Not long ago, officials in Massachusetts were not terribly concerned about the state’s public college and university system. “The thought was, unlike other states, we have these prestigious private institutions; we don’t need to have the best public system,” says Katy Abel, associate commissioner for external affairs of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. Herein […]

Military veterans are returning to civilian life with marketable skills, but they often need gap training and education to turn what they learned during their time in the military into a job. For example, military medics who receive additional training can fill in-demand nursing jobs. Beginning in March 2015, Joliet Junior College (JJC) in Illinois […]

The middle-skills gap is a stubborn workforce problem that community colleges across the country are attacking in a number of different ways. Case in point: An increasing number of community colleges are partnering with local industries to create advanced manufacturing centers, which offer real-world factory training. Through these centers, community colleges are providing employers with […]

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s dedication to community colleges began when he took community college courses in high school to the cut the cost of his college education. This fall, he received an associate of arts degree from Kellogg Community College thanks to the dual-enrollment and reverse-transfer credits he’d earned. As governor, Snyder knows that community […]

When Southern Arizona manufacturers explained their dire need for workers with both classroom training and industry experience, a group of local higher education and high school administrators listened. Then they got to work helping industry partners create science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) internship programs through which students could gain the skills and experience these […]

Community colleges have a long history of serving the needs of their communities. One critical way they do this is by retraining workers whose skills no longer match what local employers need. Case in point: Through the On Ramp program, the Virginia Community College System is providing funding to state community colleges to retrain dislocated […]

Clean energy is a growing power source in this country. A U.S. Department of Energy report estimates that wind power alone could produce 20 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030; it accounted for 1.8 percent of electricity in 2009. And installation of solar photovoltaics is booming this year, according to Renewable Energy World. This means […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) wants more minority and low-income students to study bioscience and move into biomedical research careers. Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) and three other Detroit-area colleges and universities are helping NIH meet that goal. Starting in the summer of 2015, students who start a biomedical degree program at one […]

Community colleges are committed to improving career opportunities for students. But that doesn’t mean they have to do this work on their own. As has become increasingly clear, some of the best job-training programs are formed through a shared responsibility with industry partners. That’s the hope at Austin Community College (ACC) in Texas, where administrators […]