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ERIC Number: ED216723
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1982-Apr-5
Pages: 10
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Community College in the Eighties: Time for Reformation.
Richardson, Richard C., Jr.
During the past two decades, community colleges have vigorously pursued the expansion of mission and clientele. However, resulting increases in student numbers, services, and facilities have not been matched by additional local, state, and federal revenues. This tension between continuing expansion and available resources, along with increased public concern for academic standards, high rates of attrition, and limited transfer rates have caused many administrators to search for more efficient ways of accomplishing current activities and to rely upon technological solutions. Instead, they should evaluate the relevance of their activities to a changing external environment and alter practices where necessary to preserve institutional integrity. In the next decade, educational leaders will need to address three key issues: (1) an increasing incompatibility and tension between adult education and community service missions and transfer and occupational education missions; (2) problems of defining, measuring, and maintaining educational quality given fixed or declining resources; and (3) an increasing faculty unwillingness to commit themselves to administratively defined priorities when their chances of success as teachers are declining. These issues center on institutional integrity and quality rather than institutional diversity and quantity, and require the establishment of and commitment to community-based priorities. (HB)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (62nd, St. Louis, MO, April 4-7, 1982).