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Montreal, January 15, 2013 – The Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities today presented an updated version of the study comparing operational funding for Quebec universities to that of peer institutions in other Canadian provinces. The results show that Quebec universities were significantly underfunded by $850 million in 2009-2010.

“The $850 million shortfall represents nearly 24% of Quebec universities’ operating budget, or an income gap of $4,000 per full-time student. This underfunding, which has persisted over many years, has a significant impact on society, for it threatens the quality of a university education, the competitiveness of the Quebec economy, and the government’s ability to fund the public services the population expects,” said Luce Samoisette, Chair of the CREPUQ Board of Directors and Rector of Université de Sherbrooke.

“This new study reveals a strong trend, with Quebec universities having fewer and fewer resources with which to fulfil their mission, compared to their counterparts in other Canadian provinces. The $124.3 million cutback announced recently by the government will make the situation even worse,” added Daniel Zizian, Director General of CREPUQ.

Reliable data and methodology

The data used by CREPUQ for more than 10 years to compare Quebec universities against those in other Canadian provinces in terms of operational funding comes from the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) and Statistics Canada. It is the best data available and is considered very reliable. The operating resources examined in the study are the funds available to universities to fulfil their mission with regard to teaching, independent research and services to the community. The money comes from the general operating fund, which contains provincial grants and tuition fees, and from the special purpose and trust fund. Other funds are excluded because universities are not at liberty to use them for general operations. These include sponsored research, capital and endowment funds. This methodology has been validated by a number of institutional and financial analysts from the universities and by CIRANO.

The latest studies by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) on university operating resources also use the general operating fund and the special purpose and trust fund , and similarly exclude the sponsored research, capital, auxiliary activities and endowment funds.

Background

It is worth noting that the first such study was conducted by a joint CREPUQ-Ministry of Education committee following the Quebec Youth Summit. At the time, the operational funding gap between Quebec universities and peer institutions elsewhere in Canada was estimated at $375 million.

The second study, published in 2010, estimated the gap to be $620 million in 2007 2008. The methodology was essentially the same as for the previous study and had been validated by CIRANO.

The 2013 study, Le niveau des ressources de fonctionnement des universités québécoises : comparaison aux autres universités canadiennes 2003-2004 à 2009 2010 is available in French only at the CREPUQ website: http://www.crepuq.qc.ca/spip.php?article1421

CREPUQ includes all 19 Quebec universities. The organization acts as their voice in relations with government and milieus concerned with university education and research. It also fosters coordination and collaboration between universities, is a research centre for university administrations, acts as a centre for coordination and joint service delivery, and is a resource centre and think tank for its members.

Source:
Chantal Pouliot, Director of communications
Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities
514-288-8524, poste 244
cpouliot@crepuq.qc.ca
http://www.crepuq.qc.ca