CC scientists help find Alzheimer’s marker
Scientists from Massachusetts Bay Community College, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Boston University have made a break-through in early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease, reports Community College Times. The results from the tests, which were performed in MassBay’s state-of-the-art biotechnology and environmental science labs, were recently published in the prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry. The scientists [...]
Supports for success don’t reach most students
Community colleges are raising success rates by helping first-year students connect with professors and classmates, concludes A Matter of Degrees, which is based on surveys by the Center for Community College Student Engagement. However, many students don’t take advantage of the help that’s available unless their college requires it, as I write in U.S. News. “Promising [...]
Community colleges tout economic impact
Nine community colleges in San Diego and Imperial counties contribute $6.6 billion annually to California’s economy, according to a new study commissioned by the California colleges. “This report powerfully demonstrates that our community colleges play an important role in driving the region’s economy,” said Francisco Rodriguez, superintendent/president of MiraCosta College and president of the association. [...]
Canada’s 2-year colleges stress job skills
Canada’s two-year colleges, which stress job training, don’t suffer from the inferiority complex that plagues U.S. community colleges, writes the Hechinger Report. Increasingly, young Canadians are choosing community colleges over universities or capping a bachelor’s degree with a vocational course at a two-year college. Canada is second in the world, after South Korea, in young [...]
CCs could become separate and unequal
A growing economic and social divide separates community colleges and four-year institutions, writes Richard Kahlenberg in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized the role of education, and community colleges in particular, in creating equal opportunity, Kahlenberg writes. A coveted seat next to First Lady Michelle [...]
Adult ed, short-term students seek aid
Expand financial aid to part-time, non-credit students seeking job skills faculty and students told U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan at a town hall meeting at Tallahassee Community College last week, reports Community College Times. President Obama wants two-year colleges to help train an additional two million Americans for jobs. ”I can’t overstate how important the role [...]
‘Sustainable’ farming draws students
Sustainable agriculture is motivating young people to seek community college programs in horticulture, turf management, landscaping and other areas, writes Stuart Rosenfeld, in the Community College Journal, reprinted in Community College Times. Less than 2 percent of Americans work in agriculture. However, the environmental movement has rekindled interest in the field. A growing number of colleges [...]
CCs tackle ‘overmathing’
Faced with huge remedial math enrollments — and low success rates — some community colleges are reducing math requirements for non-STEM majors to avoid “overmathing.” Others are trying Carnegie’s alternative pathways, which focus on statistics and quantitative reasoning rather than the traditional algebra-to-calculus track. Here’s how to avoid remedial math.
Obama: Raise tuition, lose federal aid
College affordability was the theme of President Obama’s speech at the University of Michigan yesterday. He called for spending more on Perkins loans and work-study programs — going from $3 billion now to $10 billion – but only at colleges and universities that provide “value.” Students at colleges that raise tuition could lose access to [...]
Massachusetts will centralize CC control
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick proposed centralizing the state’s community college system in his State of the Commonwealth address, reports the Boston Globe. Patrick highlighted the connection between the often overlooked schools and the unemployment problem. Encouraging more cooperation between schools and local employers, he said, would help the state’s 240,000 unemployed get the skills they need to [...]
