Official Languages committee  When you talk about CEGEPs in Quebec, you're referring to public colleges. There are 48 CEGEPs, 43 francophone and 5 anglophone. Approximately 30,000 students attend the anglophone CEGEPs. You can immediately see the proportions. The numbers are obviously spread across all of Que

Official Languages committee  In fact, with 7,000 international students out of 200,000 students, you can understand why we take care of our international students. That's what I was referring to. That's it.

Official Languages committee  Those are big questions. I just noticed that I have only a minute left. I'll have to finish providing this information later. It's true that CEGEPs play a role in francization and I'm going to concentrate on international students, most of whom have a good knowledge of French. I

Official Languages committee  I absolutely agree. We would clearly like to have many more students from Africa. We're making considerable efforts to connect with francophone African countries. That's why we feel somewhat frustrated when we sense that those efforts will result in study permits being denied. We

Official Languages committee  We have a lot of contacts with representatives of various countries. I could name you a dozen African countries where we organize missions. We take part in promotional fairs. We're obviously establishing ties with Canadian embassies in certain countries with delegations from Queb

Official Languages committee  I find it somewhat surprising. At public colleges, which I represent, we care about reception, but also about support throughout the process. Once again, I think that following an educational path in Quebec, in a normally quite welcoming environment at our CEGEPs, is a key to suc

Official Languages committee  I would frankly find it hard to suggest a different number of hours at this point.

Official Languages committee  I would say once again that, in my view, that's not the main problem of our international students. I don't believe the problem lies in the number of hours worked. We would like them to focus on their studies. That gives them an opportunity to integrate socially and financially,

Official Languages committee  Ms. Meggs made us reflect on that situation. I think she's entirely right, but you have to bear in mind that tuition fees are nevertheless lower in the Quebec system, and there are scholarship programs, in many cases, that allow students to pay less than elsewhere in Canada. I'm

Official Languages committee  Thank you because you're letting me clarify my remarks. I obviously wouldn't want to contradict Ms. Meggs or her idea of holding a debate. I mainly wanted to emphasize the fact that our priority in Quebec's CEGEPs is to offer students from elsewhere in the world an opportunity t

Official Languages committee  That's definitely something we could consider. I can tell you that 20 hours of work is ultimately a lot for a full-time student. I'd tend to say that's not the biggest problem for us right now. We're really more concerned about this barrier on arrival that's associated with obta

Official Languages committee  Definitely. Once again, I'd say we need the officers who process the files to know more about Quebec's education system. They have to have a clear understanding that a student who has university training could very well wish to get college training, that it isn't a step backward

Official Languages committee  Yes, I think we should nevertheless focus on attracting international francophone students. I understand Ms. Meggs' concerns and her desire for a debate, but I'd nevertheless focus on the fact that, in Quebec, the CEGEPs provide students with enormous support. Furthermore, the s

Official Languages committee  We're entirely aware of the issues pertaining to the broader francophone community outside Quebec, but I believe we want to take a comprehensive approach. We must always bear in mind the impact that choices made have on Quebec, and vice versa, in order to ensure that the Canadian

Official Languages committee  The CEGEPs actually conduct an analysis of the applications they receive to determine which applicants are most likely to integrate successfully in a pathway in Quebec. Once again, we aren't claiming we conduct the same analysis as an immigration officer. That's not our role. Ho