The 8th largest province in Canada, New Brunswick is Canada's only bilingual province which is joined to Nova Scotia by the narrow Isthmus of Chignecto. Its capital is Fredericton and the province known as one of the major Maritime Provinces has seen its growth through an economy which is based mainly on the exploitation of natural resources.
It is known that the French mariner Jacques Cartier visited the east coast of the region constituting the present day New Brunswick in 1534 and in 1976 the first British settlement was established in 1762.
The early 1990's have seen a comprehensive communication system which included 12 commercial AM Radio stations, 7 commercial FM Radio stations and 4 commercial television stations.
New Brunswick's main economic mainstays are fisheries, agriculture, mining, tourism transportation and energy in the form of electricity.
The modern public school system was established in 1871. the leading higher institutions include University of New Brunswick (1785), Canada's oldest university Mount Allison (1840), and the French language University Universite de Moncton.
The libraries, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions are mainly concentrated in Fredericton and Saint John and are known as the hub of cultural and recreational activities.
University of New Brunswick offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 60 disciplines and continuing education in a variety of fields. Its 10,000 students come predominantly from Canada but the students from all over the world are increasing day by day.
The number of public schools in New Brunswick is 15.
The New Brunswick Board of Education established the Adult Higher Education in 1980to help students who needed a higher school diploma providing instructional programs and support services to assist adults and out of school youths.
The important colleges and universities are many and there are 7 prominent colleges and universities. Known as one of the growing provinces of Canada, this Loyalist Province is gaining popularity amongst the students for its flexible education system which comprises if undergraduate, graduate, masters and doctoral programs and the financial aid that is given to the students allow the students to have liberty in the choice of their programs.
