Arrangements For Coordination Between University and College Sectors in Canadian Provinces: 1990-1996

An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 1997 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, St. John’s, Newfoundland. The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Toronto.A policy question that arises in any jurisdiction where there is some diversity of postsecondary institutional types is whether there should be formal arrangements for coordination among groupings of different type institutions, and if so, what form these arrangements should take. This paper examines questions related to coordination between postsecondary sectors in Canada. We conclude that the Canadian provinces, with one important exception, seem to be content to maintain the center of gravity for coordination at levels below the system, by either facilitating voluntary inter-sectoral arrangements and encouraging interaction between sectors, or leaving these matters largely at the discretion of institutions