highlights - Conseil des ministres de l'Éducation du Canada (CMEC)

alberta• Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ) of the University of Alberta continuedto provide, through innovative teaching and research, a qualityuniversity education in the French language. The number ofundergraduate degree program options increased from 7 to 12. Thenumber of majors, minors, and honours programs also increasedsubstantially; currently, Campus Saint-Jean offers 22 majors and29 minors within its undergraduate and graduate programofferings. Graduate enrolment in the master of education programwas increased by a Calgary cohort of 20 students. Overall enrolmentat Campus Saint-Jean increased by 32 per cent — from 582 to 770students. The percentage of new admissions whose mother tongueis French increased from 23.4 per cent in 2005–06 to 30.4 per centin 2008–09.• An ambitious new plan to launch college-level programming atCampus Saint-Jean was developed. Staff were hired and facilityrenovations begun. Program implementation will begin in 2010–11with a diploma offered in business administration.HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS INSECOND-LANGUAGE INSTRUCTIONAlberta’s achievements in second-language instruction, between2005–06 and 2008–09, included the following outcomes supported byfederal–provincial funding arrangements:• The province undertook to reduce the dropout rate from coursesin French as a second language, particularly at the secondary level,and to increase the percentage of students from the linguisticmajority who are able to express themselves in French. In 2004–05,147,111 students were enrolled in French immersion and French-asa-second-languageprograms. This number increased to 155,191 in2005–06, then to 169,706 in 2006–07, to 176,919 in 2007–08, and to180,564 in 2008–09.• The province also helped to protect against the risk of a shortageof competent teachers of French as a second language, by helpingschool authorities and other organizations to adopt strategies forretaining existing teaching staff and for recruiting new teachers.During the agreement, some 300 teachers participated in languagetraining and workshops designed to increase the number ofqualified teachers.10Pan-Canadian Report on Official Languages in Education 2005–06 to 2008–09 HIGHLIGHTS