Quebec universities weather an unprecedented storm

Editor’s note: all interviews were conducted prior to the unveiling of the 2025 federal budget.  

Quebec government policies limiting student admissions from outside the province have done their job: Prospective students in the rest of Canada and abroad suddenly view Quebec’s universities as less welcoming. Recruitment has waned to the point that some institutions may even struggle to achieve the number of international students allowed under the government-imposed cap. This loss of income and talent creates a perfect storm for many Quebec universities, which are already suffering from chronic underfunding and recent cuts to government subsidies.  

Christian Blanchette, board chair of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), doesn’t mince words: “Because of the last two years of public and government discourse at both federal and provincial levels, Quebec is no longer seen as welcoming to students from outside the province.”  

Based on preliminary data from a September 25, 2025, BCI study, international undergraduate enrolment at Quebec universities has plunged by almost 25 per cent since fall 2024.  One contributing factor is the 35 per cent reduction in study permits issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) between 2023 and 2024 to ease pressure on housing, health care, and other public services. Permits were slashed by an additional 10 per cent in 2025, and will be reduced by a further 49 per cent in 2026 according to the budget tabled by the federal government on November 4. 

Not only that, but the Quebec government placed an additional cap on international student acceptances. College and vocational programs — to which international students often apply as a cheaper and easier pathway to settling in Quebec — were hit especially hard. The federal cap held steady from the previous year at 63,299 new international student admissions to Quebec universities between February 26, 2025 and February 26, 2026. Each of Quebec’s 18 universities, which serve a population of nine million, has been allocated its own cap.  

These changes have had an impact abroad. “Our pool of applications has shrunk,” notes Dr. Blanchette. “If things don’t change, Quebec universities may not even be able to hit their caps.”  

Far-reaching consequences   

The damage done to Quebec’s reputation has more than just financial consequences. Université de Montréal (UdeM), whose international student admissions dropped by 26 per cent this September, is making up lost ground by boosting enrolment from within Quebec and Canada. But UdeM Rector Daniel Jutras is troubled by the trend. Dr. Jutras was recently elected President of U15 Canada, an organization of 15 of Canada’s largest research institutions.

“The current political landscape has made Quebec universities less attractive. Is that what we, as a society, want, when schools around the world are fighting over the best students?” 

“The message it sends is: you’re not welcome here anymore,” he laments. “World-class universities accept people from all over the world, especially at the graduate and post-graduate levels. Almost half of our doctoral students are from abroad. They keep our laboratories running. Research universities will feel the effects. Research itself will be harder to complete.” 

Graham Carr, President of Concordia University, agrees. Concordia suffered a financial hit due to a 23 per cent drop in international student enrolment this year, and another drop the year prior due, among other factors, to political tensions between Canada and India. Between 2022 and 2025, international student enrolment fell by 30 per cent at the institution overall.  

“Research will take a major hit,” says Dr. Carr. “The effects won’t be limited to universities: Research talent is the heart of the innovation network. The whole province will feel the consequences.” 

The federal government has since clarified that the student permit caps announced in the 2025 budget will not apply to postgraduate students. 

The Université du Québec (UQ) network, meanwhile, saw a 30 per cent drop in international student enrolment. The UQ network has about 100,000 students province-wide. 

“It is deeply concerning,” says Alexandre Cloutier, President of UQ. “We’re falling well short of our caps. It’s become clear we won’t hit them. The current political landscape has made Quebec universities less attractive. Is that what we, as a society want, when schools around the world are fighting over the best students?” 

Dr. Blanchette, who is also the rector of Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), says that some institutions may have to shut down certain programs if international enrolment doesn’t increase. “We can’t keep programs that aren’t financially self-sustaining. Some internal balancing can help, but it has its limits.” 

New tuition fee regulations 

Tuition fees for international students have changed in recent years. In 2019, the minister of higher education deregulated their tuition fees for all undergraduate programs. Anglophone universities were required to admit at least 50 per cent of their students from within Quebec, with this figure increasing in subsequent years. The ministry supplemented the additional income earned from deregulated international tuition fees and funnelled it into francophone universities to help them recruit more international students. 

