A French-language college based in the Gaspé​​​​ is defending its decision to open a private English campus in Montreal catering to international students.

The Montreal campus of the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, which opened in 2015, has more than 1,800 international students. Only about 400 are enrolled across the CEGEP's four campuses serving the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands.

Most of the students in the Montreal campus are from China and India, attending courses in an unmarked building above a Metro station in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

The school decided to offer English program to meet demand coming from the Chinese and Indian markets, explained Sylvain Vachon, who oversees the CEGEP's continuing education programs.

"If [we] didn't seize the opportunity, another CEGEP from the island of Montreal would have," Vachon said.

"We were just faster."

A profitable program

Vachon acknowledged the program was profitable, but denied the CEGEP started this program to compensate for low enrolment in the regions.

"This project would have seen the light of day even if enrolment was going well," Vachon said.

"The money will be reinvested into the CEGEP, into teaching programs for the francophone and anglophone students, in Gaspésie and in the islands."

"The program helps carry our organization."

The Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles has always offered courses in both English and French, he said.

This year, he said the CEGEP will be recruiting students from Vietnam and South America, where there is a greater demand for French.

Those French courses will begin in fall 2020, he said.

"This was not exchanging one thing for another. Not at all," Vachon said. "The CEGEP continues to offer classes in French at all of its other campuses."

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters Tuesday that he will work with the CEGEP to incorporate French classes into the curriculum. (Sylvain Roy Roussel/CBC)

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters Tuesday he plans to work with the CEGEP to address what he called an "important gap" in the curriculum.

"[This CEGEP] giving classes in English isn't new," he said.

"But I have a problem when it's exclusively in English. So we will ask them to, at least, include a French class."

He said he wanted to ensure their recruitment website and English curriculum both include French.

The Mouvement Québec français, a French-language rights group, called the current setup "unacceptable."

"That regional CEGEPs are allowed to set up English-speaking campuses in Montreal for foreign students is nonsense," said the group's president, Maxime Laporte.

The CEGEP system across the province is made up of 43 French-language institutions and five English.

A spokesperson for the federation of CEGEPs said four institutions have bilingual status, including the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles.