The Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education Report of a Workshop (2002) / Chapter Skim
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2 Community Colleges in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities
2 Community Colleges in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities
Pages 59-76
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From page 59... ...
Changes in pedagogic and production technology; state funding policy; the expectations of students, parents, and policy makers; demographic trends; and the growth of new types of educational institutions and providers are threatening established patterns of community college activities and potentially altering the role of the colleges within the wider landscape of higher education. In this chapter, I first describe some of the challenges facing community colleges and then articulate the positive Thomas Bailey is director of the Institute on Education and the Economy and the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University.
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From page 60... ...
. Changing expectations about educational attainment will also influence community college enrollments.
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From page 61... ...
In the past, community colleges have prided themselves on being able to service precisely these types of students. The potential effect of computer-based distance education is perhaps the greatest unknown concerning the nature of the competitive landTHOMAS BAILEY 61
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From page 62... ...
But what can be said is that the growth and potential of distance education have created tremendous uncertainty in higher education. And community colleges may be at a disadvantage in the online educational race, since they have much more restricted budgets than fouryear public schools and lack the for-profits' access to capital markets.
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From page 63... ...
. The growth of the importance of these diverse pathways through postsecondary education may favor community colleges, which are more oriented towards nontraditional students than four-year schools.
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From page 64... ...
While the role of associate degrees relative to bachelor's degrees remains in flux, these trends indicate that a growing number of jobs in the economy can be effectively held by workers with postsecondary education short of a bachelor's degree. Weak high school preparation will also continue to create a role for community colleges, essentially giving students a second chance to prepare for college-level work.
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From page 65... ...
These include low tuition, local political support, and favorable demographic and educational trends, at least for the next few years, which will increase the potential supply of students at community colleges. The growing emphasis on noncredit education and on delayed, interrupted, multiple-institutional, and part-time college enrollment favors the more nontraditional history and emphasis of community colleges, at least when compared to public and nonprofit four-year institutions.
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From page 66... ...
While such contracts represent a minority of noncredit enrollments, they often have a high profile and carry political significance disproportionate to their size, since they solidify partnerships with influential local businesses. While community colleges have broadened their missions by seeking out new types of postsecondary students, they have also sought to expand their roles vertically providing education to high school students 66 COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY
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From page 67... ...
Therefore the dual enrollment programs have both financial and marketing benefits for the colleges.3 In another trend towards vertical expansion, community colleges in some states are also exploring the possibility of offering applied bachelor's degrees. Although this strategy has its proponents, it remains controversial and perhaps the preponderance of community college officials are skeptical.
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From page 68... ...
. Nevertheless, while many community college faculty members and administrators favor the integration of academic and vocational instruction, it is difficult to find well-developed programs that actually put the approach into practice (Perin, 1998~.
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From page 69... ...
As the mission of community colleges evolved to meet a broader range of needs, the earlier emphasis on liberal education and on the transfer function appeared to take a back seat to the newer demands: vocational mission "eclipsed" the emphasis on transfer and liberal education (Wechsler, 1968; Katsinas, 1994~. While these critics oppose mission expansion because it weakens the academic transfer function, others object to the comprehensive model because it detracts from what they believe should be the core function of the community college vocational education (Blocker, Plummer, and Richardson, 1965; Grubb, 1996~.
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From page 70... ...
For example, attracting more transfer students with bachelor's degree aspirations would require the 4For example, one of the reasons that a community college I visited in 2001 had introduced a dual enrollment program with local high schools was to build political support among taxpayers for additional local revenues.
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From page 71... ...
One of the fundamental tenets of the view that the community colleges are failed transfer institutions is that all of the new activities, particularly the growing importance of occupational education, have weakened the traditional transfer functions. Most community college administrators reject this notion.
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From page 72... ...
But the community college response to these pressures has been to seek new markets and revenues rather than to concentrate primarily on a smaller number of core functions. As we have seen, the strongest incentives push the colleges toward a more comprehensive strategy.
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From page 73... ...
New York: Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center. Baker, G
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From page 74... ...
(1999~. Community College of Denver wins fans with ability to tackle tough issues.
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From page 75... ...
New York: Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center. Roueche, J.E., and Roueche, S.D.
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