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Montreal, April 11, 2008 – The Conference of Rectors and Principals of Québec Universities (CREPUQ) deplores today’s announcement by the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports confirming her intention to increase regulation of compulsory fees set by universities.

Although the budgetary rules that will be adopted may be more flexible in a number of respects than the orientations proposed last February, the heads of Québec’s universities remain convinced that additional controls will be detrimental to the quality of the services the universities provide for the sole purpose of serving students better.

The heads of Québec’s universities consider it perfectly reasonable that student services that are not funded by the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports be funded by fees based on their costs, as provided in the Ministry’s budgetary rules. They also believe that they are acting responsibly in providing a range of services that suit the students’ particular needs and that change according to their specific requirements.

As a result of the Minister’s announcement, it is expected that the universities will have to reduce the range of services offered and that they will be faced with difficult choices when it comes to resources for cultural activities, psychological assistance services, or sports infrastructure.

The heads of Québec’s universities also wish to remind the government that the responsibility for making decisions about services and their funding belongs to the universities’ Boards of Directors.

Furthermore, the new rules of the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports will be difficult to implement. In some cases, they will be impossible to apply. Implementation of these rules will compromise the quality of the services offered to students and will imply additional complexity in a context of already limited resources.

Heather Munroe-Blum, the President of CREPUQ and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University, wishes to point out how important the students are to her and all her university colleagues. “They are at the heart of our mission, and our actions are justified by the quality and relevance of the education they receive and the research in which they participate”, noted Heather Munroe-Blum.

The President of CREPUQ hopes to engage in constructive dialogue with the students’ representatives with a view to signing agreements that will enable the universities to provide good services to all students. “It goes without saying that service quality cannot be maintained unless compulsory fees are commensurate with actual costs. Acting otherwise will deprive the students of resources that are constantly changing, and that are closely tied to their university education,” concluded Mrs. Munroe-Blum.

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For information:
Daniel Zizian
Director General
514-288-8524 ext. 201