OTTAWA -- Nova Scotia's record in post-secondary education has dropped that province to last place in Missing Pieces: An alternative guide to Canadian post-secondary education. In the fourth year of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' comparative analysis of higher education in each province, B.C. continues to lose ground, while Newfoundland continues to improve for the second year in a row.

Missing Pieces, an annual report by Denise Doherty-Delorme and Erika Shaker, ranks provinces according to their level of commitment to postsecondary education across four indicators: equity, quality, public accountability and accessibility. Each indicator is comprised of six to eight sub-indicators, providing a more complete overview of the state of higher education in each province.

Nova Scotia, in 10th place for the first time, has the highest university tuition fees in the country, comprising more of the Post-Secondary Education (PSE) budget than in any other province, while government grants make up the least amount. Nova Scotia also responds poorly to the financial needs of its students; in spite of its tuition fees and a growing crisis in student debt, the government eliminated the loans forgiveness program in 2000. Provincial expenditures per fulltime student are also among the lowest in the country.

At the other end of the scale, Quebec maintains its first place rank for the second year in a row, leading the provinces in accountability and accessibility, largely as a result of its high level of public support for PSE and the lowest tuition fees in the country. However, in spite of these high levels of public support, there is a growing amount of private funding in Quebec PSE, which is of concern to students and faculty in that province.

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