Canada's Community Colleges: A Critical Analysis

Community colleges evolved in Canada during the "goldenyears" of educational innovation between 1960 and 1975. Adiversity of factors - historical, socio-economic, political andeducational - contributed to the development of college systems withdistinctive goals and structures. This book is the first up-to-date andcomprehensive study of a potent national educational and socialphenomenon, largely unknown and largely unappreciated. The authors describe provincial and territorial college systems asthey have evolved to 1985, discussing problems particular to eachsystem and evaluating the extent to which often idealistic early goalshave been realized. They identify key issues which are critical to thefuture of these systems and which, if ignored, will undermine communitycollege education across Canada. These include accessibility, identity,relations with governments, management and leadership, and evaluationand accountability. In each case the authors draw upon their ownexpertise and experience to describe directions for resolution of theseissues. The book contains a comprehensive and topical bibliography of bothpublished and unpublished material related to many aspects of Canadiancommunity college development. It also includes a French languagebibliography. Unique in many aspects, this book is designed to interest bothgraduate and undergraduate students in adult and higher education andadministration as well as those directly involved in communitycolleges, government education ministries and a broad lay public.