Role Of Community Colleges Research Articles

Role of Community College: Navigating the Issues and Interventions of Mabalacat City College Amidst COVID Pandemic

Role of Community College: Navigating the Issues and Interventions of Mabalacat City College Amidst COVID Pandemic

Enhancing Education Sector Collaboration: the Contributions of Community Colleges

This study investigates the pivotal role of community colleges in enhancing collaboration within the education sector. Despite the recognized importance of collaboration, the specific contributions of community colleges remain underexplored. Employing a mixed-method research approach, the study utilizes a sequential exploratory design to comprehensively examine the roles, benefits, challenges, and strategies related to collaboration facilitated by community colleges. Data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews and quantitative surveys in places where community colleges exist. Findings indicate that community colleges serve as intermediaries, offering flexible education programs and contributing to workforce development, thereby fostering partnerships and cooperation among diverse stakeholders. While collaborative initiatives yield benefits such as enhanced student success and increased educational access, challenges such as resource constraints and communication barriers persist. Strategies to enhance collaboration effectiveness include building strong relationships, investing in capacity building, and establishing clear communication channels. These findings underscore the significance of recognizing and leveraging the unique contributions of community colleges to promote collaboration and address systemic issues within the education sector. The study concludes with recommendations to strengthen partnerships, allocate resources, implement capacity-building programs, and further research to explore additional factors influencing collaboration.

Addressing Wicked Problems (SDGs) Through Community Colleges: Leveraging Entrepreneurial Leadership for Economic Development Post-COVID

AbstractThis qualitative case study aims to explore community colleges’ role in addressing wicked problems of economic development post-COVID through entrepreneurial leadership. The key research question is, “How do entrepreneurial leaders describe the role of community colleges in addressing wicked problems of economic development post-COVID.” The study interviewed 28 entrepreneurial leaders regarding the role(s) of community colleges in addressing wicked problems of economic development. The study addresses a critical gap in the literature. Researchers have yet to explore the role of associate degree-granting institutions, namely community colleges. Notably, the over 1200 U.S. community colleges serve nearly 12 million or half of America’s students (American Association of Community Colleges, 2011). From a theoretical perspective, the study leverages complexity science, complex adaptive systems, and systemic innovation to address wicked problems of economic development. Future researchers can build on these theoretical insights for future studies across many disciplines.The results provide ten key roles community colleges can potentially take on as economic development partners, making them ideal institutions to serve as incubators of post-COVID recovery. They include revitalizing communities post-COVID, performing post-COVID business triage, modeling sustainability, creating jobs, championing entrepreneurship-led economic development, increasing tax revenue, pipelining talent, supporting talent retention, supporting main street businesses, and reducing entrepreneurial risks. Researchers recommend that policymakers and other funders allocate funding to help community colleges address wicked problems through systemic innovation labs (I-Labs). Interestingly, the roles identified appear to be moderated by proximity and trust.

The role of community colleges in preparing students with special and common skills for the workforce: a longitudinal case study

PurposeAmerican Community colleges are vital to the country's economic mobility and are leaders in developing and facilitating career, technical, and workforce education. This study explored employer perspectives on employees' common and specialized skills across industries in the United States.Design/methodology/approachEmployers were profiled for one year using a case study and content analysis method. They submitted performance records for at least three employees who graduated from community college career, technical, or workforce programs.FindingsData revealed that overall, employees were successful at work, but employers focused on employability skills across disciplines (common skills); specialized skills employers focused on were associated with business operations and processes and seemed to be something other than industry-specific technical knowledge.Originality/valueThis article and the research it refers to constitute original work that has not been reproduced or published. The value of this article is premised on new longitudinal data, which could be used to improve and progress institutional CTE and WD programs.

STATUS, LEADERSHIP, AND ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN NEPAL

Community colleges in Nepal, subsidized by the local community, have been preparing students to be productive members of the nation's futu re. The role of community colleges seems crucial in contributing in the field of Nepali academia from the date of its establishment. The pu rpose of this paper is to present the cu rrent status of Nepal Community College comparing to other Asian countries. This review study intends to provide a solution to the question of when Nepal's community college will have sufficient endowment to meet the needs of students and other stakeholders with a direct or indirect connection to the institution. It also explores if community campus leadershi p and supervision practices are sufficient to produce competent students who may be employable in Nepal and beyond. This article seeks to identify certain leadershi p and management approaches, as well as the growth of community colleges. Additionally, this material is based on years of experience obtained while working as a community college instructor.

