Community Colleges Worldwide: Investigating the Global Phenomenon: Volume 17

This volume of the International Perspectives on Education and Society series investigates the spread and development of two-year and community college institutions worldwide. While these institutions may be called by different names and may not all be structured the same in all international contexts, their core mission remains surprisingly consistent: to respond to the needs of their local community. Following the example of the German Volkshochschule, this model has spread to the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Thailand, and other nations worldwide. While the community college “label” is debatable and possibly controversial in and of itself, what these institutions all have in common is that they seek to serve the needs of their local communities by bridging the gap between academia and technical training with learning that is open and accessible. The students that these institutions serve come from various socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, races, cultures, and genders. Whether they provide these students with technical training, the ability to transfer to four-year higher education institutions, remedial education, or lifelong learning opportunities, these models adapt and institutionalize themselves differently around the world to meet these various community needs. This volume seeks to analyze the different ways this model has served communities in different international contexts, but for similar purposes.

Evidence suggests that community colleges worldwide adhere to a culturally-embedded institutional charter that celebrates and accommodates local cultural norms and social, political and economic needs in communities around the world. Using this as a foundation, the authors present a dilemma to readers because there are both many communities and nations where the community college model has expanded and established itself while simultaneously many communities and nations around the world where community colleges do not exist or have been resisted. This unique phenomenon of both global expansion and targeted indifference becomes the focus of this chapter and an introduction to the chapters to follow.

This chapter examines the complex dimensions of the role of community college global counterparts in the context of higher educational global flows. Data from a comparative literature review that covers over 40 years, explores “who” has been involved in the borrowing process, the variations of the “types” of borrowing that exist in terms of dependency and localization contexts, and “how” community college global counterparts have become ingrained in a variety of countries. The idea that the community college concept is a sole ownership of the United States that was then transmitted to nations around the world is not defensible. Indeed, when taken into consideration the context of the politics of borrowing, such as receiving and sending political, economic, and cultural systems, it is evident that multiple countries have and continue to affect the discourse of other countries on various levels. In particular, this chapter (a) describes historic and contemporary global patterns in terms of both “north” and “south” flows from which community college global counterparts proliferate; (b) discusses the types of these flows in relationship to purposeful or spontaneous adoption; and (c) highlights a contemporary reinvention of form that arises from current global flows.

This study had the following general goals: (a) map some of the political and social factors that prompted the establishment of two-year Technological Universities in Mexico; (b) describe the main features of the model and how it differs from other models; (c) discuss Neoliberal Human Capital Theory as one of the main theoretical backdrop for expanding this kind of institutions; and finally (d) assess the model's strengths and weaknesses. To accomplish these goals, the study drew data from existing policies and from a set of six interviews to human resources directors in Monterrey area, Northern Mexico. These recruiters belonged to the most important areas of production and services in the region. Findings show that graduates with two-year degrees have higher chances of getting hired. Thus, poor students may have better opportunities, one of the basic purposes of this type of degree. However, data evidenced some level of negative stratification for key positions that goes against general belief of continuous improvements for people with diplomas. Also, some of the Human Capital Theory's central assumptions seemed to be challenged by the way jobs develop in Mexico. In addition, the Mexican Technological University System faces several challenges and competition with existing forms of tertiary institutions. This chapter is a significant contribution for policymakers who need to understand what employers expect from the Technological University and its graduates. Policy alternatives are discussed.

This chapter shows how the community college plays a unique role in producing American citizens with “global competence,” one of the main aims of institutions of higher education under the banner of its internationalization. While much discussion on how to achieve that aim has centered on study-abroad programs and curriculum changes targeting American-born students, this chapter focuses on the community college's contribution to producing “globally competent” American citizens through extensive classes in English as a Second Language (ESL) for immigrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork from 2001 to 2002 in ESL classes at a community college in the northeastern United States, this chapter examines three ways a community college's ESL classes foster such “global competence” in immigrants of various backgrounds: (1) by grooming them to be “American educated subjects” by disciplining them and teaching them “common sense” knowledge of American life, (2) by providing them with a space to develop a supportive community that goes beyond their ethnic networks, and (3) by nurturing students’ self-esteem in their new home. This chapter highlights the worldwide importance of the type of higher education, such as a community college, that serves the needs of local communities, including internationalized and underserved local communities – that of immigrants. It also points out the imbalance in the discussion of “global competence,” which focuses mainly on study abroad, and opens up a field of enquiry about “global competence” from another angle.

The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) between the Inuit in the Nunavut Settlement Area (formerly part of the Northwest Territories) and the Crown of Canada, led to the creation of Nunavut in 1999. A public government in the Inuit homeland, Nunavut has the responsibility to put into effect the Inuit rights and benefits set out in the NLCA as well as provide a wide range of services tailored to the needs of all Nunavummiut of which 85% are Inuit. With a vast and largely untapped mineral, oil, and gas potential, Nunavut is now preparing to a private sector market economy open to global investors in natural resource exploration and exploitation. Certainly, Nunavut is a place where economic development and indigenous rights intersect crosscutting global, national, and territorial boundaries. This chapter looks at how indigenous peoples rights and the imperatives of a globalized/globalizing economy, are projected into and taken up by Nunavut Arctic College, Nunavut's sole postsecondary education institution. Integrating textual and contextual instances of analysis, this chapter highlights how the College translates seemingly conflicting policy messages, into all-encompassing education practices that weave into the omnipresent right to indigenous self-determination.

