The Changing Role of Community Colleges in the US: Possible Lessons for Higher Education in India

At a seminar held at NCAER, Heather A McKay and Hal Salzman from Rutgers University spoke on “The Changing Role of Community Colleges in the US: Possible Lessons for Higher Education in India.

Community colleges address a mid-level skill gap in the US economy, providing post-secondary technical skills and training for a broad range of occupations. The changing global economy, technology, and employer demands are influencing educational institutions in the US and community colleges in particular, to change their traditional roles and pedagogy. In the emerging models in the US there may be potential technology/pedagogy transfer which could be very relevant for India as it engages in its higher education reform through Rutgers University Students Assembly (RUSA) and other initiatives.

In this seminar, McKay discussed several state-of-the-art community college programmes in the US and how they might relate to the proposed RUSA reforms. Salzman spoke more broadly on the emergence of new approaches to “development,” especially outside of urban, industrial economy models. Researchers and educationists from NCAER and other institutions in Delhi participated in the discussions that were moderated by Meeta W Sengupta from Center for Civil Society, New Delhi.