Higher education in Manitoba

Higher education in Manitoba traces the development and expansion of higher education (also described as post-secondary or tertiary level education) in the Canadian province of Manitoba. In Canada, education is a provincial concern and there is no national regulation nor accrediting body.

Manitoba was the first western territory to join confederation and the first to establish a university. Just under 10% of the total population holds at least a bachelor's degree.

The University of Manitoba was founded in 1877 under the University of Manitoba Act, only seven years after the province of Manitoba and four years after the city of Winnipeg were created. The University of Manitoba granted its first degrees in 1880. It was modelled after the University of London on the principle of a "one-university" system, or a federation of denominational colleges. This model was proposed to counteract sectarian conflicts developing to the east in their post-secondary systems.

The original role of the University of Manitoba was to examine and confer degrees on students graduating from its three founding affiliated colleges—St. Boniface College (Roman Catholic); St John's (Anglican) and Manitoba College (Presbyterian). Consolidating other institutions was intended to strengthen the smaller, financially insecure institutions. Later, Methodist Wesley College and Brandon College joined the federation as well as other colleges.

With increasing demand for a science curriculum and influence from other post-secondary systems, in 1892 the University of Manitoba Act was amended to allow the university to instruct teachers. In 1900, a faculty of science was formally established and in 1904, a generous donation made possible the appointments of five professors. By 1920, the University of Manitoba offered a wide range of undergraduate programs and several professional schools (Harris, 1976).

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