Competing, Coordinating, or Collaborating: Perspectives on the Community College Baccalaureate Within the Context of Mission Differentiation

ABSTRACT Today, half of all states authorize at least one community college to offer bachelor’s degree programs. In the past five years alone, eight states have authorized community colleges to offer baccalaureate programs. Given the momentum behind this movement, we sought to qualitatively explore higher education leaders’ perceptions of the role of community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs in the U.S. system of higher education. To do this, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 senior leaders at community colleges, state higher education agencies, and higher education associations. Our sample also included leaders in locations that currently authorize CCB programs and those that do not. We asked leaders to share their perspectives on the mission and role of community colleges and public universities, and to reflect on how CCB programs complement or complicate these missions and roles. While leaders offered differing views on CCB programs, what they shared were insights into the blurring of a once sharp dividing line between community colleges and public universities. Emerging from the interviews were interesting perspectives on inter-institutional collaboration, coordination, and competition in the era of the CCB. We conclude our study with recommendations for policy and practice.

Changing the Shape of the River: (Re)privileging STEM Research for Latinx Community College Student

ABSTRACT Undergraduate research experiences can have a positive impact on student retention and success in STEM, but are not widely available to community college students. Yet, the role of community colleges in producing STEM graduates, especially Latinx students, is overlooked and likely underestimated. A program designed to attract and retain Latinx STEM majors needs to do more than just provide opportunity and access. This study examines a successful community college undergraduate research experience designed with Latinx students in mind. We describe the program, provide evidence to document its efficacy, and identify essential components that draw, retain, and propel Latinx community college students in STEM.

What’s missing? The role of community colleges in building a more inclusive institutional repository landscape

In 2003, the executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information, Clifford A. Lynch, declared institutional repositories “essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital age.” More than twenty years later, many colleges and universities do not maintain an institutional repository (IR), and their students and faculty do not have access to one. Community colleges—the original open access institutions—are integral to the higher education ecosystem, educating 31% of undergraduates in the United States. However, only a handful of these institutions have an IR. At the time of publication, a mere ten community colleges were listed in either the Directory of Open Access Repositories (DOAR) or the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR). The precise number of community college communities with access to an IR is unknown and certainly higher than ten, but uptake is low. As a result, the rich intellectual outputs generated at these institutions are not openly shared. Repositories provide community college communities with the ability to read content they would not otherwise have access to, but to fulfill the original purposes of open access to “share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich,” it’s imperative that the faculty and students at community colleges are recognized as contributors to the scholarly communications landscape and empowered to disseminate their works, via repositories, to the larger knowledge ecosystem.

Interrogating the Myths of Education: Dorothy Bryant'sElla Price's JournalandMiss Giardino

Interrogating the Myths of Education: Dorothy Bryant's<i>Ella Price's Journal</i>and<i>Miss Giardino</i>

Role of community colleges and other TVET institutions in advancing sustainable development by supporting access, diversity, and inclusion for nontraditional student populations

ABSTRACT The Sustainable Development Goals link access to higher education, particularly for non-traditional populations, as a way to fight poverty and ensure prosperity. This article examines the experiences of several under-researched categories of non-traditional students who attend Community Colleges and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in multiple jurisdictions worldwide. The article begins to fill in the gap with comparative data on how these institutions advance equity, diversity, and inclusion through access to higher education. The implications of Community Colleges and TVET are analyzed using the lens of Neo-Liberalism and the Capabilities Narrative. The study extends the scope of the inquiry into the contributions these institutions make to sustainable development. The article uses a comparative multi-case study approach to examine the Community Colleges and TVET Colleges in different jurisdictions worldwide.