“As a result, francophone international students surged after 2020, especially in the Université de Québec network,” explains Martin Maltais, professor of education policy and funding at Université du Québec à Rimouski. “Quebec communities benefited from the influx of money and diversity.” 

International students at McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s universities yielded about $282 million out of a total $407 million in additional fees from international students across Quebec universities between 2019 and 2022, according to the Quebec government. In Fall 2024, the CAQ government reintroduced a tuition fee structure similar to the pre-deregulation model. 

Universities must now charge a base rate of $20,000 per international student per year. This amount is then passed on to the government. Institutions with strong international appeal have the option to charge more and keep the difference. Universities are then given about $11,000 per student in government funding. The rest is supposedly earmarked to help the francophone university network attract more international students and balance things out.  

“But that’s not what has happened,” says Dr. Blanchette. “We have no idea what happened to that money.” 

Fewer out-of-province anglophones coming to Quebec 

Quebec’s anglophone universities suffered another blow in 2023 when the CAQ government announced tuition fees would be raised by 33 per cent for out-of-province Canadians in 2024, from $9,000 to $12,000 per year. The justification given was that anglophone students contribute to the decline of the French language, and most of them leave Quebec after graduation. The government also required anglophone universities to ensure 80 per cent of their undergraduate students would acquire an intermediate level of French while completing their degree. Experts questioned the relevance of such a measure.  

Bishop’s University, in the Eastern Townships, was exempted from both the tuition fee increase and the language requirement due to its distinct linguistic context and its location outside Montreal.  

“In 2024, we decided to put our fundraising efforts to good use and offered scholarships to out-of-province students to show them they are always welcome.” 

McGill and Concordia responded by suing the government of Quebec. In April, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in their favour, and the French language policy was invalidated effective immediately. The increase in tuition fees was also overturned, but it will remain in place until March to give the government time to make amendments.  

Even so, the fallout was immediate. “Applications from out-of-province Canadians plummeted as soon as the announcement was made,” says Dr. Carr. “In 2024, we decided to put our fundraising efforts to good use and offered scholarships to out-of-province students to show them they are always welcome. Enrolment improved, but it didn’t fully recover.”  

Exacerbating chronic underfunding  

The financial impact of this decline in enrolment is all the more concerning given that Quebec universities are already underfunded. Based on a study by economist Pierre Fortin, the BCI estimated in 2021 that Quebec universities were being underfunded to the tune of one billion dollars.  

Each year, Maclean’s calculates Canadian universities’ average operating expenditures per student. In 2014, UdeM and Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), two francophone universities, spent an approximate average of $10,000 per student. Spending exceeded $11,000 per student at McGill, while the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Saskatchewan ran at more than $15,000 per student. Ten years later, UdeM and UdeS spent roughly $12,000 per student; McGill spent over $14,000; the University of Saskatchewan, almost $17,000; and UBC, nearly $20,000.  

Madeleine Pastinelli, President of the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (Quebec federation of university professors or FQPPU), thinks funding is universities’ biggest problem.  

“We agree with the Quebec government’s decision to freeze tuition fees and make higher education more accessible,” she says. “But it’s important for the government to provide more funding. If we’re not careful, we could soon face major provincial disparities in per-student funding.”  

The Quebec government’s 2025–2026 operating grant does not include the salary increase promised to public sector employees.  

“Most Quebec universities will operate at a deficit for the 2025–2026 year,” says Dr. Blanchette. Institutions will have no choice but to tighten their belts. McGill University announced it would lay off 100 of its employees this spring due to a 2025–2026 shortfall of $45 million.  

UdeM, expecting a deficit of $10 million, will reduce funding to faculties by 0.5 per cent and to administrative units by 1 per cent.  

Dr. Pastinelli is concerned about the potential impact of this underfunding. “Programs could be cut, class sizes could grow, administrative support could decline… When academics are overworked, the quality of their teaching and research diminishes. Professors are already working Sunday evenings and over vacation just to put a dent into their research.”  

Defending academic freedom 

Quebec universities have been preoccupied with more than just funding in recent years. Academic freedom has also been a hot topic, especially following Verushka Lieutenant-Duval’s 2020 suspension from the University of Ottawa for saying the N-word while teaching a class. 

