Main Summit Outcomes
The Quebec Summit on Higher Education took place on February 25 and 26, 2013. On day one of the Summit, some 350 participants commented and exchanged views on four main themes: quality and governance, research and collaboration, financing, and accessibility. On day two, Premier Marois announced what she saw as emerging consensus on certain directions.
This document lists the commitments made by the Government: 2013 Quebec Summit on Higher Education – Government commitments
This document gives details about the five working groups: 2013 Quebec Summit on Higher Education – 5 Working groups
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Tell Marois that if she cuts McGill funding, the university will move to Ontario. It worked for us, it could wor,k for McGill !
I graduated from McGill with a MBA in 1965.
I also earned Master of Science Degree in Public Policy from John Hopkins University
I have done co operative work with Harvard University when I was the Director of the World Bank’s Internal University.
I was then selected by the World Bank and worked there for thirty three years in many sectors,including education, in many countries.
After taking early retirement from the Bank I have been involved deeply with the Higher Education sector and Organizational Reforms in Pakistan.
I am a US citizen and live in Washington DC .
I love McGill and owe a debt to it for educating me .I love Canada which was my FIRST country outside my home country.
I would like to participate in Working Group 3.
Is that possible ? What will be involved ?
I will be traveling overseas from April 2 till May 30.
Please advise Possibility.
Thanks
Tariq Husain
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Husain.
We appreciate your willingness to contribute to this important and necessary dialogue. The working groups however are set up by the Government of Quebec, and while many details have yet to emerge on how they will function and who can participate, those decisions will be made by the Government.
A recent post of the Red Blog (http://blogs.mcgill.ca/red/2013/02/15/budget-cuts-how-you-can-help/ )indicates some of the things members of our community might consider doing in response to the government imposed cuts, which remain in place.
We are facing a very difficult financial situation, and we appreciate your willingness to stand up for McGill. We really appreciate your interest, as an alumnus of McGill, to continue your involvement with the University Senior Administration
Dear madam, sir,
What is with the deal the universities struck with the Quebec government one week before the summit? I read the following article in the Gazette of February 28th 2013:
Professor Gerbern S. Oegema
Quebec, rectors quietly settle on softening $250 million in university cuts
‘Nothing secret in this,’ minister says of agreement to spread out $125-million reduction over seven-year period
By Philip Authier, THE GAZETTE February 28, 2013
MONTREAL — Quebec and the province’s rectors have quietly reached an agreement to soften the blow of nearly $250 million in government spending cuts.
But Quebec is denying buying peace with the rectors to give this week’s summit on higher education a greater sheen of success.
“There was nothing secret in this,” Joël Bouchard, press aide to Higher Education Minister Pierre Duchesne, said in an interview.
“We always said we were firm on the objectives but flexible on the means, and this is a good example.”
And the government is indeed giving rectors a break.
Under the agreement, the $124 million cut for 2012-2013 stands, but the universities are being allowed to put off half of it until April 30, 2014, as long as they draft a plan to cover the remaining amount in their books.
The $124 million cut for 2013-2014 now will be spread over seven years. Quebec will deduct the amount from the $1.7 billion in investment over seven years promised at the summit for universities.
Drafted by Jean St-Gelais, the secretary-general of Quebec’s executive council, the proposal was presented to the rectors a week before the summit, Bouchard said.
The rectors, represented by the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ), only agreed to sign on the proposal late Tuesday, after the summit wrapped up and members of the media went home.
There was no mention of it in the government’s post-summit news release or that of CREPUQ.
CREPUQ president Luce Samoisette confirmed their accord in a telephone conversation with Duchesne Wednesday.
Samoisette expressed satisfaction with the results of the summit even if the rectors did not get the financial boost they had hoped for in the form of higher tuition fees.
Bouchard, however, bristled at media headlines saying the two sides had reached a “secret deal.”
“There was no to-and-fro during the summit,” Bouchard insisted. “There were many pre-summit discussions, which resulted in our proposal before the summit.
“Once we proposed, we waited for their reaction.”
But there were reports the rectors did not want to give the go-ahead under the glare of the summit’s lights because they were still angry at the government and wanted to make a show of it.
They also did not want to irritate the Liberal and Coalition Avenir Québec, which went to bat for them at the summit, denouncing the cuts.
Chantal Pouliot, communications director for CREPUQ, denied the deal was kept under wraps on purpose.
“The discussions were ongoing,” Pouliot said, explaining the delay in making the agreement public. “There were details to complete.”
Pouliot noted, however, that while CREPUQ has signed on to the deal, individual institutions still have to be consulted.
It is time to redesign the University. I would like to see fewer courses which lead nowhere, and more courses which lead to understanding how to survive as individuals in the global village. Tuition for the most important couses should be free, while tuition to the less relevant sould be proportionally higher.
A determination of what is needed would limit the number of students permitted into the school, and the size of classes would be determined by the optimal number needed for most to students to do well.
This would result in a skeleton staff for philosophy, art, history, English, French, architecture, but more and better staff in biology, physics, chemistry, medicine, and mathematics, to name a few. Peter Ellis, 705-458-4852