Investigating role of community college and student responses towards awareness on electric vehicles as a solution to environmental problems

Environmental concerns have emerged as burning issue worldwide. Transportation sector is the major contributor causing environmental damage. Adopting electric vehicle can possibly address the issue with its potent benefits. Community colleges play crucial role in disseminating knowledge and creating awareness about environmental issues among youngsters. The present study is qualitative in nature and aims to explore the efforts of a private university and steps taken by the institution in creating environmental awareness through educational transformation among future leaders. The data was collected through conducting in-depth interviews and using observations. The findings of the study revealed that the students had fair understanding of environmental problems and university provide enough support facilitating quality courses and conducting expert sessions and workshops. The results of the study are likely to transform and address the major challenges of environment protection encouraging students through disseminating conceptual and technical knowledge towards sustainable transportation.

The Role of Community Colleges in Developing Creativity and Innovation Skills of Vocational Students ( The University College of Applied Science as a Case Study)

This study aims to identify the role of community colleges in developing innovation and creativity skills among the students who are enrolled in its vocational programs from their point of view according to the study variables of gender, age and province in the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019. Furthermore, it sheds lights upon the efforts paid by community colleges in order to develop the skills of innovation and creativity in their various vocational programs. In order to achieve the study purposes, the quantitative method is used and a questionnaire as a study tool has been developed, distributed among the study sample and analysed by (SPSS). The results indicate that the arithmetic average of all the questionnaire’s items reaches (3.98) and thus the relative weight is (79.65). This means that there is a great deal of agreement on the questionnaire in general. The study also showed that there are no statistically significant differences between the averages of the study sample responses in all areas of the questionnaire for the role of the University College of Applied Sciences in developing innovation and creativity skills for vocational students according to their views, which are attributed to the variables of the study with the exception of age and province .The study recommends the need to provide a range of physical and moral facilities in the vocational institution’s environment, which support the enhancement of the creativity and innovation growth of technical and academic staff, vocational curriculum and the management practices and policies

Engaging Community Colleges in Rural Development: A Meta-Synthesis of Doctoral Dissertations

Objective: This project analyzed recent doctoral dissertations addressing the role of community colleges in rural development for the purpose of identifying themes in the reported results and offering recommendations for future research. Methods: A meta-synthesis approach was utilized with 20 doctoral dissertations from the time period 2009 to 2020 investigating the role of community colleges in rural community development, rural economic development, rural workforce development, and collaboration with other entities relative to rural development. Results: Themes derived from the analysis and synthesis are presented, with discussion of the representative studies for each. Building on the results of the thematic analysis, the review offers recommendations for practical steps that rural community colleges can take to contribute to the communities they serve. Additionally, we offer suggestions for a research agenda to produce further insights and understandings that can strengthen and enhance the roles of community colleges in rural development across America. Contributions: Collectively, the reported themes and suggested research agenda speak to both the important role that rural community colleges can play in rural development and to the need for ongoing work in this area of the literature.

Building community college federal advocacy

AbstractThis chapter describes and documents anticipated areas of federal community college advocacy. Changes in Congressional behavior are described with specific illustrations of federal legislation, specifically the Higher Education Act. Discussion on the role of the college president and CEO in advocacy focuses on the role of the president and the necessity to be vocal in federal relations. The article offers anticipated issues community college leaders need to be aware of including federal student aid, outcomes and return‐on‐investment, workforce education, innovation and institutional regulation, and the role of community colleges in civic education and cultural awareness. The chapter serves as a capstone for the volume and call to action for community college federal advocacy.

STEM Knowledge in Non-STEM Occupations: Implications for Community Colleges

ABSTRACT The U.S. faces increasing demand for STEM knowledge, contributing to enhanced products, improved health care, more efficient energy sources, a preserved environment, safeguarded national security, and economic growth. In addition, high-paying occupations increasingly require STEM knowledge, and in non-STEM occupations, workers increasingly need STEM knowledge for workplace success and earn significantly more than those without such knowledge. Community colleges supply a major portion of STEM education to the current and future workforce, and researchers have examined the role of community colleges in preparing current and future workers with for STEM occupations but less so for non-STEM occupations. The current study examined STEM knowledge in non-STEM occupations in the U.S. Using data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the findings included 19 major groups of non-STEM occupations and 15 STEM knowledge areas in non-STEM occupations. The study further found higher levels of STEM knowledge associated with higher wages for select areas and, using O*NET benchmark standards, identified the levels of STEM knowledge required in non-STEM occupations.

