Photo: courtesy of Guillaume D. Cyr
Téluq (the Télé-université within the Université du Québec System) has for many years been a major provider of university-level distance education courses for francophones.
Last Friday afternoon, the Québec Ministry of Higher Education reported that it was investigating compliance of its laws with respect to the relationship between Institut Matci, a private post-secondary institution offering courses mainly to international francophone students, and Téluq.
While this investigation is under way, the current Director-General, Martin Noël, has been suspended indefinitely. An interim director-general has been appointed, Andre G. Roy, who was Secretary-General of Université du Québec since November, 2009.
Téluq has announced that for students, it’s business as usual, and the delivery of courses will not be affected. However, the timing is unfortunate, as Martin Noël was a leading participant in discussions with the ministry about the establishment of eCampus Québec. These discussions are still to be completed before any formal decisions are made about its establishment.
It is too early to speculate, but it seems the investigation is a result of a complaint about a contract with Institut Matci (a private organisation) for tutoring Téluq courses.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
Actually, the students that were being supported with in person tutorials at Institut Matci are not Francophone International students. They are newcomers to Canada, and a large percentage are Syrian refugees. They were studying English and French as a second language by distance online with face to face tutorials to help guide them through a program and online interface that was originally conceived for Francophone Quebecers. Unfortunately the delivery of classes may be affected and due to this suspension, the over 700 students who had registered to study in September have now found themselves in the position of not knowing whether they will be able to continue their programs next month. For many this will be a loss of an opportunity to improve their language skills in order to help them successfully integrate into their new lives in Canada, as well as the loss of the student loans and bursaries they were anticipating to allow them to study.
Many thanks, Yas, for this important correction. This is indeed very unfortunate. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.