Community Colleges Today

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Crawford ◽  
Angela Jervis

Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Bidens wife, has been teaching in community colleges for the past 18 years. Dr. Biden believes that community colleges are uniquely American institutions where anyone who walks through the door is one step closer to realizing the American dream. This is an inspiring sentiment. However, of all the first time college students who enrolled in community college in 2003-2004, fewer than 36% earned a post-secondary credential within six years. In light of the low completion rate, one has to question whether community colleges are fulfilling their promise. In this article we will look at the recent demographics of community colleges, compare the role of community colleges to that of proprietary colleges in post secondary education and discuss promising research initiatives aimed at improving the community college system.

Author(s):  
Fred K. Boateng ◽  
Kingsley Nyarko

Community colleges are institutions dedicated to the mission of providing skilled manpower and labor in technical and vocational areas. There are many community college models in the world. In Ghana, polytechnics and technical institutes are adapted models of community colleges. The objective of this chapter is to examine the polytechnic system as practiced in Ghana using the American community college system as a perspective. Community colleges with their provenance in the early 20th century have undergone vicissitudes in their bid to carry out their functions. The polytechnics have also experienced evolving historical circumstances as second cycle technical institutes, then upgraded to tertiary education institutions, and then recently converted to technical universities. In spite of all these developments, the technical universities are believed to be inferior to the traditional public universities.


1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 543-558
Author(s):  
Robert P. Cox ◽  
Robert J. Waddell ◽  
Sharon A. Howell ◽  
Anne F. Ausdemore

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