Quebec students who staged a memorable series of protests last spring could see their efforts result in a roughly 80 per cent discount on planned tuition hikes.

The Parti Québécois government has tabled its plan for tuition increases which involves indexing university tuition by three per cent a year — which amounts to about 70 dollars annually.

That is sharply lower than the $325 yearly hikes sought by the previous Liberal government, which later adjusted the proposed increases to $254 over seven years.

The planned hikes prompted huge and often rowdy protests last year, with the PQ siding with the student protesters ahead of last summer's election campaign.

Premier Pauline Marois then cancelled the Liberal tuition increases after taking power.

The PQ made the indexation announcement on Monday, the first day of a long-awaited education summit in Montreal.