Apparently there is a website now:
https://uontario.ca
Copy+Paste of their questions and answers page, divided into two posts due to word limit:
1. Why is the UOF necessary?
French-speakers in Ontario have sought an autonomous French-language university of their own for over 40 years in order to complete the education continuum from elementary school to university. As such, the
Université de l’Ontario français (UOF) is a capstone project for French-speakers in the province. Ontario has over 600,000 French-speakers, representing a mix of Ontarians going back many generations, people from other parts of Canada and immigrants. Ontario guarantees these French-speakers education in their language, and operates school boards across the province to support this constitutionally-protected linguistic minority. Much in the same way,
- Quebec’s 800 000 anglophones have three universities;
- Manitoba’s 40 000 francophones have one university;
- New Brunswick’s 235 000 francophones have one university (with 3 campuses); and,
- Nova Scotia’s 30 000 francophones have one university.
Ontario’s over 600,000 French-speakers need their first and only independent French university.
Before the Planning Board for the French-language university was created in 2016, there was five years of study by two separate advisory committees to the government. Both concluded a university was necessary to meet needs in the GTA and southwestern Ontario. An independent study commissioned by the government in 2017 also demonstrated strong student demand and market need for the GTA and southwestern Ontario. Other government studies have demonstrated the inequality from which Ontario’s French communities suffer.
This need was recognized by all political parties and received support in the provincial legislature. When the university was put forward as an initiative by the previous provincial government, it received all-party support. In the last provincial election campaign, the university also received all-party support. Our current Premier, Doug Ford, publicly committed to supporting the university before the election, and did the same once elected Premier. His Ministers, including Merrilee Fullerton (Training, Colleges and Universities) and Caroline Mulroney (Attorney General, and Minister for Francophone Affairs), also publicly committed to supporting the university.
The UOF has a provincial scope to its special mission, enshrined in the Act which created it and passed by the legislature of Ontario, to offer a range of university degrees and education in French to promote the linguistic, cultural, economic and social well-being of its students of Ontario’s French-speaking community. It seeks to fulfill this mission by providing all Franco-Ontarians, other Ontarians wishing to study in French, and other Canadians in addition to international students the opportunity to learn, live and study in French at its first campus in downtown Toronto. The UOF will progressively extend its scope province-wide.
2 . Are there enough students and demand to justify continuing with the project?
Yes. At present the GTA and southwestern Ontario are home to more than a quarter of a million French-speakers, drawn from Canada and around the world by the dynamism of this area. New French-language schools open every year. The French school boards in this area operate 110 elementary schools and 35 high schools with more than 40,000 students. Many thousands more study in French immersion schools, with significant yearly growth of students in immersion programs. Already almost as many French-speakers live here than in New Brunswick, home to the
Université de Moncton. By the end of the next decade, it is projected that more than half of the French-speakers in Ontario will live in central and southwestern Ontario. When factoring in French-speakers from other parts of Ontario, the rest of Canada, and international students, it is hard to make the case that enrolment would not support a relatively small French language university in Toronto.
3. Is it sustainable, and how much does it cost?
Yes. The business plan of the university was developed in close cooperation with the same senior ministry officials who manage funding for the whole university system. The start-up cost for the university is budgeted at $84 million spread over eight years, with half expected to be federal funds. The average annual cost to Ontario is about
$5 million for 8 years. This start-up cost amounts to 0.07% of the roughly
$6.8 billion spent only in 2017-18 on postsecondary education. Simply put, halting the university’s operations will not lead to any significant savings, and could lead to a net loss through foregone economic activity.
4. Will it offer courses in professional areas? Does UOF plan to co-operate with other institutions?
Yes. The university has delivered on its first priority, designing innovative programs, focused on work-related and experiential learning, that prepare students to enter professional programs: an initial set of baccalaureate level programs were submitted early October for provincial approval, based on work by leading professors from across Canada and the world. The whole model of the university is based upon leveraging existing resources in provincial bilingual universities to provide quality programs at the lowest cost. Discussions with some of these universities are already underway to structure a network of collaboration for professional areas. Here are some of the partners and areas actively being pursued, namely:
- Alternative Teacher Training (requested by area French school boards and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities): a working group exists with partners including Université de Hearst (federated with Laurentian U.).
- Common Law and Social Work with the University of Ottawa.
- Master of Counselling with Université St. Paul (federated with U. Ottawa).
- Master of Teaching with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto).
- Professionally-oriented French upgrading and certification programs for students of English language universities in areas such as health sciences, pharmacy, dentistry and nutrition to prepare them to work in bilingual environments.
The university has also explored affiliations as a unique opportunity to form a pan-provincial network of universities (including discussions with
Université de Hearst,
l’Université Saint–
Paul and
l’Université de Sudbury) serving and governed by Francophones. Our exploration of the possibilities of affiliations and partnerships has given rise to expressions of the intention by several institutions to join such a network.
5. Does the university already exist?
Yes. The law creating the university was passed in December, 2017 and remains in force. Its first employees started work in November 2017 and have been building towards serving the first cohort of students expected in 2020. One hundred professors and specialists from across Canada and the World have helped in designing the university’s pedagogical approach, programs, policies and regulations. The university’s first board of governors was named by the government of Ontario in April 2018 and they have been regularly committing their time to ensuring the success of the university through committee meetings, board meetings and in the community. As noted, UOF is actively forming partnerships with other postsecondary institutions, has an agreement in principle for a site to accommodate its first students, has recruited its first student advisory council and has also submitted its programs for approval to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
6. If the government has already closed 3 new previously-approved campuses in Milton, Brampton and Markham, why should UOF stay open?
UOF regrets that proposed campuses of already-existing universities in Ontario did not receive continued government support. Some of these impacted universities have already indicated their intention to move forward with the projects, and UOF supports any expanded increase to education anywhere in the province. It should always be easier, cheaper and more accessible to receive an education in Ontario as opposed to harder, more expense and farther away from home.
While sharing many similarities with these 3 campuses, UOF is also different in many respects. Firstly, the three campuses were proposed projects from already-existing universities whose core operations and home campuses are not impacted by the decision. Similarly, the government decision to cancel the three campuses did not call into question the existence of the universities themselves. The proposed halt in support to the UOF would put a stop in the existing momentum and reduce the confidence of committed partners in Ontario, across the country and abroad. This loss of momentum would seriously jeopardize the future establishment of the university.
Secondly, UOF exists to serve any and all students from Ontario, Canada and the world seeking to study in French, in Toronto. This is a special mission which has a province-wide scope and significance, also although based in the city of Toronto, the university would provide access to francophones everywhere in Ontario who currently do not have a French-language institution to attend either as a physical location or online-enabled learning. It is also important to note that the UOF has already been in discussions with other universities such as
Université de Hearst, Université Saint-Paul and
Université de Sudbury to explore opportunities for affiliation or other partnership models. Lastly, the UOF already has employees, a physical existing location and was scheduled to open the soonest, in 2020.