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Prime
Sources of Career and Technical Education – US
Community Colleges
The
community colleges of the United States are becoming
increasingly attractive alternatives for international
students seeking strong preparation for life and work.
There are nearly 1300 community-technical colleges scattered
across the 50 states of this nation.
Community-technical
colleges are two-year, public-supported colleges initially
dedicated to serving the population of a specific local
area - usually a city, county, or regional cluster of
counties. Now they are being challenged more and more
to prepare local students for global citizenship and
for productive participation in a global economy. Thus,
they are steadily becoming well equipped to meet the
needs of international students as well. More and more
community colleges are welcoming international students.
Many are offering special services to help international
students grow accustomed to the U.S. system of education
and way of life.
Unique
Features that Assist International Students
The
very features of the community college which have most
assisted local students for whom the college was created
are now becoming clear-cut advantages to international
students as well:
1.
Entry is easier
The ‘open door policy’ of the community
college indicates that academic requirements are usually
lower for admission than at most four-year institutions.
This does not mean a lower standard for the completion
of the sophomore year of college. It means that the
student who initially lacks strong basic skills may
begin more slowly and pick up speed and efficiency as
his growing competencies in collegiate studies permit.
2.
The learning environment is more supportive,
less competitive
The colleges themselves are usually smaller than their
four-year sister institutions. And classes are smaller
too. Although students do compete for the higher grades,
the focus is upon success - not failure. Community college
faculty are not required to participate in research
and publications as are their colleagues in the four-year
college or university. Thus, they find their fulfilment
in helping every motivated and hard-working student
to achieve their educational goals.
3.
Costs are more affordable
Tuition and fees at community colleges are usually substantially
less than at neighbouring four-year colleges and universities.
Many community colleges which were designed to serve
local students who live at home and commute to campus
have developed similar ‘home stay’ arrangements
for international students. Local families house and
feed international students while they pursue their
studies at the college. Other colleges have a fully
structured residential life for their students: on-campus
housing, food service and a wide variety of student
life activities. Whichever arrangement is in place at
the college of choice, the total costs for tuition,
fees, room and board are likely to be substantially
less than a comparable four-year college or university.
Variety
of Programming offers Multiple Opportunities
1.
Transfer Studies
In the early years of their development, community/junior
colleges were created primarily to provide the first
two years of a four-year baccalaureate degree education
for local students closer to home and at lesser costs.
This programming mission of the community college has
been recently strengthened by two trends: the rising
entrance requirements and increasing costs of the four-year
institutions, making it more difficult for the student
to get in and stay in four-year programs; the rapid
expansion of articulation agreements between two-year
and four-year colleges, making it efficient for the
student to take the first two years of ‘university
parallel’ studies in the community college then
transfer smoothly to the four-year college of choice.
In some states, as high as 70% of college freshmen and
sophomores are now enrolled in community colleges. An
expanding number of international students are joining
these native students, finding the community college
to be an excellent place to begin their baccalaureate
studies.
2.
Basic Skills Development
Since the community colleges - ‘the people’s
colleges’ - were designed to help the local student
succeed who might not have competed successfully for
admission to some four-year institutions, all community
colleges offer enhanced opportunities for strengthening
the basic skills necessary for success in collegiate
studies. These same opportunities more fully assure
the success of the international students as well. If
stronger foundations in mathematics are needed; if more
successful strategies for learning are desired; if greater
competence in reading, writing, listening, and speaking
in English are necessary - all may be acquired in the
community college. Moreover, many community colleges
provide Intensive English or English-as-a-Second Language
programs and the services of an Office of International
Students to help their non-native students succeed.
3.
Continuing Education
Following World War II, the expanding ranks of ‘the
people’s colleges’ found it necessary to
provide educational opportunities to local students
other than just the first two years of baccalaureate
studies and the basic skills necessary to succeed therein.
Local students - aged 18 to 80 - sought additional meaningful
learning experiences. Community colleges responded by
offering an ever-widening spectrum of ‘continuing
education’. Skills for leisure living, participation
in the arts, training for meaningful patterns of recreation,
opportunities to pursue vocational interests - all have
become the curricula of continuing education. Thus,
international students who select the community college
as a place to begin preparing for a productive career
now also find it a centre of learning activities designed
for the enrichment of life as well.
4. Career/Technical Education and Workforce Training
Moreover, during recent decades U.S. community colleges
have also increasingly become centres of career and
technical education and of workforce training. The rapid
changes of technology in countless fields of human endeavour
have opened up around the world with numerous new, promising,
well paid and satisfying careers available to those
with two years of specialized technical training. In
like fashion, people already in the workforce have found
it necessary to engage in up-grade training of on-the-job
skills and to enter a pattern of life-long learning
to stay on top of their career fields. To these new
needs and opportunities, community colleges have responded
with vigor.
Many
have become ‘comprehensive’ community colleges,
offering a broad array of programs to meet local and
state needs: transfer studies; basic skills development;
personal/life enrichment opportunities; initial preparation
for technical careers; up-grade training for career
advancement; customized training for business and industry.
Some have done this simply through adding more career
and technical programs to their curricula; others have
merged with vocational schools and technical colleges
to afford this wider range of learning opportunities.
However they have come about, they provide an equally
rich pattern of opportunities for international students
as for students of the neighborhood.
Two-year
career and technical programs invite the international
student to become well grounded in skills which open
productive careers. From allied health professions such
as Nursing, Dental Hygiene, and Medical Laboratory Technology
to human services functions like Criminal Justice, Fire
Science, and Social Services; from Agriculture and Veterinary
Technology to Natural Resources Management and Environmental
Technology; from Office Management, Paralegal, and Banking/Finance
to Real Estate, Resort Management, and Travel/Tourism;
from Broadcasting and Telecommunications to Multimedia
and Information Technologies; from computer applications
in business to computer applications in design and manufacturing;
from Architectural Technology, Building Construction,
and Welding to Mining Technology, Civil Engineering
Technology, Aviation and Occupational Safety/Health
- this vast array of learning opportunities at U.S.
community colleges prepares international students as
well as local students for rewarding careers in many
fields critical to the world’s economy.
Career/Technical
Studies for the New Millennium
Interested
in great value for your educational dollar and an excellent
course of preparation for a promising technical career?
Consider joining local students in a selected community
college in the United States. Community colleges offer
quality, customer-oriented, affordable higher education
to get you where you want to go.
Author
Carlton Williams
Colorado Northwestern
Community College
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