In an ever-evolving job market, it is essential that students have the skills they need to succeed in the workforce. As jobs change, so must colleges and universities in order to prepare graduates to go out into the world ready for work.
In the last five years, California significantly has increased its investment in its community colleges. California’s community college system is the largest in the country, with 113 colleges and a proposed online-only college in the works, serving approximately 2.4 million students.
California is characterized by the disparate nature of its regional economies, with hubs of tech, entertainment, agriculture, etc., in different parts of the state. In recognition of the state’s distinctive regional economies, the system has refocused its efforts on regional initiatives.
“In California, just as in Kentucky or any other state … the issue of aligning college programs with the labor market has to do with the regional economy, because until you understand what is driving the regional economy, you can’t set courses and pathways,” said Van Ton-Quinlivan, vice chancellor for workforce and economic development at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office,
In addition, 60 percent of students in the system will attend more than one school as they pursue their education. “They’re really students of the region, not a single college,” Ton-Quinlivan said, which also incentivizes greater collaboration across institutions within a specific region.
Reflecting on the evolution of the California community college system, Ton-Quinlivan said that it did three things particularly well. First, the system developed an “ecosystem” of what Ton-Quinlivan referred to as “intrapreneurs,” or a network of first points-of-contact for local employers and regional institutions.
