One of the consequences of the anti-social offensive in education
is to decrease the accessibility to higher education. Amongst the
first victims are the sons and daughters of the working class who
are being denied their right to eduction.
In Quebec, it was also reported recently that university
enrolment has dropped for the third year in a row. The trend is
common to all universities in the province.
At the University of Quebec in Montreal the decrease in
enrolment was 2%, as compared to 2.9% for all the components of
the universities of Quebec network. The University of Quebec in
Abitibi-Temiscamingue registered a 10% drop and the one in
Rimouski a 9.5% drop. The University of Montreal registered a
9.2% drop for all programs. Full time enrolment has dropped by
1.5%, third cycle students by 7.4% and part-time students by
18.2%. Concordia University registered a 0.4% drop and McGill a
5.5% drop.
These statistics, provided by the Conference of directors
and deans of Quebec universities, follow by a few days the
publication by Statistics Canada that between 1985 and 1995
enrolment has increased more rapidly than government subsidies
and that the universities rely more on tuition fees than in the
past years. The study also shows that tuition fees have increased
while the financial resources of the students have decreased.
TML DAILY, 10/97
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