The aim of the chapter is to investigate the changing structural position of post-secondary schools in Poland, seen from the perspective of the expansion of higher education from one side and the current reform of vocational education from the other. Do post-secondary schools enhance opportunities for those who might not otherwise consider further education, especially when we consider lower cost, open admissions and greater accessibility in comparison with higher education institutions? Or do they play a role of a ‘discounted’ and ‘undervalued’ education for those who could not manage to enter three-year-bachelor cycles in tertiary education and thus were forced to lower their initial educational aspirations? The opening up of higher education to new student populations was done by the rapid expansion of the private (paid for) sector and the fee-paying courses in the public sector. Liberal educational policy not only opened an opportunity for the privatization in higher education, but also expanded the market-driven provision at the post-secondary level. The discussion on the relevance of post-secondary vocational qualifications must be seen within the context of the continual inflation of diplomas/degrees and the unemployment of graduates after finishing higher education. Since 2010, there has been a reverse process initiated at the governmental level in Poland: reform schemes to increase the participation of young people in vocational education and training. However, the structural position and functions of post-secondary schools, as well as their role in the employability of young people, are not subject to any open discussion at the political level. This sort of status quo concerning post-secondary institutions means that their institutional identity issues are resolved and their structural position defined predominantly by market forces.

Continuing work by US and Canadian community and technical colleges with colleagues and partners at higher education institutions offering vocational education programs in the Republic of Georgia provides a useful case study of how key elements of the community college model can be applied to reform programs affecting educational policy systems in emerging market economies. This chapter uses a theoretical framework informed by research on public–private partnerships and community capitals to analyze workforce education and training initiatives informed by government, industry, and community needs. Examples of such initiatives include infusing workforce skills and competencies into vocational education curricula, updating pedagogical methods through retraining for teachers, and expanding the governance paradigm of vocational education programs offered at universities, colleges, and vocational centers to reflect the importance of the workforce needs of business and industry. To actively apply a community college model in the Republic of Georgia and elsewhere requires (1) supportive partners among educational policymakers and academics, (2) international donors who continue their commitment to a reform initiative over enough time to see results, and (3) an approach which focuses on national and regional workforce development priorities. Students, parents, and other community stakeholders also need to understand that one of the most important measurements for vocational education reform over time is expanded job opportunities for students after graduation.

Similar to community colleges in the United States, the Israeli tertiary system includes two-year technological colleges, which provide students with a labor-market relevant qualification. Nonetheless, unlike the community colleges, the technological colleges are not considered to be part of the higher education system and their transfer function is irregular and confined. In order to understand these differences, the chapter has two complementary objectives: (a) to describe the emergence and development of technological colleges and (b) to evaluate the implications for social inequality in access to higher education in Israel. We use a mixed-methods research design, including analyzing primary and secondary sources describing the official policy and public discourse around these colleges (qualitative/historical research) and comparing students attending academic institutions to students attending technological colleges and students across different fields of study offered by these colleges (quantitative research). Drawing on Phillip's (2004) model for policy attraction in education, we find that technological colleges in Israel were based on the Dutch HTS model, while the founding of these colleges was initiated by local impulse. The implementation of the technological colleges in the Israeli context was shaped by a cultural logic for higher education that emphasizes research and knowledge production, creating a binary tertiary system. Drawing on sociological literature on diversification and stratification in tertiary education, we find that technological colleges attract more students from disadvantaged groups and more students with relatively low academic ability than academic institutions. In addition, within technological colleges, students from advantaged background and higher academic ability are more likely to study in more prestigious fields of study. These findings suggest that if policy makers in Israel aspire to increase access to higher education, they should rethink policy instruments and cultivate the transfer function of technological colleges. This is among the first studies to examine technological colleges in Israel and we conclude with different directions for further research.

In Africa, the community college model, catered to nontraditional college aspirants, has been increasingly seen as an important alternative to respond to the growing demand for postsecondary education. By highlighting the case of Ethiopia, this chapter explores the implications of the community college model through the examination of the system, teacher training, and perspectives of students and employers. Some education and training can be more efficiently delivered at the community college level by means of focused and high-quality teaching, rather than through a long duration of bachelor's program.

South African higher education is beset by the following problems: inequality in access to and survival in higher education, aligning education and work, and the problem of the university appearing as a Western institution, isolated from the exigencies and realities of society. One institution that does have an international track record in successfully addressing these issues is the Community College. This chapter reconstructs that track record, and juxtaposes it next to an analysis of South African higher education and the South African context, and in conclusion assesses the promise of inserting the Community College model into the South African higher education landscape.

