McGill University’s MBA program plans to charge nearly $30,000 in tuition this September, despite the Quebec government’s threat to slash the school's funding if it goes ahead with the new model.

According to Peter Todd, dean of McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, the new“self-funded model” would push tuition for McGill MBA students to $29,500 for fall 2010, up from the $1,700 Quebec students in the program currently pay.

McGill’s MBA program costs much more to run than what the program currently receives from the provincial government and tuition, Todd said in an email. He said the program’s high costs have forced the school to pull funding from other programs.

 A new proposal by the Commission on Francophone Affairs (CAF) suggests that McGill University offer a majority of introductory courses in French as well as in English.

The proposal is intended to help the transition of French-speaking students to an English university. It also suggests that a third of professors should demonstrate a French language competence.

Professors at McGill are not currently required to demonstrate any French language ability.

“Many professors who do not speak French do make an effort to learn the language when they come to McGill,” said Morton Mendelson, deputy provost (student life) and learning at McGill.

At the moment, the university is not moving towards incorporating introductory classes in French.

McGill University students Amanda Garbutt and April Engelberg, both 21, started their own cooking show, The Hot Plate, which aired regularly on TVMcGill and online.

Engelberg, a fourth-year English major, credits good friend Garbutt with getting her interested in cooking. She said she wanted to start a cooking show and she wanted the fourth-year sociology major to be the “star.” 

The show is designed to be accessible to busy students. Cooking equipment is limited to the basics: cutting boards, knives, pots, bowls and pans.  Each episode is also kept at five minutes.

McGill University took a green step forward this year with the creation of the first university-led Greenpeace chapter in Canada, a stepping stone for the environmental organization that could lead to other Canadian universities following suit.
 
Beth Hunter, a co-ordinator for Greenpeace Montreal, calls the recent creation of the university club “a nice symbiosis.”