This led the Quebec government to establish the Commission scientifique et technique indépendante sur la reconnaissance de la liberté académique dans le milieu universitaire (Independent scientific and technical commission for the recognition of academic freedom in the university sector). The Commission, chaired by Alexandre Cloutier prior to his tenure at UQ, issued a report that led to the 2022 adoption of the Act respecting academic freedom in the university sector.  

Dr. Jutras, who is also a legal expert, says academic freedom is a defining value not only of academia, but of democracy. That makes it worthy of our attention. That said, he’s not an enthusiastic supporter of the  Act. 

“Politicians defining what academic freedom looks like seems a bit contradictory,” he says. “The law’s effect has been neutral. We didn’t need this definition because we’d already defined academic freedom for ourselves. The law requires universities to report violations of academic freedom, but we haven’t encountered any.”  

Concordia reports a similar climate. “The law was unnecessary,” says Dr. Carr. “Academic freedom is already integral to Quebec universities. It’s even covered by faculty members’ collective agreements. As far as I’m aware, we’ve had no violations of academic freedom.” 

Dr. Blanchette likewise acknowledges that professors are generally well protected by collective agreements. “I’m happy to say that this law and these committees for dealing with universities’ potential lapses in academic freedom have not as yet served any purpose.”

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot by letting high-achieving, French-speaking Quebec graduates get away after investing in their education.” 

He adds that one of the true threats to academic freedom arises when government views are imposed on universities. “We’re not at that point yet, but there have been incidents. For example, the Quebec government blocked Denise Helly’s appointment to the board of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique [Quebec institute for scientific research]. To academics, this amounts to interference.” 

Dr. Cloutier thinks concerns about academic freedom are warranted given current events abroad. “The United States was heralded for its freedom of speech not so long ago,” he says. “It’s in their constitution. Now the US government is directly intervening in academic institutions: cutting their funding, driving their research mandates… Quebec is forging new trails as the first Canadian province to adopt a law protecting academic freedom. If the government decided to hamper academic freedom tomorrow, universities would have a tool at their disposal to fight it.” 

Looking forward 

As debate about academic freedom settles down in Quebec for the time being, the other concerns are reaching a fever pitch. But solutions may be on the horizon. Dr. Carr notes that the Quebec government hasn’t consulted with anglophone universities about out-of-province students since the Supreme Court ruling. An agreement may still be possible. 

“We have no idea what’s going on,” he says. “We’d love to see the tuition hike for out-of-province Canadians rescinded as quickly as possible to help revive our registration numbers.” 

According to Dr. Jutras, Quebec should rethink its caps on international students, especially at the graduate level, given how much these students contribute to research. 

The federal government has since clarified that the student permit caps announced in the 2025 budget will not apply to postgraduate students. 

Dr. Jutras had hoped for the reinstatement of the Québec Experience Program, which was suspended last fall, to help graduates from Quebec universities obtain permanent residency. However, on Nov. 6 the provincial government announced that the program was definitively terminated.  

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot by letting high-achieving, French-speaking Quebec graduates get away after investing in their education,” he says. 

Dr. Maltais thinks Quebec should try to recruit French-speaking international students not only from francophone universities but those in anglophone universities as well. 

“Everyone knows that if 30 or 40% of a research team speaks English, everyone’s going to speak English,” he says. “A critical threshold of francophones is the key to French-speaking research environments.” 

He also calls for a considerable injection of government funding into universities. “Quebec universities have long been underfunded. It’s past time for a major reinvestment. Higher education and scientific research are key to a prosperous society. Universities operate in long cycles. What’s happened in the last year won’t have significant effects in the immediate future, but we can’t keep this up for very long.” 

Dr. Pastinelli agrees. “Universities have reach far beyond their students and employees. They serve society and create knowledge, from sturdy bridges to safe airplanes to quality healthcare.” 

“Investing in universities means investing in innovation and wealth production,” says Dr. Cloutier. “Supporting universities educates the workforce. Studies show that societies with higher university graduation rates are wealthier.”  

For Dr. Blanchette, changing the conversation abroad is an urgent concern.  

“Universities have already started recruiting for the 2026–2027 school year,” he says. “Quebec institutions need to send a clear message that international students are welcome here.” 

Martine Biron, the new Minster of Higher Education appointed in mid-September, declined our request for an interview.