The Mission of North Carolina Community Colleges - The mission of the NCCCS is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to post-secondary education, maximize student success, develop a globally and multi-culturally competent workforce, and improve the lives and well-being of individuals.
North Carolina’s community colleges open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to post-secondary education. The colleges offer associate degrees, college transfer programs, job training, literacy, and adult education. The colleges maximize student success, prepare a competitive workforce that can succeed on a global stage, and offer services that improve the lives and well-being of individuals in their communities.
The 58 colleges provide an accessible opportunity for educational success to all 100 counties. There are 160 physical facilities – 58 main campuses, 28 multi-campuses and 74 off-campus sites – that bring community college classrooms within a 30-minute drive of virtually every North Carolinian, and distance learning technology reaches students in their homes and workplaces.
Community colleges provide the programs needed to build the economy by preparing students to do the jobs available now and in the future. There are more than 1,000 curriculum programs under more than 250 curriculum titles offered across the state. Programs are offered at the certificate, diploma and associate degree levels. New programs are established as a response to local and regional labor market needs and student demand.
Creating
Success for the Students
More than 809,000 students were enrolled at the 58 colleges during the 2006-07 academic school year.
Community college students have a positive effect on the state’s economy. More than 95% are in-state residents who remain and work in the state after completion, thereby contributing to the tax base.
The average age of a community college student is 32; curriculum students are slightly younger than continuing education students. About 63 percent of curriculum students are women. About two-thirds of curriculum students are white, a fourth are African-American, and 3.4 percent of curriculum students are Hispanic
More than two-thirds of community college students work while attending college and most of them have family responsibilities.
High school students greatly benefit from the partnership between public schools and community colleges. Students find flexible, seamless, student-centered educational opportunities which maximize the use of resources and educational opportunities not otherwise accessible to them through traditional high school programs. The Huskins Program provides tuition-free, fully transferable college-level courses on high school campuses. Other programs enable high school students to enroll in community college classes offered on the college campus or through distance learning. Programs include Learn and Earn; Learn and Earn On-line; Dual Enrollment; Early College and Middle College. As of September 2008, 52 of the 60 Learn and Earn Early College high schools in North Carolina are located on community college campuses.
North Carolina’s community colleges also partner with North Carolina’s public and private universities through active articulation agreements that strengthen the opportunities for transfer students seeking a four-year degree. Transfer students historically perform as well or better than native university students.
North Carolinians can find access to basic education and literacy resources at community colleges. More than 135,000 individuals honed the skills that are needed to prepare adults to seek employment. The goal of the Basic Skills program is to give adults the ability to become full partners in the educational development of their children, and assist them in the completion of a secondary school education. Services include English as a Second Language, Adult Basic Education, General Educational Development (GED), and Adult High School.
Creating Success in the Virtual Classroom
Technology is a prominent part of education at the community colleges. Students have access to a variety of quality education and training resources that make learning even more convenient. The methods include: online instruction, interactive video, telecourses/teleweb, hybrid courses, and digital media. These resources replace or enhance traditional classroom courses.
The Virtual Learning Community is a collaborative effort of all of North Carolina’s community colleges to increase the quality and availability of online learning and support services. There are 246 curriculum courses and 26 complete degrees available on the VLC. There are 29 continuing education and 3 professional development courses also available. Additional courses are in continuous development and available at individual colleges.
In 2006-07, distance learning curriculum course registrations totaled 328,621, a 25% increase over the previous year: The majority of classes were taken on the Internet - 164,074 registrations; Web supported or assisted classes - 109,896 registrations; Hybrid classes that combined on-line and face-to-face instruction - 38,535. There are smaller registrations for the remaining methods.
Occupational and Continuing Education students also benefit from distance learning resources: 45,198 students took distance learning classes in 2006-07, a 33.9% increase over the previous year.
Creating Success on the Job
Existing North Carolina businesses and industries remain competitive because of the creative and innovative customized training and/or retraining their workers received from community colleges. New and expanding companies locate or grow in North Carolina because of the free customized training their workers receive. In 2006-07, 30,108 workers of 771 existing, new or expanding companies participated in 603 skills classes or received this specialized training.
The NC Community Colleges’ BioNetwork connects the more than 20 community colleges across the state offering specialized biotechnology-related education and training for the $9.4 billion life sciences industry. BioNetwork's advanced industry training for this FDA-regulated sector is a key component in the state's strategy to meet the specialized workforce development needs of the growing biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical industry in North Carolina.
In 2006-07, the 58 Small Business Centers of the NCCCS provided free, confidential counseling for new and existing businesses. The Centers served 80,146 clients, providing counseling, training seminars and referral services to help find solutions to challenging business questions.
The Human Resource Development (HRD) program provides skill assessment services, employability skills training, and career development counseling to unemployed and underemployed adults. Growing ranks of displaced workers led to 84,310 receiving employability skills training in 2006-07.
Workforce continuing education courses provide pathways to a variety of certification, pre-licensing, license renewal, and skill development opportunities. North Carolina Community Colleges offer more than 200 courses leading to the certification and recertification required by external agencies.
Thirty-one colleges participate in the Career Start Program which provides employment placement and educational training to bridge the gap between the educational needs and job skills essential to succeed in the ever- changing workforce. In 2006-07, 11,242 individuals enrolled in Career Start workshops.
This page maintained by Megen Hoenk.