Respecting the injunctions in the present student conflict.

The tuition fee hike.

The student movement is fighting a tuition fee increase.

It is universally acknowledged that a quality education system has a profound influence on economic prosperity. In the long run, only a trained and productive population can improve its quality of life in a sustained manner. It is after all in order to promote access to education that the Quebec Department of Education was established in 1964. Today, this Department has an annual budget of $15.5 billion, the equivalent of 25% of Quebec government program spending.

The students' collectivist discourse.

In February 2004, the MEI published an Economic Note on tuition fees and their effects on access to university studies. Since then, the Quebec government announced that fees would rise cumulatively by $50 per semester from 2007 to 2012. It is still not known what policy will be adopted after 2012. To this day, Quebec tuition fees are still lower than their 1994-1995 level in real terms. This Economic Note is an update which aims to examine the university tuition fee situation in Quebec.

The Quebec government plans to raise university tuition fees by $50 per term until 2011-2012. Few studies up to now have assessed how this “unfreezing” policy will affect university financing and student enrolment. Moreover, no announcement has hinted at the tuition policy for university studies to be applied after 2012. This Economic Note begins a reflection on the type of policy that could be adopted to ensure long-term financing for universities.

With the population aging and many people soon to retire, numerous positions will have to be filled in the next few years in specialized trades and techniques. As a result, the wages associated with these jobs are becoming increasingly attractive. Because most politicians and journalists have attended university, there is often a tendency in public debates to forget the importance of vocational training. At the same time, the number of high school dropouts remains a serious problem in Quebec, with one-fifth of 19-year-olds in this situation. This phenomenon deserves greater attention so as to keep more youths from starting their working lives on the wrong foot.