This essay examines the impact of the Bologna Process on the development of short-cycle higher education in Europe, noting that the integration of short-cycle qualifications within the Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area, combined with the critical place allotted to those programs in national lifelong learning…

After an overview of the history of short-cycle education within the Bologna process, this article details the development of short-cycle higher education policy in Flanders, the largest of the three communities in the Federal Kingdom of Belgium. By developing a Flemish national qualification framework in agreement with the European qualification…

This chapter traces the history, purposes, and distinctive features of the foundation degree, a short-cycle higher education qualification introduced in England in 2000-2001 and offered by both universities and further education colleges. The key characteristics of the foundation degree are discussed: employer involvement in curriculum development…

This chapter traces the development of short-cycle higher education in Bulgaria. An emphasis is placed on (a) the evolution of nonuniversity short-cycle institutes and (b) the challenges of bridging the gap between secondary and higher education and creating links between vocational and academic learning pathways. The case study of Bulgaria may…

Since 2006, the Netherlands has been actively engaged in a process of developing, piloting, and institutionalizing a new 2-year, short-cycle higher education degree, titled the "associate degree". This initiative evolved as a collaborative grassroots effort spearheaded by several Dutch national higher education and business organizations and…

Community college partnerships with institutions in other educational sectors (including schools and universities) are important and strategic ways of meeting the educational needs of college constituents and maximizing resources to achieve local and state economic development goals. Understanding what is required for effective partnerships is…

Community college leaders serve as linchpins for framing meaning on campus. The current pressures on institutions (given declining financial resources, demands for accountability, changing faculty ranks, and societal need for new knowledge) require presidents to juggle multiple priorities while presenting a cohesive message to campus constituents.…

This article reports on a qualitative, interpretive case study examining how trustees, administrators, faculty members, and staff members at a rural community college understand their institution's accountability environment. Data analysis and interpretation established that participants conceptualized institutional accountability as dialogic,…

Although the authority for hiring a community college president resides with the board of trustees, few studies have directly explored trustees' perceptions of the desired qualifications for presidents. Using a Delphi process, this study identified the characteristics, competencies, and professional experiences that Illinois community college…

This article examines motivational potentialities in remedial mathematics education within an ethical context, applying a model for ethical decision making in education developed by Shapiro and Stefkovich, in which three broad ethical categories are discussed: the ethic of justice, the ethic of care, and the ethic of critique. These ethical…

This study examines how to fill the growing need for community college leaders by creating "grow-your-own" (GYO) leadership programs through a national interview study and a case study involving action research. The findings demonstrate design flaws that are typical in the development of GYO programs. Strategies for overcoming these flaws are…

The economic benefits of attending community colleges, as opposed to other higher education sectors, have been a subject of intense debate since the 1960s. Using the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), this study compares the midcareer occupational attainments (in terms of income and occupational prestige) of…

This study identifies and examines the key practices of California community college programs that have demonstrated success in improving (or that have shown significant potential to improve) the achievement of underrepresented groups whose educational attainment often lags behind the attainment of relatively well-off White students. Unlike many…

Using a longitudinal, state-wide dataset, this study assessed the effect of financial aid on the persistence of full-time students in associate's degree programs at the Oklahoma community colleges. Three financial-aid sources were examined: the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP), Pell grants, and Stafford loans. Results indicate that…

Critical discourse analysis was employed to examine the narratives collected from 40 community college administrators who were asked to recount their experience in an event, activity, or decision that challenged their values. The analysis yielded three findings. First, contradictions emerged between the administrators' educational and professional…