Nova Scotia's record in post-secondary education has dropped it to last place in the latest annual provincial ranking published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The CCPA report "Missing Pieces: An Alternative Guide to Canadian Post-secondary Education" judges the provinces' record on university and college education across four indicators: equity, quality, public accountability and accessibility.

Nova Scotia, in tenth place for the first time, has the highest university tuition fees in the country, comprising more of the post-secondary education budget than in any other province. In addition, the report finds that provincial expenditures per full-time student are among the lowest in the country.

"Nova Scotia also responds poorly to the financial needs of its students," says Erika Shaker, one of the study's authors. "In spite of its high tuition fees and a growing crisis in student debt, the government eliminated the loan forgiveness program in 2000."

At the other end of the scale, Quebec maintains its first place rank for the second year in a row, largely as a result of its higher public funding levels and the lowest tuition fees in the country.

This year's analysis also finds that British Columbia continues to lose ground. The end of the tuition freeze in B.C. dropped the province from second to fourth spot, down from first place just three years ago.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland's ranking improved, for the second year in a row. The province's continued commitment to improving accessibility in higher education accounts for its improvement to third place, tied with Manitoba. Increased levels of government support and low levels of funding from private sources help maintain a high accountability rank in Newfoundland as well.

"In the four years we've done this project, we've seen growing discrepancies in the provision of higher education from province to province," Shaker notes. "And while we have witnessed some extremely positive measures - like Newfoundland's 25 per cent rollback in tuition fees over three years, for example - for the vast majority of students, a university or college education continues to be less accessible and less public."