In a knowledge-based economy, economic and social well-being depend on the development of human resources, and those with access to education benefit from higher lifetime earnings, lower rates of unemployment and poverty, a greater sense of engagement at work and society, and healthier lifestyles. This environmental scan considers the major economic, demographic, social, and labour-market trends influencing British Columbia's higher education system and workforce. Five chapters include: (1) Economic Trends (including globalization, the North American economy, climate change, new technologies, and regional variations in economic development); (2) Demographic Trends (forces of change, such as the aging of the baby boom generation, the declining birth rate and school age cohort, and shifts in inter-provincial and international migration); (3) Social Trends (British Columbia's social fabric and inequalities faced by low-income groups, women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, and ethnic minorities; (4) Labour Force Trends (employment, earnings, changes in work arrangements, and labour organization); and (5) Education Trends (British Columbia's education system, from early childhood education and the K-12 system to the comprehensive post-secondary system of apprenticeship and trades training, colleges, institutes, university-colleges, and universities, enrolment trends, lifelong learning, and the costs and benefits of education). The report concludes that British Columbia is becoming a more educated society. Recent years have seen improvements in literacy rates, Dogwood attainment, and post-secondary participation, and a growing number of credentials issued by industry training organizations and public and private post-secondary institutions, British Columbia leads Canada in job-related training and lifelong learning. Ongoing pursuit of access, financing, and quality will ensure a sustainable and effective education system over the long-term. An appendix contains 125 figures, charts and tables of economic, demographic, social, labour force and education data. (Contains 148 footnotes and 8 figures.)