The Impact of Early Colleges on Students’ Postsecondary Education Trajectories: Can Early Colleges Overcome the (Supposedly) Diversionary Role of Community Colleges?

Following a sample of students who participated in admissions lotteries at eight Early College High Schools (ECs) partnering with 2-year colleges, this study examined the college enrollment and degree completion of students who won admissions lotteries and enrolled in ECs in Grade 9 (i.e., EC students), and assessed the EC impact—in terms of complier average causal effects—on students’ postsecondary education trajectories for up to 6 years after expected high school graduation (i.e., Year 10). The study found that by the end of Year 10, more than half (55.7%) of EC students had enrolled in 4-year colleges and more than a third (34.1%) had completed a bachelor’s degree. Among the subset EC students who had completed an associate degree or certificate during high school, 57.5% had completed a bachelor’s degree by the end of Year 10. Using an instrumental variable approach, our analyses of complier average causal effects revealed that compliers in the treatment group were significantly more likely than their counterparts in the control group to have enrolled in college each year during the 6 years after expected high school graduation and were significantly more likely to have completed a bachelor’s degree each year between 3 and 6 years after expected high school graduation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that rather than diverting students from pursuing 4-year degrees, ECs partnering with 2-year colleges not only improved students’ chance to successfully complete bachelor’s degrees, but also allowed them to do so on a shorter timeline.

Faculty Perspectives on Teaching Public Health at Community Colleges: An Exploratory Snapshot

The role of community colleges in training public health professionals is of growing importance to the continuum of public health education. Some 5 years have passed since the Framing the Future initiative outlined curricular models at community colleges, and colleges deploying these models are serving as learning sites for public health education at community colleges. While past research has focused on capturing insights from community college executives and program administrators, this study captures perspectives from teaching faculty. Drawing on a national sample of teaching faculty at community colleges and universities accepting transfer students throughout the United States, an online survey of teaching faculty affiliated with public health programs was coupled with follow-up interviews. This study characterizes the nature and scope of public health programming in community colleges and transfer settings, and highlights associated challenges and opportunities as public health becomes further integrated into health professions pathways in 2-year settings and beyond.

The Arts Experience at Community College: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT This study seeks to address the scarcity of qualitative research on community college arts study in the research literature. It addresses the following question: “How do students at a large, urban community college experience their study of the arts?” The author utilized phenomenology as a research methodology. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with seven participants, diversified by gender, age, artistic discipline, and geographic location. Interviews were transcribed, noted, and analyzed for emergent themes, utilizing the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. Four primary themes characterized the arts study experience, each supported by multiple sub-themes. Participants embraced learning about their art forms and were highly motivated to improve their work. They experienced a wide range of positive emotions, some transformative, during their art making. Participants placed a high value on the arts community, and sought out interactions with other artists. Several of their accounts identified the community college as a critical access point for the arts. The author concludes that students study the arts at community college for variety of reasons, independent of any credential received. Of particular value is the potential for expanded artistic focus and the cultivation of an artistic community. As opportunities for arts education become more limited in society, the role of community colleges in meeting this need is growing in importance. Any of the themes revealed in this study presents potential for deeper and more focused qualitative research.

The People’s College: A Review of Local Community College Governing Boards through the Lens of Descriptive Representation

ABSTRACT This article examines the long-overlooked governmental body, the local community college governing board, through the lens of descriptive representation, to assess what variables are associated with minority representation. Higher education governing boards have long lacked diversity, let alone any type of proportional representation, but an examination of descriptive representation of local community college governing boards, which oversee a large portion of minority undergraduates, has been missing from the literature. Using OLS regression and logit methods for analysis of original data, the results provide evidence that those boards are far from descriptively representative and that social and environmental characteristics impact board diversity. The findings indicate that board size and the percentage of Black residents can play a significant role in the selection of Blackboard members, establishing an important empirical foundation in light of descriptive representation scholars’ findings that descriptive representation can lead to substantive benefits. Given the important role of community college governing bodies that serve approximately half of the nation’s minority undergraduates, this research is important as a stepping stone for further study of community college governing boards, who serves on them and why that matters.

A National Study of the Influence of the Community College Pathway on Female Students’ STEM Baccalaureate Success

Objective: This study examines the role of community colleges in closing the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by studying whether beginning at a community coll...