Community Colleges in India and Canada: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to compare and contrast the Community College system as practiced in India and Canada. The concept of Community Colleges has its roots in the USA where these colleges came up in the 1940s and 1950s to provide technical training to the war veterans of the Second World War and the immigrant population. In Canada, the Community Colleges were started in the mid-1960s and early 1970s to provide practical education and training to the natives and the increasing population consisting of immigrants to Canada. Initially, these colleges started as vocational training and adult education or night school institutions. Later, the Community Colleges got integrated with the higher educational system in Canada and started offering certificate and diploma courses. Canadian colleges are either publicly funded or private profit postsecondary institutions. At present, there are 150 institutions in Canada which are generally equivalent to the US community colleges in certain contexts. India adopted the British system of education. Technical education in India comprises three-tier—skill-based technical courses offered by industrial training institutes (ITIs) which train skill-based manpower, technical diploma courses offered by polytechnics which train supervisory staff, and higher education undergraduate and graduate technical courses offered by engineering courses which train managerial staff. However, this system of technical education has failed to produce the required technical manpower to our industries because there is a total mismatch between the education provided in educational institutions and the requirement of the industries. Hence, India needs alternative system of education in the form of community colleges.