You are absolutely right. If students were better trained in their second language by the time they arrive at university, it would be easier for us to integrate them into our own immersion system. There is no doubt that they can be better trained. However, if it were decided that language training would no longer be offered at the post-secondary level, that everything had to happen at the primary and secondary levels—we would have a problem, because students arriving at university—we encountered this problem ourselves, and that is the reason why we created our immersion program—would no longer be using their second language and, within the space of a year, would lose their ability to speak that language. It would probably happen even faster than that. Of course, students attending university are very conscious of the pressure on them to get good marks, and so on, because that directly affects their future. All of a sudden, they become very serious. So, at the university level, they must be given the means of preserving their language proficiency. Otherwise, it will be lost.
On April 2nd, 2009. See this statement in context.