PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE: 2004.02.06
EDITION: Final
SECTION: City
PAGE: F3
BYLINE: Dave Rogers
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
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Hull university wants English programs out: School says French staff can't communicate with students
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The Universite du Quebec en Outaouais is considering a proposal to scrap two English-language master's programs in a misguided attempt to defend the French character of the university, according to students and faculty at the Gatineau campus.
Hugh Scheuerman, a business administration master's student, said he was first told the university is considering the move because staff have difficulty communicating with anglophone and foreign students.
He said some faculty and university administrators now say the university should offer courses only in French because it is a French-language institution.
The university provides English classes for about 300 master's in business administration and project management students. It has offered English graduate courses during the evening and on weekends since 1995. More than 5,000 students are enrolled at the university.
Mr. Scheuerman has collected a petition from more than 100 students asking the university to keep the English programs.
Catherine Le Gall, 25, from Fontainebleau near Paris, said she enrolled at the university because she wanted an opportunity to study project management in an anglophone country.
"The English students are only a small minority at the university," Ms. Le Gall said. "I don't understand why they would cancel the programs, because the language of business is English. Even in Europe everything is done in English."
Mr. Scheuerman said other universities, such as the Universite de Montreal, the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Montreal, offer courses in French, English and Spanish.
Mr. Scheuerman said it is difficult to believe that a few anglophone students attending courses at night and on the weekend could be a problem for the university.
He said the language problem could be solved by hiring one or two bilingual employees.
The university's board of directors is to meet on Feb. 17 to discuss the proposal to eliminate the English courses.
Vice-rector Denis Dube said in a report to the university that the enrolment of non-francophones has increased rapidly since 2001.
Faced with the sudden influx of English-speaking students, many university employees told their supervisors they couldn't communicate properly with anglophones, Mr. Dube said.
Mr. Dube recommended the university stop admitting new students to the English-language post-graduate courses starting this summer.
The students now enrolled in the programs would have four years to complete their courses.
University spokesman Yves Melanson said the business programs could eventually resume at Heritage College, an English-language CEGEP on Cite des Jeunes Boulevard.
Jan Saint-Macary, the director of the English MBA program, said it would be a mistake to cancel the programs because the university has the largest school of project management in Canada and possibly the world.
"This has become a political issue because there is no rational, objective reason for ending the programs," Mr. Saint-Macary said.
"Because we are a university, we cannot be limited in terms of ethnicity, language or culture. Our students can ... compete with any North American."
John Trent, president of the Regional Association of West Quebecers, said Imperatif francais, a Gatineau organization that promotes the French language, is behind the proposal to cancel the two English programs.
"They are doing this because they want to defend the French character of the university and the region," Mr. Trent said. "They have tremendous symbolic power and have pushed this for months. They believe that if these programs are allowed to continue the whole university will become more and more English."
Jean-Paul Perreault, president of Imperatif francais, said the university administration, not his organization, is behind the proposal to eliminate the English programs. But Mr. Perreault said he agrees that it is unacceptable for a French-language university to offer English programs.
DATE: 2004.02.06
EDITION: Final
SECTION: City
PAGE: F3
BYLINE: Dave Rogers
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hull university wants English programs out: School says French staff can't communicate with students
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Universite du Quebec en Outaouais is considering a proposal to scrap two English-language master's programs in a misguided attempt to defend the French character of the university, according to students and faculty at the Gatineau campus.
Hugh Scheuerman, a business administration master's student, said he was first told the university is considering the move because staff have difficulty communicating with anglophone and foreign students.
He said some faculty and university administrators now say the university should offer courses only in French because it is a French-language institution.
The university provides English classes for about 300 master's in business administration and project management students. It has offered English graduate courses during the evening and on weekends since 1995. More than 5,000 students are enrolled at the university.
Mr. Scheuerman has collected a petition from more than 100 students asking the university to keep the English programs.
Catherine Le Gall, 25, from Fontainebleau near Paris, said she enrolled at the university because she wanted an opportunity to study project management in an anglophone country.
"The English students are only a small minority at the university," Ms. Le Gall said. "I don't understand why they would cancel the programs, because the language of business is English. Even in Europe everything is done in English."
Mr. Scheuerman said other universities, such as the Universite de Montreal, the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Montreal, offer courses in French, English and Spanish.
Mr. Scheuerman said it is difficult to believe that a few anglophone students attending courses at night and on the weekend could be a problem for the university.
He said the language problem could be solved by hiring one or two bilingual employees.
The university's board of directors is to meet on Feb. 17 to discuss the proposal to eliminate the English courses.
Vice-rector Denis Dube said in a report to the university that the enrolment of non-francophones has increased rapidly since 2001.
Faced with the sudden influx of English-speaking students, many university employees told their supervisors they couldn't communicate properly with anglophones, Mr. Dube said.
Mr. Dube recommended the university stop admitting new students to the English-language post-graduate courses starting this summer.
The students now enrolled in the programs would have four years to complete their courses.
University spokesman Yves Melanson said the business programs could eventually resume at Heritage College, an English-language CEGEP on Cite des Jeunes Boulevard.
Jan Saint-Macary, the director of the English MBA program, said it would be a mistake to cancel the programs because the university has the largest school of project management in Canada and possibly the world.
"This has become a political issue because there is no rational, objective reason for ending the programs," Mr. Saint-Macary said.
"Because we are a university, we cannot be limited in terms of ethnicity, language or culture. Our students can ... compete with any North American."
John Trent, president of the Regional Association of West Quebecers, said Imperatif francais, a Gatineau organization that promotes the French language, is behind the proposal to cancel the two English programs.
"They are doing this because they want to defend the French character of the university and the region," Mr. Trent said. "They have tremendous symbolic power and have pushed this for months. They believe that if these programs are allowed to continue the whole university will become more and more English."
Jean-Paul Perreault, president of Imperatif francais, said the university administration, not his organization, is behind the proposal to eliminate the English programs. But Mr. Perreault said he agrees that it is unacceptable for a French-language university to offer English programs.
参考意见而已，都别看了，该干嘛就干嘛去吧。
