Recent Canadian English language literature on the history and philosophy of higher education in Canada is reviewed to assess the prospects for survival for Canadian universities. Additionally, suggestions for revitalizing higher learning in Canada are offered. Among the topics that are addressed are the following: McMaster University and the homogenizing process in Canadian higher education, Queen's University and its maintenance of uniqueness, the University of Western Ontario and the emergence of Canadian multiversities; McGill University and perplexing problems in Canadian higher education; the goals of Canadian universities; the confused canons of the Canadian academy; competing conceptions of the university; the changing ideas of the Canadian Association of University Teachers; the reasons for the earlier survival of universities; the university and the struggle between the cooperative conception of human life and the authoritarian conception; the place of liberal intellectuals in the contemporary crisis of the university; the university and money; dominant features and some shortcomings of recent writing on higher education in Canada; clarifying the nature of what Canadian universities are and what they could become; sources of the shortcomings of contemporary universities; and signs of hope in contemporary academic life in Canada. The review of scholarly works on Canadian higher education includes general historical works, individual accounts, and institutional histories. A bibliography is appended. (SW)