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Montreal, September 11, 2017 - L’Association des collèges privés du Québec (ACPQ) expresses its concern about the position taken by the Parti Québécois at its recent congress on English colleges and the funding of private schools. According to Mr. Pierre L’Heureux, General direction of the ACPQ, the Association has always positioned the importance of freedom of choice as an invaluable right to the Quebec education system in regards to the language of instruction and the school network. This freedom of choice opens up a wide variety of institutions and programs, thus facilitating access to college studies that respond to the needs of students and which creates healthy competition between institutions.

Moreover, ACPQ is proud of the innovative projects implemented in colleges where teams passionately work to develop students’ language skills. Language proficiency is a constant concern for teachers and leaders of the colleges, and this, in unity with their environment. A unified framework would limit the ability to offer multilingual experiences that are subsequently demanded, notably by the labour market.

Another fact, the economic study by Pierre Fortin and Marc Van Audenrode, conducted in 2013, shows that the existence of the subsidized private college system saves the State up to $24 million annually (scenarios taking into account private college students to CEGEP, while the government would assume the total bill rather than just 60%). This observation was notably taken up by the Chair of la Commission de la révision permanente des programmes in the Report Cap sur la performance. Moreover, the efficiency of the private network (graduation rates) contributes to the annual income of the Quebec people, which can be as high as $400 million.

For the ACPQ, Quebec’s priority remains access and success at the college level, taking into account the importance of language proficiency for students.