When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it prompted enrollment drops at community and technical colleges. But it also spurred the schools to innovate in an effort to better serve students who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Xueli Wang, a professor of higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, captures some of the steps that community colleges took in her newly released book, “Delivering Promise: Equity-Driven Educational Change and Innovation in Community and Technical Colleges.” She expounds on a few examples in the below Q&A.
How did the pandemic change community colleges and technical colleges?
The pandemic prompted the schools to tackle some long-existing challenges. One of the things they began to do was form new partnerships with four-year colleges and universities.
In the state of Wisconsin, for example, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the University of Wisconsin System came together in 2021 to create the Universal Credit Transfer Agreement. The agreement outlines a core set of courses — up to 72 credits — that transfer within the two systems. This makes it easier for students, especially those who are not certain about what they want to study, to transfer from one system to the other, or more easily take classes in both systems as they figure it out. Before the pandemic, the systems were viewed as two separate ones with few options for transfer between them.
The transfer agreement happened in part because of steady enrollment declines over the years, which reached a breaking point when the pandemic hit and enrollment dropped 10% for the Wisconsin Technical College System and about 5% for the University of Wisconsin System.
This partnership was also facilitated in part by a shared focus on the welfare of students. As described by one educator: “This is the time to support students in their educational aspirations.” Previously, she said, administrators and educators in the two systems saw students as clients of either one system or the other. Now, she says, they have more of a sense of collective responsibility in serving them.
What other innovations took place?
One of the most striking involves efforts to create more holistic supports that address the range of challenges for students. These can include informational, financial and personal challenges.
A good case in point is the Student Resource Center at a community college in North Carolina. As with all schools in the book, I keep the identity of the school anonymous as part of the research protocol. Established by a team of officials from various units – such as financial aid, admissions and advising – the center’s purpose is to grant students greater access to support services. The center is led by a vice president and chief student services officer.
The center has everything students need in one place: a library, bookstore, food pantry, financial aid advising, course advising, admissions and registration. The center also has workstations for staff to connect with students, whether online or in person, and guide them to the support they need.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it prompted enrollment drops at community and technical colleges. But it also spurred the schools to innovate in an effort to better serve students who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Xueli Wang, a professor of higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, captures some of the steps that community colleges took in her newly released book, “Delivering Promise: Equity-Driven Educational Change and Innovation in Community and Technical Colleges.” She expounds on a few examples in the below Q&A.
How did the pandemic change community colleges and technical colleges?
The pandemic prompted the schools to tackle some long-existing challenges. One of the things they began to do was form new partnerships with four-year colleges and universities.
In the state of Wisconsin, for example, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the University of Wisconsin System came together in 2021 to create the Universal Credit Transfer Agreement. The agreement outlines a core set of courses — up to 72 credits — that transfer within the two systems. This makes it easier for students, especially those who are not certain about what they want to study, to transfer from one system to the other, or more easily take classes in both systems as they figure it out. Before the pandemic, the systems were viewed as two separate ones with few options for transfer between them.
The transfer agreement happened in part because of steady enrollment declines over the years, which reached a breaking point when the pandemic hit and enrollment dropped 10% for the Wisconsin Technical College System and about 5% for the University of Wisconsin System.
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