National testing for college and university: The role of the Service for Admission to College and University (SACU) in Canadian higher education

Taking the present crisis of the Canadian Service of Admission to College and University as a starting point, the authors examine the history of SACU, which in 1971 was still a comparatively efficient organisation. Changes in the wider society, such as growing provincialism in Canada as well as stagnation or decline in enrolment together with a broader acceptance of the philosophy of open admission, have led to a drastic decline in the number of participants in the tests and to severe criticism of the predominantly selective function of SACU. It is felt that a reorientation of the testing activities of SACU should be in the direction of distributive and counselling functions, thus adopting the 1970 recommendations of the Commission on Tests of the American College Entrance Examination Board.