Mr. Chairman, committee members, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting the Fédération des cégeps, whom I am representing this morning. I am Marielle Poirier, Director General of the Cégep de l'Outaouais and member of the board of directors of the Fédération des cégeps.
Despite the short period of time allotted to us to prepare these remarks, it is my pleasure to provide you with some essential information on the second language issue and, more particularly, on instruction and support for the English language minority at Quebec's colleges.
I'll begin with a brief introduction on Quebec's special circumstances. I'll be telling you nothing new by stating at the outset the Quebec government's position that it wants to ensure the preponderance of French in a North American context with a very strong anglophone majority, in particular the obligation for allophones to enrol in francophone institutions for the entire duration of their education at the primary and secondary levels. However, our government acknowledges the strong anglophone community within its borders whose development it wishes to support.
To better understand the Quebec government's policy choices respecting postsecondary education, particularly at the college level, I must inform you of certain special characteristics of the CEGEPs, a unique educational model in the world. First, their twofold mission is to prepare students for a university education through a two-year training program, which they are required to take before enrolling in a bachelor's degree program, and to prepare students for the labour market, a three-year program.
The CEGEPs are institutions that report to the Government of Quebec. Their programs are determined by the government and diplomas are awarded by the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sport. Some 85% of CEGEP funding is provided out of public funds. Free tuition is another of our special characteristics and applies to all students enrolled in regular programs on a full-time basis and to most adults enrolled in full-time programs.
The actions of the colleges must be viewed in this broader context: they have less independence from the department than Quebec universities and less independence than the colleges in the other Canadian provinces. The operations of the colleges are conducted in accordance with their constituent legislation and the College Education Regulations, which does not alter the fact that considerable effort is made on an institutionalized basis and in accordance with the national approach. I'll return to that point in a few moments.
This special Quebec context also derives from our vision for the mission of a CEGEP, for what it is, the reason why it was conceived: an institution that prepares students to pursue a university education or to enter the labour market, but that also promotes students' social and cultural development in as broad a manner as possible and encourages openness to the world. Hence the importance attached not only to proficiency in the language of instruction, but also to proficiency in the second language and even a third language, for the purpose of student mobility and for students' future as workers across Canada, North America and the world.
What do Quebec's colleges do to promote second-language learning? My answer is that they do a great deal and more than elsewhere in Canada. A great deal, through all the programs offered in the regular teaching stream, a number of programs offered to adults and through the wealth and variety of learning activities: courses, international practicums, exchanges between anglophone and francophone colleges, and extra-curricular activities, in both the socio-cultural and athletic fields.
Now let's talk about general training study programs.
All the study programs offered at pre-university and technical anglophone and francophone institutions have a general training component, a core curriculum equivalent to a full year of training which, in addition to philosophy, physical health and two additional courses selected by students in disciplines other than that of their field of study, provides for students to learn the language of instruction and its literature and the second language to a high degree of proficiency based on knowledge acquired at the primary and secondary levels. The objective is to reinforce second-language proficiency in all college diploma holders.
The study programs themselves, because they address labour market requirements, provide second-language courses and practicums, as are found, for example, in the multimedia, administrative technologies and tourism programs, to name only a few.
There are also double DECs, which emphasize second-language and even third-language proficiency. I'm thinking of the Human Sciences and Languages program and the Science and Languages program at the Cégep de Lévis-Lauzon, and of the language profile in the Arts and Letters program and in the History and Civilization program.
We also have help centres and other support measures to consolidate students' second-language learning.
Program summary tests are another feature unique to Quebec. To earn a college diploma, students must, in addition to all program courses, take a comprehensive examination that attests to their acquisition of all program competencies, including second-language proficiency.
The same is true of continuing education programs. We offer a lot of training at the request of businesses that may demand second-language proficiency as a diploma requirement.
Second, what do Quebec's colleges do to support anglophone minority development? The five anglophone colleges offer the anglophone community exactly the same college services, in their language, as are offered to francophones. Anglophones are subject to the same obligation respecting the general training program and second-language learning. They are offered a broad range of programs, in a rich living environment, and socio-cultural, athletic and other activities. In the regular education program, 24,000 students attend these institutions, including nearly 5,000 francophones, depending on the year, which represents more than 15% of the total college student population. In other words, the 24,000 anglophone students at the anglophone colleges represent 15% of the total clientele of Quebec's colleges. Quebec's largest public college, Dawson College, is an anglophone institution. In addition, approximately 800 anglophones, their numbers varying from year to year, choose to study at a francophone CEGEP.
We also have bilingual colleges; there are two in Quebec, the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des îles and the Cégep de Sept-Îles, which offer a number of programs in English to the anglophone minorities in their region.
Lastly, the various service organizations in the college system, which mainly support the work of the colleges' teachers and professors are increasingly developing services in English as well, through budgets under the Canada-Quebec Accord. In particular, these include the Performa program, a new teacher integration program offered in English and in French, Cégep@distance, which prepares courses and material in English, and the Centre collégial de développement de matériel didactique, which develops teaching material in English and in French.
In conclusion, I will say that the anglophone minority is well served, institutionally and nationally, and that we offer the francophone population extensive resources for achieving proficiency in English as a second language. New measures are on the horizon. The department is currently working with the colleges to record college-level second-language proficiency levels on college report cards. We are developing a sixth additional general training field that could be used to afford students who already have good language levels but wish to go further the opportunity to further develop their language proficiency.
I will close by citing the example of the Conseil supérieur de l'éducation, which manages a permanent commission on issues and concerns related to English-language instruction in Quebec.
Thank you.
