Educational Facilities

Acadia University – In pulvere vinces (In dust, you conquer)
In the nearby university-town of Wolfville you’ll find Acadia University which was established in 1838. The founders raised funds through industrious means and fell the lumber with their solid axes to build the ‘college on the hill'. The history of Acadia is alive today in the Acadia spirit, with the Axeman and Axewomen achieving more national athletic titles than any other university in Atlantic Canada. The university also has the best reputation amongst Canadian primarily undergraduate universities according to MacLean's Magazine in its 15th annual university ranking issue. In fact, the university has come first in this category in all but one year. It also topped the 2006 list of Most Innovative Category.

Université Sainte-Anne
Nova Scotia’s only francophone university is a ten minute drive from the Western Valley. Founded in 1890, Sainte-Anne is well known for its French Immersion programs that take place in both spring and summer. Beyond this program, Saint-Anne offers many university-level programmes as well as college-level diploma programmes in two faculties: the Faculté des Arts et Sciences, Faculté des Programmes Professionnels.

NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College)
There are three sites that make up Annapolis Valley Campus:  the Community Learning Centre in Digby; the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) in Lawrencetown; and the Applied Geomatics Research Centre in Middleton. Programs at Annapolis Valley Campus represent the following Academic Schools: Access; Applied Arts and New Media; Health and Human Services; and Business.

This specialized institution has leveraged its expertise in land-based geomatics and offers internationally recognized programs in information technology, computer programming, remote sensing, cartography, and geomatics.

In addition to the post-secondary institutions, the region is home to high quality elementary and secondary schools. The Annapolis Valley Regional School Board has nine schools in Annapolis County and the Tri-County School Board administers eight schools in Digby County. In addition, there are two Adult High Schools, one in Digby and the other at the Nova Scotia Community College campus in Middleton.

In 2004, the primary to 12 Islands Consolidated School on Long Island, Digby County was ranked the best high school in Nova Scotia for the second consecutive year.