Parties promise end to cuts

ERIC SMITH | All major parties in the provincial election are promising to end the cuts to post-secondary education.

In an interview with the Reporter, Education Minister Pauline Marois said, "The cuts have been ended in two ways. First, we will continue to cover the costs of the system, the budget of each institution will progress according to normal increases. The second piece of good news is that we will begin to reinvest, adding sums to the overall university budget that will total $40 million by the end of the mandate."

This amount still falls far short of what university leaders have been asking for. According to a document by Principal Bernard Shapiro and the rectors of Université Laval and Université de Montréal, released in September and excerpted last week in Le Soleil, universities will need an additional government investment of $400 million over the next three years, an amount slightly greater than the cumulative size of the cuts made over the course of the last mandate.

The report argues that after having made huge strides during the Quiet Revolution, Quebec's post-secondary education system is falling behind North American competitors.

"We must not repeat," the report concludes, "at the dawn of the next millennium, the historic error we made at the beginning of this century."

The Quebec Liberal Party's promises come closer to the figure requested by Quebec rectors and principals. According to Henri-François Gautrin, Liberal MNA for Verdun and spokesperson for the official opposition on questions relating to higher education, "Mr. Charest will reinject $125 million [into post-secondary education financing] immediately."

And Jacques Hébert, the Action Démocratique candidate in Deux Montagnes and the party's spokesperson on education, also promises an end to the cuts. The ADQ proposes the most radical change to the way university financing would be apportioned.

The party argues that the Quebec university system is training too many people in disciplines with low employment prospects. It suggests dividing academic programs into two camps, one for those with relatively higher employment prospects and one for those with relatively lower prospects.

It would fund universities 130% of financing for each student enrolled in the first camp and 70% for each student in the second. "Too many students see themselves refused in their first choice of program and get sent to a program that costs less," according to Hébert. The ADQ also proposes to make university spending subject to review by the auditor-general.

Although the ADQ is most critical of universities, there is a consensus among the major parties that universities could be doing a better job training graduates in the more rapidly expanding sectors of the economy.

The Parti Québécois is promising to continue its program to develop a government policy with respect to universities. Earlier this year, the ministry released a consultation document to begin discussion of the outline of this policy.

The first document proved unpopular across the university system -- a number of university administrators and professors argued that it failed to understand the basic mission of higher education. A second preliminary document has since been released to address some of the concerns raised.

Marois defended the need for an overall policy with respect to universities. "Quebec society puts significant resources into the university system. And in this sense it's normal that we ask 'What do I expect from my universities?' and this can be done through our elected representatives."

According to Marois, a better understanding of universities by the general public would benefit the society as a whole. "We need to bring transfers of knowledge [between universities and industry] closer. I'm in regular contact with FCAR (Fonds pour la formation de chercheurs et l'aide à la recherche) and they tell me: 'There's a treasure hidden inside universities. It needs to be better known.'"

But Marois added that universities "must not become utilitarian. Quebec society needs philosophers and sociologists as well."

The Liberal Party proposes to review the funding formula whereby the overall post-secondary grant is distributed across the system. According to Gautrin, "There needs to be a profound reform of the formula to take into account the specificity of each university. There are research universities, undergraduate universities and regional universities. We have three that are comparable to the top North American universities, McGill, Université Laval and Université de Montréal, and the current funding formula doesn't take these distinctions into account."

A Liberal government, according to Gautrin, would create a second financing envelope, over and above guaranteed basic funding, that would grant additional monies based on performance indicators. But he adds that these indicators would be established in close cooperation with university administrators. "Performance doesn't mean the same thing for all universities."

The Parti Québécois is committed to maintaining the freeze on tuition fees throughout the next mandate. It will, however, continue to charge out-of-province students fees based on the Canadian average.

Both the Liberal Party and the Action Démocratique want tuition to be indexed to cost of living increases. The Liberal Party promises to abolish the Canadian differential. "One is a Quebecer when one is Canadian and one comes to Quebec," said Gautrin. He added he would like to make it easier for students from outside Canada to study in Quebec as well. "It is beneficial, when one is a student, to facilitate exchanges within Canada and the world," he said. "It's important for education to be in contact at university with people who come from other provinces and other countries."

All parties propose minor changes in the distribution and repayment schemes for student loans. The Liberal Party wants to gradually restore a 60:40 ratio of grants to loans and introduce a revenue-based repayment scheme. It would also restore the six-month grace period after graduation, and re-establish the criteria of financial independence on completion of 90 credits in the same program.

The Parti Québécois promises to diminish parent and student contributions in the calculation of financial aid and to introduce loans for part-time students. The ADQ proposes a 25% discount on loan repayment for students who complete their programs on time.

A Parti Québécois government would continue its efforts to gain control over Quebec's share of the federal Millennium Scholarship fund. The Quebec government has argued that the fund represents an encroachment on a provincial area of jurisdiction and that the money should be transferred to Quebec for the provincial financial aid system and for university and CEGEP financing. This argument has the backing of CREPUQ. But according to Marois, "It's not going well. Ottawa hasn't budged. But it will continue to be a priority for the government."

Among the smaller parties, the Parti de la Démocratie Socialiste promises full public funding for universities and says it would institute free tuition and a minimum wage salary for full-time students. The Equality Party makes no mention of post-secondary education on its web site and did not return the Reporter's phone calls.