Canada's Community Colleges: A Critical Analysis

Community colleges evolved in Canada during the "golden years" of educational innovation between 1960 and 1975. A diversity of factors - historical, socio-economic, political and educational - contributed to the development of college systems with distinctive goals and structures. This book is the first up-to-date and comprehensive study of a potent national educational and social phenomenon, largely unknown and largely unappreciated.

The authors describe provincial and territorial college systems as they have evolved to 1985, discussing problems particular to each system and evaluating the extent to which often idealistic early goals have been realized. They identify key issues which are critical to the future of these systems and which, if ignored, will undermine community college education across Canada. These include accessibility, identity, relations with governments, management and leadership, and evaluation and accountability. In each case the authors draw upon their own expertise and experience to describe directions for resolution of these issues.

The book contains a comprehensive and topical bibliography of both published and unpublished material related to many aspects of Canadian community college development. It also includes a French language bibliography.

Unique in many aspects, this book is designed to interest both graduate and undergraduate students in adult and higher education and administration as well as those directly involved in community colleges, government education ministries and a broad lay public.

John D. Dennison is a professor of higher education at the University of British Columbia. Paul Gallagher is the President of Vancouver Community College.