CANADA'S COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEMS: A STUDY OF DIVERSITY

Abstract

Diversity is central to Canada's community colleges. For example, Ontario created vocationally oriented colleges of applied arts and technology, British Columbia and Alberta opted for locally governed comprehensive colleges with university transfer, Saskatchewan developed “colleges without walls,” Quebec's colleges of general and vocational education incorporated tuition‐free technical and preuniversity streams, and Newfoundland, Manitoba, New Brunswick, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories established technical colleges with a strong accent on short‐term work‐entry training. This article describes the rich diversity found within Canada's systems of community colleges, as well as the reasons for and consequences of this diversity.