This chapter is a narrative account of a Ford Foundation sponsored project from mid-2005 through 2008 for investigating into the causes and engineering a solution to the migrant workers education access problems in manufacturing areas in Shanghai, China. The project team was comprised of faculty members and students from East China Normal University, consulted by two professors from Columbia University. This chapter describes how the team arrived at a solution to the problem by investigating the problems, socializing with the migrant workers, and doing experiments that helped us to make adjustments on the proposed solution from time to time. Unlike the popular understanding of the educational needs of the migrant workers that the workers just need some short-term training for a job, our finding is that the workers need degree and certificate programs too. They need further education for personal and career development, not just a job that can feed them. The workers are Internet fans too, most of those who want further education would prefer a blended learning. We ran quite a few courses and a learning center to observe the learning behavior of the workers, which allowed us to actually interact with the workers and see how they respond to our experimental stimuli. While most of the migrant workers show an interest in learning, we did not observe much active learning involvement of the migrant workers. We identified seven factors that limit access to learning engagement: (1) inadequate transportation means; (2) very long work days and weeks and irregular shifts; (3) difficult living conditions; (4) restricted computer and Internet access; (5) inaccessibility of information; (6) unsupportive social environment; (7) lack of educational infrastructure. As a solution to the identified problem, we propose a learning center based community college network in all the manufacturing areas. A learning center serves as a social learning incubator to nurture the learning practices of the academically less prepared learner, the migrant workers.

The community college model is evolving in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. During June 2009, 11 of the 12 existing higher education institutions with “community college” in their official name were examined utilizing a qualitative multiple-case study approach. Data were collected in the field from June 1 to 23, 2009, while making visits to each of the 11 colleges, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), and the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges (VACC). Five data collection techniques were utilized to examine the bounded system: (a) semi-structured interviews, (b) survey of the college rectors, VACC informant and MOET informant, (c) participant observation with field notes, (d) document review, and (e) photographs taken during each site visit. After the field study stage, e-mail communication with the study informants between August 2009 and March 2010 clarified questions and developed a deeper level of understanding of the Vietnamese community college model. Results of the study (Epperson, 2010) indicate that although legislation does not exist to permanently establish the higher education institutions named community colleges, a community college model does exist and is in a state of evolution. The model can be defined by a set of core characteristics which emerged from the data. Five themes were particularly prominent: (a) public higher education institutions with community ownership at the provincial or city level, in conjunction with MOET oversight for academic matters; (b) multidisciplinary programs designed to meet the unique needs of the community; (c) multi-level certificates and diplomas conferred up through the college level (three year) of higher education and articulation agreements with universities enable students to earn a university bachelor's degree; (d) domestic and international partnerships are actively sought to develop social capital; (e) scientific and technological research based on community needs as required in the 2005 Education Law.

This practitioner's chapter suggests that the establishment of the Community College system in India was organic in its formation. The author of this chapter, Father Alphonse, a Jesuit priest, visited the United States in the mid-1990s and toured many Community Colleges, where he learned about their unique role in America's higher education system. He returned to India and the church funded the establishment of local colleges, responding to needs of the local populations. These colleges have missions as varied as the students they serve, and yet they share a common goal of addressing educational, economic, and social exclusion. Indian Community College institutions exist to educate the disadvantaged and to build specific skills training to combat widespread unemployment and poverty.

This practitioner's chapter explains how the establishment of a community college system in Papua New Guinea finds its champion in the country's Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare. This chapter also presents a veritable “how to” perspective on beginning a community college system by combining the vision from a government official with the contributions of a practitioner in the field such as Father Alphonse, who established the organic community college system in India. The author presents an argument in his chapter about how the union of theory and practice will combat unemployment, serve as an alternative entrance point for higher education, and will promote a responsible citizenry. The community college system in Papua New Guinea will, like in other examples in this section, endeavor to educate traditionally underserved populations, such as school leavers, rural youth, and women who are destitute.

This practitioner's chapter presents a “how-to” approach to establishing a college system that is decentralized and rooted in local communities, using the Thai system as an example. The Thai system “borrowed” programs from US community colleges – offering associate degrees, certificate programs, continuing education programs, and remedial education. While the author presents clear challenges that these institutions face, he is optimistic that the community college system is a positive aspect of the Thai higher education system.

S. Xavier Alphonse is a PhD in English literature. He is the Founder Director of the Indian Centre for Research and Development of Community Education (ICRDCE), Chennai, India and former Principal of Loyola College, Chennai and former Vice Principal of St. Joseph's College, Trichy. He was a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for two terms (2006-2012). Dr. Alphonse was also a member of the Distance Education Council (DEC), New Delhi. He is the chairman of National committee on Community Colleges appointed by the UGC to discuss the concept and methodology for establishment and functioning of the Community Colleges. Dr. Alphonse is a consultant to the state government of Tamilnadu for the Community College Project. He was also the consultant to the Honourable Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea for the creation of 13 community colleges in 2008. He is an authority on college autonomy in India, and pioneered the formation of community colleges as an alternative system of education for the poor and the downtrodden. He has written 73 articles and authored and edited 37 books on the Community College system and its implementation.