation etc.
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My son, a McGil alum. told me he has received several emails from McGill asking for donations for this purpose.
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That’s great they are acting so fast.
My wife is Canadian, attended middle school and high school and CEGEP in Montreal, and then moved to the states. We have lots of family in Canada – though all but one relative has moved from QC – and own a house in the Laurentians. Most of our bright nieces, nephews and cousins once removed attended McGill as undergrads. One did a PhD there if I’m not mistaken. The older generation is not fluent in French. I think the younger generation, who’ve grown up in Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto are relatively fluent in French. One is teaching in French at a university.
I don’t know anything about fluency rules, but would the proposed new rules keep those kids out or increase their tuition?
My daughter who did AP level French at a private HS in the US began university in Ontario. As a dual citizen, her tuition in Ontario reduced by merit scholarships was negligible. It went way up when she transferred to a school in the US. She didn’t apply to McGill. I wonder if her tuition would have been impacted by these rules?
Canadians on here will no doubt be able to correct me on history. When the French allowed French Lower Canada to merge with British Upper Canada, the Brits promised to maintain the distinct culture and customs of Lower Canada (mostly Quebec). So, if the Quebecois wish things to be in French, I think that is within the spirit of their original agreement.
While the other Canadians have signs in French as well as English in their provinces, Quebec is trying to make the province more insular. But, what is funny is that their major trade partner is not the rest of Canada but the US – Quebec exports twice as much to the US as it does to the rest of Canada – and folks in the US aren’t going to learn French to do business in Canada and certainly aren’t going to put up French signs at home. So, to be economically successful over time, the push against bilingualism is a self-inflicted economic wound. If I were thinking economically, I’d want to ensure bilingualism among the younger generation – much like all Swedes begin studying English around the age of 7. This enables them to do business in not just the Anglophone countries but around the world. I wonder if Swedes think that has eroded Swedish culture.
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