Quebec's ministry of higher education recently announced new tuition fee measures that throw both a political and national focus onto a provincial debate that up until this point had been primarily about university under-funding. This comes as part of a review of its university funding policy (PQFU) announced on May 12 and will have repercussionss that extend well beyond the province's borders. On Oct. 13, Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry announced the province would be raising tuition fees for out-of-province students. The cost would jump from $8,992 to roughly $17,000 per year, starting in fall 2024. A minimum tuition of $20,000 per year for international students was also set. The Canadian academic community and a number of Canadian citizens have since voiced their concerns about this decision, which could exacerbate underfunding at some Quebec universities. Many academics, experts as well as business leaders have also sounded the alarm.
Pierre Fortin, an economist and Université du Québec à Montréal professor emeritus is one such researcher who signaled the unequal distribution of resources in Quebec higher ed. In 2021, he conducted a study which revealed that French-language universities are underfunded relative to the provincial average, while English-language universities enjoy above-average resources, largely due to the significant number of "lucrative" foreign students who flock there.
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