5 May Offer

The agreement is available here:

http://gsaconcordia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Offre-du-5-mai-2012.pdf

A rough English translation is here:

Offer of 5 May 2012

GIVEN the conclusions of discussions between FEUQ, FECQ, TaCEQ, ASSE, and the government of Quebec;

GIVEN THAT the parties have agreed to put in place, by decree, a Provisional Council of Quebec universities, for the purpose of making recommendations to the Minister of Education, Leisure, and Sport, for the creation, by legislation, of a Permanent Council of Universities.

THE PARTIES AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:

1. To establish a Provisional University Council.

2. The mandate of the Provisional Council shall be to make recommendations to the Minister of Education, Leisure, and Sport, by 31 December 2012, (in connection with the mandate), the composition of a Permanent University Council, to be created by legislation.  To this end, and by the lights of best practices, to examine the appropriateness of including the following subjects within the mandate of the Permanent Council:

• the abolition and creation of programs;
• internationalization;
• partnerships between universities and the community;
• continuing education;
• the quality of training, research, and support;
• and university administration.

3. The Provisional Council has as its mandate to evaluate, in the light of best practices, ideas of the optimal utilization of universities’ financial resources and show, where they exist, recurrent savings that can be freed.  To this end, to make recommendations to the Minister of Education, Leisure, and Sport, by 31 december 2012, with respect to the following elements:

• delocalization of campuses
• advertising expenses
• real estate issues
• management personnel
• financial accountability
• transfers between funds

The MELS Budget Rules shall serve as a tool for this purpose.

4. The recommendation to the Minister of Education, Leisure, and Sport, with respect to the optimisation of financial resources discussed in Article 3 will be used in the following way: the saving thereby freed will be applied to a reduction in the mandatory institutional fees (FIO), according to modalities to be agreed to between the government, the student associations, and the Conference of University Rectors and Principals of Quebec (CREPUQ).  As a temporary measure for the Fall 2012 semester, the payment of a sum of $125 per full time student, as an FIO, will be deferred until the recommendations to the Minister of Education, Leisure, and Sport, permits the determination of amounts generated, if any, by recurrent savings applicable to a reduction of FIOs.

If no recommendations are forthcoming to the Minister by 31 December 2012 the temporary measure shall be renewed for the Winter 2013 semester.

5. The Provisional Council shall be composed of the following people:

• 6 rectors or their representatives, designated by CREPUQ
• 4 student representatives, designated respectively by FEUQ, FECQ, ASSE, and TaCEQ
• 4 representatives from the labour sector, designated respectively by CSN, CSQ, FTQ, and FQPPU.
• 2 representatives from the business sector, designated by the Minister
• 1 representative from the CEGEPS, designated by the Federation of CEGEPS.
• 1 representative from the MELS, designated by the Minister
• The chairperson, designated by the Minister

The Provisional Council may appoint any person it judges useful for its work.  At its first meeting the Council will establish its rules of operation.

6. The recommendations of the Provisional Council shall be deposited with the Minister by 31 December 2012.

7. Other provisions

The representatives of the federations, the round table, and the student associations, shall refer the agreement in principle to their members for consultation.  They undertake to nor organize demonstrations linked to this agreement.

If it is adopted, this will constitute a framework for the end of the crisis and enable the return to class.