The University of Ottawa (U of O) will significantly reduce tuition fees for international students studying in French to the same rates domestic students pay beginning next year, according to the university’s international student office director Gary Slater.
The policy will also shave off up to $4,000 annually for international students with three or more French courses per semester.
Slater said the tuition cuts will be used to increase bilingualism and multiculturalism at U of O.
The tuition reduction is part of a new strategic plan to reach targets dealing with student admission and enrolment. The university’s goal is to bring the percentage of francophone international students from 19 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020, according to Slater.
“It’s going to be a really big challenge,” Slater said.
In the year 2010-2011, 5.6 per cent of the total student population was international students. The goal for 2020 is nine per cent, according to U of O’s “Vision 2020” strategic plan.
“The big thing is that about one-third of students are studying in French, and two-thirds in English,” Slater said.
This new policy is part of a broader ambition to balance out the number of anglophone and francophone students.
Addressing this goal, U of O’s strategic plan notes “this may imply limiting growth of our overall student population over the coming years, while focusing on recruiting the best Francophone and Anglophone students, especially those who say they want to improve their second-language skills.”
Rachel Pietersma, a bilingual anglophone student at U of O, said she expected the reaction of fellow anglophones to this policy would be generally positive or neutral.
“Though there seems to be a small group of students who believe that the French side receives special treatment,” Pietersma said.
Slater said the new policy does not only target international students whose first language is French. U of O is also looking to increase students from all over the world, from any backgrounds, whether they studied French in school or learned it at home.
Slater said the policy’s ability to “make education more accessible” is exciting.
Speaking about how the 2020 goal might affect the school on a broader scale, Slater said “there is a lot of capacity to create new [French] courses,” at the university.
He said he hopes it will open doors to “finding agreements with foreign universities and even foreign countries” in the future, with opportunities like international double diplomas and joint PhD programs.
