Updated Fall 2025
If you are looking for information on Law 14 for Continuing Education AEC programs, please follow this link
An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, commonly referred to as Law 14 or Bill 96, was assented to on June 1, 2022.
There are four major items that particularly impact English colleges in Law 14:
- Priority admissions to certificate holders (i.e., students with a certificate of eligibility to receive instruction in English)
- Additional French language courses or program courses in French
- Language Exit Exams
- Fixed cap on admissions
All students, whether they are certificate holders or not, are allowed and welcome to apply to John Abbott College.
1. Certificate Holders or Non-Certificate Holders
The Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur (MES) provides John Abbott College access to the Ministry’s database that confirms whether a student is a certificate holder or not. A certificate holder is a student eligible to receive instruction in English in Québec and who has received a certificate from the government; non-certificate holders are those who are not certificate holders.
At the time of admission or shortly thereafter, students are identified as either a certificate holder or not. Using this information, students are then placed into the appropriate program grid.
The Ministry of Education provides information to verify if you are eligible or to find out how to obtain a certificate.
2. Language Exit Exams
All college students in Québec must pass a ministerial language examination (also known as the exit exam) to receive their diploma of college studies.
Certificate holders are required to pass the English Exit Exam while non-certificate holders are required to pass the French Exit Exam (l’Épreuve Uniforme de Français) at the end of their program.
3. Priority admission
At John Abbott College, all students (certificate and non-certificate holders) applying for admission for the March 1 deadline are treated equally. After the March 1 application deadline, certificate holders receive priority admission to programs in which there is still space, provided they meet the admissions criteria. Priority may result in admission in a different program or in another English language college. The English language colleges strive to admit all qualified certificate holders.
4. French language courses or program courses in French
As part of their program, all students must take five French courses. The type of courses will depend on whether a student is a certificate holder or not; these courses will be French language courses (courses to improve French) or program courses in French, or a combination of both.
5. Eligibility for English-language education
We invite students to visit the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) website for information on eligibility for English-language education, including who is eligible and how to obtain a certificate of eligibility.
6. Fixed Cap on Admissions
English CEGEPs are now subject to an admission cap. The total number of students registered in all English colleges across Québec cannot exceed 17.5% of the total number of students in all colleges, French and English combined, in Québec.
