American Community Colleges’ contributions and high R.O.I, as related to their potential beneficence on the Spanish educational system

Authors

  • Mercedes Varona Alabern Universidad de Valencia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5944/reec.41.2022.29658

Keywords:

Community Colleges, Higher education, lifelong learning, economics of education, educational attainment

Abstract

Community Colleges are comprehensive higher education institutions, offering a wide range of official and non-official programs under one roof. They offer academic transfer programs, vocational programs, continuing education as well as remedial programs required to enter into higher education. Therefore, community colleges confer a wide range of varied degrees demanded by businesses or by the community; from less than a 1-year diploma, to bachelor’s degrees. This multiple array of programs helps meet the needs of a diverse student body, made up of different people with the common goal of obtaining a higher education. Consequently, they have contributed to the U.S.A.’s socioeconomic development during more than a century, by encouraging the U.S. population to continue studying. The community college bestowal to society would not have been possible without offering flexible programs and an open door policy. These programs help meet the community’s vast and diverse needs and enable them to face and overcome the economic uncertainties that the future may bring. The various statistics presented in this paper have confirmed the close ties between the population educational attainment and the country’s economic growth. By using a descriptive-explanatory method of the large bibliography employed, along with the author’s experience in these institutions, this paper delves into the role that said institutions could play in today’s societies. Therefore, this research study attempts to establish itself as a starting point to further explore the benefits of either partially or fully adapting the community college model into the Spanish higher education system. Spanish economy and labor market would certainly improve. Indeed, Spain could benefit by implementing this model. It would help increase their population’s low educational attainment, which would in turn enable them to affront the technological, social and economic challenges of this decade.

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Author Biography

Mercedes Varona Alabern, Universidad de Valencia

Mercedes varona Alabern: Doctora en Ciencias de la Educación por la Universidad de Valencia. Profesora e investigadora de la Universidad Florida Universitaria adscrita a la Universidad de Valencia. Licenciada en Administración de Empresas por la Universidad de Barcelona y Certified Public Accountant por el estado de Ohio (E.E,U.U.). 

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Published

2022-06-24

How to Cite

Varona Alabern, M. (2022). American Community Colleges’ contributions and high R.O.I, as related to their potential beneficence on the Spanish educational system. Revista Española de Educación Comparada, (41), 103–124. https://doi.org/10.5944/reec.41.2022.29658

Issue

Section

STUDIES AND RESEARCH