Is workforce development the central mission of the modern community college?
Paul: This is a good question and the answer is rather complex. The role of the community college in the United States has changed over the past 100+ years.
In the first half of the 20th century, the community college was used to train workers on manufacturing and trade skills. There was local pride in building a junior college in the city and there was also a push to make college available to every high school graduate. In the early part of the 1900's most junior colleges were associated with a religious denomination.
The Great Depression helped to increase enrollment in Junior Colleges greatly because young adults couldn't find employment. During this time, the concept of transfer to a four-year college was developed as well as the terminal track for a two year degree.
The 1980's saw a transition to a specialized track and more vocational training.
Today, there are over 1.000 community colleges in the United States. They enroll 50% of all college freshmen.
This is a good article for you to read:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876835.pdf
Yes and no. Community colleges graduate students with associate degree in many STEM disciplines for jobs, from nursing, technicians, to air traffic controllers. But community colleges also send their students to 4-year colleges for bachelors degree. So they provide pathway for higher education for students who couldn't (or didn't want) get into college after high school.
If so, isa problem? Isn’t one of the main purposes of schools to both develope workers and further develope the existing workforce? The great majority will go to school/college/higher education to get a job further down the road. I also have similar experience as Mariappan Jawaharlal Benjamin Jurney
The success of state’s economy rests within communities. workforce is built on the strengths of individuals, those educated in colleges and employed by dynamic businesses.
In order to create a thriving workforce develop ment system – one that supports individuals’ needs and bolsters employers’ supply of skilled workers – we must create a coordinated, efficient set of
policies and programs. This is possible through a state approach, where state, and local policymakers; educational institutions; and the nonprofit and private sectors come together to build a better system.
We offer four key ways these institutions can be leveraged to create a more effective and cohesive system:
1. State and local Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) can build sector partnerships that leverage community colleges and other
education and training providers to develop career pathways that align workforce supply and demand. Emphasizes the value of
recognized postsecondary credentials, and the attention given to career pathways in the act provides a way for community colleges
to contribute to the growth of skilled and credentialed workers in their local areas.
2. Community colleges designated as an Eligible Training Provider (ETP) can offer programs that qualify for state support. Eligible job-seekers can defray the cost of participating in these programs using Individual Training Accounts (ITAs). Students in accredited programs may be able to combine ITAs with state student aid, maximizing support as they gain new skills or retrain for a new field of work.
3. Governors can use the state set-aside fund to align job-seekers’ need for employment and local employers’ need for skilled workers,
leveraging the training capacity of local community colleges to prepare workers for employment in growing fields in their region.
4. State policymakers should engage community college leaders at the state level to contribute to the development and implementation of the state economic development plan. This can be accomplished through the inclusion of community college representatives on the
state WDB and through their input on the state economic development plan.
Paul: This is a good question and the answer is rather complex. The role of the community college in the United States has changed over the past 100+ years.
In the first half of the 20th century, the community college was used to train workers on manufacturing and trade skills. There was local pride in building a junior college in the city and there was also a push to make college available to every high school graduate. In the early part of the 1900's most junior colleges were associated with a religious denomination.
The Great Depression helped to increase enrollment in Junior Colleges greatly because young adults couldn't find employment. During this time, the concept of transfer to a four-year college was developed as well as the terminal track for a two year degree.
The 1980's saw a transition to a specialized track and more vocational training.
Today, there are over 1.000 community colleges in the United States. They enroll 50% of all college freshmen.
This is a good article for you to read:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876835.pdf
It does not necessarily happen that way.
The students grow and go to new schools, go to university and establish new relationships.
Not always the conditions of life of the place of origin, are attractive for the graduate, it is very simple.
Organizations could have a much more active policy, with the purpose of employing, retaining and developing a local talent with young people.
There are scattered points in these analyzes, which are not articulated in an updated theory and, sufficiently explanatory, for the current Knowledge Society.
It is a subject in which many contradictions converge.
We have tried to be prudent in:
Chapter Quality of life and education in the knowledge society
Hi all, thank you so much for your contributions. I am excited to share my new research on this issue!
Preprint A Primer on Workforce Development
Topics covered include human capital theory, workforce development methodology, community colleges, and economic development. Please recommend and share if you are so inclined!
In the case of Europe, with the separation into three levels of higher education (Bachelor, Master and Doctorate), within the Bologna Process, a new way of reproduction and social closure was inaugurated for working class children who could not access postgraduate levels due to its high cost, thus reproducing the social positions in the social structure, taking into account the changes in the structure of occupations in the technologically advanced capitalist economies. I describe it in the following press article "University, merchandise and reproduction of classes"
https://ctxt.es/es/20180207/Politica/17657/desigualdad-universidad-plan-bolonia-educacion-precariedad.htm
Best regards.
Se convierte la pregunta en compleja por la visión y el contexto geográfico de cada país, pero podemos señalar que no debe ser únicamente y necesariamente la fuerza laboral y estas instituciones debe incluir valores espirituales y morales
I spent most of my career at a University (with some time at a 4 year college early on) and am now doing part time instruction at a Community College. In addition while at CSULA I spent time on a committee that coordinated CC offerings with freshman and sophomore university offerings, so I have some perspective on this question. There is a purely workforce aspect in the early history of community colleges and other similar institutions (technical institute was a common name).
At this point many, even most, fulfill both functions in some proportion. In the CC I am teaching at there are, for example, freshman level economics courses as part of programs that have students taking much of their freshman and sophomore coursework at a reduced cost before transferring to four year programs. (Successfully one hopes.) There are also courses in auto repair leading to a certificate of proficiency that can lead to a job. There are courses in using 3D printers that can be useful both in further academic work (eg in the arts) or in working in a firm making prototypes or starting up a new mode manufacturing system.
In other words there is no "primary" role, both are and should be of major import.
Not necessarily....I think graduates of academic institutions, formal and non formal for that matter contribute to the country's workforce.
Community colleges provide access to education for all as an option to entering colleges and universities.
In my state of PA in the US, indeed the community college is designed to impart practical skills of all sorts for the business community. Larger universities are struggling to redefine their core mission, vision, and values. Many students are incurring considerable debt w/o immediate workforce employment. So, universities are losing students at a rapid pace.
And we know that a certain proportion of students are not college material and do not complete degrees.
Rich
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