The quality and performance of Quebec’s universities is threatened
McGill seeks a major reinvestment in higher
education and a more modern approach to relations between
government and universities.
If Quebec wants to maintain the quality and diversity of its
university network, everyone must work vigorously to make education
the province’s top priority, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ Principal and
Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum said in a presentation to the
National Assembly’s Parliamentary Commission on Culture and
Education today.
“We firmly believe that Quebec deserves to have many universities
that stand among the best in the world, each imbued with its own
mission,” Prof. Munroe-Blum said.
McGill’s appearance before the committee is part of an
accountability process in which the leaders of Quebec’s
universities are called before the legislature every three years to
discuss their performance and their plans for development and
advancement in the years to come. As well as answering questions
from members of the committee, universities submit a detailed
report of their activities.
McGill focused its presentation on three themes: its considerable
contribution to Quebec society, the fragile nature of its successes
and the need for Quebec to modernize its relations with its network
of universities.
Prof. Munroe-Blum underlined the growing disparity between the
financial resources enjoyed by universities with which McGill
competes when it comes to the level of government investment in
research – where Quebec has been losing more and more ground – as
well as the issue of tuition fees.
“A totally new university financing model has to include a policy
that would gradually bring Quebec tuition fees to the Canadian
average, along with the earmarking of a substantial portion of net
tuition revenues to increases in student financial aid,” she
explained.
As well, McGill believes the government has taken the wrong path in
its legislative approach through Bill 100 and the proposed Bill 38
on university governance.Â
The government’s centralized approach to holding each university to
account “will harm the universities’ quality, efficiency and
performance.”
Instead, McGill proposes that partnership agreements between the
government and each university be established, and that through
these the financial resources accorded a university would be tied
to its achievement of predefined strategic objectives – a model
increasingly seen elsewhere in the world.Â
Joining Prof. Munroe-Blum for this presentation were Stuart H.
Cobbett, Chairman of the University’s Board of Governors; McGill
Provost Anthony C. Masi; and Pierre Moreau, the University’s
Executive Director of Planning and Institutional Analysis.
View the text of McGill’s entire report.