ABSTRACT
Canada is a bilingual, federal state with a population of 26 million unevenly dispersed over an immense geographical area. Constitutionally, education has been regarded as falling primarily within provincial jurisdiction, although the federal government influences higher education in important ways, particularly through revenue-sharing arrangements with the provinces, direct support of university research, provision of student loans and graduate scholarships, and exercise of its responsibility for ensuring adequacy of skilled manpower for the economy. Owing to the differences in historical development and perceptions of societal needs among the provinces, there are major differences among the systems of higher education of the ten provinces and two territories, making it difficult to produce valid generalizations about higher education at a national level.
