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University funding

Because without public funding, the university ceases to be a lever for all the people
and becomes one for only the most fortunate.

Table of contents

Why university funding must be primarily public

A university is not a business—it is a common good, a public service belonging to society as a whole. Its mission: to push the boundaries of established knowledge in every field and to transmit the most up-to-date expertise to future graduates.
 
To fulfill this mission, a university must remain a place where knowledge is created, transmitted, and democratized freely. The benefit should extend to all—not just to those who can pay the most.
 
However, this common good is now under threat. Budget freezes and cuts imposed on universities, together with the historic drop in the number of international students after the government shut the door on them, have pushed all our institutions into the red.
 
The consequences are tangible: faculty budgets are reduced, programs are threatened, and workloads are increased for professors and all university personnel. Research capacity weakens, and accessibility for students declines.
 
While adequate public funding is the only guarantee that universities remain independent from shifting political ideologies and market logic, it also enables them to pursue their missions without succumbing to short-term profitability pressures or increasing external constraints. If this support disappears, the quality of teaching, scientific vitality, and long-term stability of Québec’s university network are at risk.

Adequate university funding is the only guarantee that institutions remain independent.

Relight the Beacon
Professeure enseignant à un groupe d’étudiantes et d’étudiants dans une salle de classe universitaire, illustrant l’importance du financement des universités au Québec.

An unprecedented university funding crisis

In recent years, several misguided political decisions have plunged our university system into a crisis that will severely harm the interests of Quebecers in both the short and long term:
 
  • A reduction in the budgets of all universities in an inflationary context.
  • An additional loss estimated at $200 million over two years due to the government’s blockage of international student enrolments.
  • Deficits never before seen across the entire Québec university network.

What does this mean for the coming years? Cuts to faculties, decreased financial aid for students, threatened programs, service reductions, increased workloads for professors and staff, and a real risk of certain programs disappearing.

And over the longer term? Intellectual and democratic impoverishment, reduced fundamental research, more sterile competition between universities, weakened francophone universities, decreased international attractiveness, and lower competitiveness in the knowledge economy.

Less public funding means cuts to student financial aid, threatened programs, reduced services, less research, and weakened francophone universities.

Relight the Beacon
Étudiant travaillant seul dans une bibliothèque universitaire, illustrant les effets du financement des universités sur la recherche et l’accès au savoir au Québec.

Our proposals for university funding

  • Massive and sustainable reinvestment (+10% in funding, indexed)
  • Ensuring accessibility: scholarships, student housing, support for student-parents
  • Protecting the entire network, including regional universities and French-language knowledge production
  • Supporting all disciplines and all forms of research, including fundamental research

To go further

This beacon will only shine if we relight it together.
Let's work together to defend the public interest mission of our universities.

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