Good news for post-secondary students in Western Canada

campusstean

Campus Saint-Jean, the only French-language university west of Manitoba, was recently approved for more than $13.3 million in funding over the next three years. The Edmonton-based institution will receive $10.3 million from the federal government under the Canada-Alberta Agreement on Minority Language Education and Second-Language Instruction, $2.5 million from the Government of Alberta, and $500,000 from the University of Alberta.

This investment will allow Campus Saint-Jean to hire more teachers, increase its number of French programs and courses, improve its infrastructure and academic services, reactivate its Centre de recherche en français, and do more community engagement. 

In a press release, Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta President Sheila Risbud spoke of this funding as an interim step towards a permanent solution to end the chronic underfunding that Campus Saint-Jean has suffered. 

More than 200,000 Alberta students were enrolled in French-language programs in 2019-20. This number includes 8,757 students enrolled in Francophone schools, 46,591 French immersion students, and 147,513 students in French as a Second Language courses.

Image: University of Alberta Campus Saint-Jean

Catherine Fisher, blogger