Quebec is attracting foreign students with lower tuition fees outside Montreal.

Something great is coming for prospective international students in Quebec by September 2023.

The urgent need for labour in all regions of Quebec is prompting the province to turn more to foreign students in order to fill the thousands of vacant positions.

To attract a greater number of these students from abroad, the Legault government in Quebec will allow international students to settle in Quebec at a much lower cost, starting in September 2023, by cutting the high tuition fees they currently pay.

As soon as the program comes into effect and until they graduate, eligible foreign students will pay the same basic tuition fees annually as in-province Quebecers, meaning no college fees and approximately $3,000 at universities.

To be eligible, the students will have to fulfill some essential conditions:

they’ll have to go to the regions outside Montreal to study.
they must forget the CEGEPs and universities of Montreal, whether French and English.
they must enroll only in a French-speaking higher education establishment located in the regions outside Montreal.
they’ll have to take one of a few specific programs. The programs must be related to the sectors of the economy where the labour shortage is the greatest.

These sectors of the economy and the eligible programs the students must take must be in:

information technology
engineering
health-care services
social services
education and teaching, including training as a daycare or early childhood educator.

At the moment, the average annual cost for foreign students attending CEGEP in Quebec is close to $17,000, and the first year of university is about $24,000.

Under the program, eligible foreign students will attend college free of charge and pay about $3,000 for university tuition, like Quebec residents.

With this proposed program starting in September 2023, the province hopes to attract 1,200 foreign students to CEGEPs and universities located in the regions outside Montreal within four years. Currently, three-quarters of foreigners who come to study in Quebec settle in Montreal.

The program will be available from September 2023 and will not be applied retroactively.

Information credit goes to CTV News and Montreal Gazette.

More information on the program is also available on their news sites in the link above and eligible schools are listed on the Government of Quebec website here.

If this is of interest to you and you meet the requirements, follow up and do the needful as soon as possible.

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