Finance committee  Year in, year out, close to 5,000 international students attend our institutions. They generally come from much more diverse markets, compared to the clientele that attends English-language institutions. They mainly come from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb. According to an ACUFC survey conducted in 2020, over 90% of the international students who attend our institutions wish to remain in Canada after completing their studies.

Finance committee  In the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018‑2023, the government announced the creation of a bursary program for French-as-a-second-language students, that is, students from immersion schools or English-language school boards who want to study in French at the post-secondary level.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Bilingual students or those who have received training in French at one of the institutions in our network will indeed be able to offer services in French and help alleviate labour shortages in francophone communities, but it goes far beyond that. In her testimony, Ms.

Finance committee  I'll share some data with you. For example, in Canada, the average salary of people educated in both French and English is generally higher than that of unilingual English speakers. So there's a purchasing power associated with being trained in French and evolving in French in communities across the country.

Finance committee  Thank you. Over the past two years, the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, has conducted a major Canada-wide consultation process. The process is called “États généraux sur le postsecondaire en contexte francophone minoritaire au Canada”.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne represents Canada's 22 institutions offering post-secondary education in a francophone minority context. Our vision is to increase access to post-secondary education in French to establish a true French-language education continuum, from early childhood to post-secondary education.

Official Languages committee  I won't comment on Sudbury in particular, but I will say that the federal government could set up federal-provincial-territorial round tables with post-secondary institutions to help all levels of government and those institutions coordinate their francophone post-secondary education efforts.

Official Languages committee  One consideration is teaching materials. In many ways, it's more expensive for post-secondary institutions to operate in French. Teaching materials are one example of that. In general, textbooks in French cost more than English ones. Francophone post-secondary institutions generally advertise in French and English.

Official Languages committee  We're not going to get that sorted out in 30 seconds. Research is another one of my files at ACUFC, but there are all kinds of things to look at in terms of positive measures to support research in French in Canada. I'll stop there for now.

Official Languages committee  For sure. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about it. As I said in my speech, in September 2022, we observed an improvement in the acceptance rate for study permit applications from African applicants. That increase was more apparent in Quebec than in other francophone institutions in Canada, so we have to figure out what accounts for that difference.

Official Languages committee  In recent years, we've provided lots of training to IRCC and Global Affairs Canada staff. In an international education context, Global Affairs Canada has to be part of the equation. We offered training about our network of institutions, and we think that had an impact on the study permit application approval rate.

Official Languages committee  As we see it, many of the activities that take place within post-secondary institutions come under federal jurisdiction. We think a permanent fund of this kind could apply to those activities, one of which is francophone immigration, a shared responsibility. The federal government wants to play a lead role on that.

Official Languages committee  Well, our institutions take in temporary residents, not immigrants. We can't just ignore English; that would be impossible. Take, for example, someone studying in a co‑op program or for a regulated occupation that requires an internship. It's reasonable to expect those candidates to be fluent in English once they're in the job market to complete an internship, whether it's because most of the clientele speaks English or because the employers are anglophone and those are the only internships available.

Official Languages committee  Let's just say that the impermanence issue is going to make things difficult for institutions.

Official Languages committee  The starting point is that economies of scale are not the same in small institutions as in large ones. Take the example of a computer system. It will cost the same whether the institution is large or small, yet the funding structure is not the same to pay the same bill in the end.