Importance of Community Colleges and Global Counterparts to Higher Education: Building Dreams and Achieving Possibilities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Community colleges and global counterparts are mostly public higher education institutions that offer an alternative to the traditional university and cater to under-served students who may not otherwise have access to higher education. These institutions help to build dreams as they are often tied with massification policies. At the same time, in that curriculum is linked to jobs that are deemed "useful" and are central to economic growth, these institutions also help to achieve employment possibilities and can provide avenues for social mobility. At the same time, these institutions are part of an under-explored area of research. This symposium (re)imagines the existence of and contributions of the community college and global counterpart sector in higher educational reform.

Sub Unit

• SIG-International Studies

Chair

• Rosalind Latiner Raby, California State University - Northridge and University of Phoenix

Papers

• Imagining Community Colleges in Nepal: A New Model to Prepare All Students for Success - Krishna Bista, Morgan State University; Uttam Gaulee, Morgan State University

• Using Media Narratives to Highlight Counternarratives in South Africa's #FeesMustFall Movement - Kristin B. Wilson, University of Louisville

• Massification and the Creation of Community Colleges in Hong Kong - Hei-hang Hayes Tang, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Community Colleges in Vietnam: Expanding Higher Education Accessibility - Mary Beth Marklein, George Mason University

• Challenges and Opportunities: Community College Development in Afghanistan - David J. Roof, Ball State University