There's a good reason why California has a substantial and generally high quality system of higher education:
planning during the time when education was recognized as a public good rather than "college" as a status commodity. Another self-serving shibboleth in the form of a pilot program has now passed the California State Senate to allow 15 new bachelor's degree programs at the state's 112 community colleges in fields not available in the rest of public education. On its face it could serve to destroy the scamming for-profit segment with proper implementation. Unfortunately as an unintended consequence, it could also create the kinds of undifferentiated chaos that occurs elsewhere in the nation (
Florida), with middle colleges, early colleges and in the case of a few institutions, former junior colleges offering graduate degrees (
New York) with the added problem of politicized local financing that works well in districts occupied by the 1%, but only degrades the effectiveness of the
California Master Plan for Higher Education that has generally performed well since 1960. OTOH perhaps the nation needs more students potentially graduating with bachelors
degrees in Air Traffic Control, Corrections, Dry Cleaning, Drywall Installation, Appliance Repair, Cosmetology and Barbering, Equine Science, Floristry, Insurance, Legal Office Technology, Lodging Management, Probation and Parole, Resort and Club Management, Welding, and of course, Job Seeking
A pilot program that would allow 15 California community college campuses to offer four-year degrees was approved by the state Senate on a 34-0 vote Tuesday....
More than 20 states already allow community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees.
Baccalaureate degrees offered at the chosen campuses could not duplicate degrees offered by the University of California or California State University campuses. The state’s community college Board of Governors and chancellor would select the participating districts and campuses. The campuses could offer one degree under the program.
He said the pilot programs in this bill would help the state graduate more students with bachelor degrees, particularly in technical and vocational fields.
“We’re in a different time now,” Block said. “California is in a better position now to invest in closing our skills gap… It’s wishful thinking to believe we can meet the challenge of producing another 60,000 bachelor degrees a year without using community colleges, and the longer we delay in using them, the further behind we will fall.”
The major features of the Master Plan as adopted in 1960 and amended in subsequent legislative reviews are as follows:
1. Differentiation of functions among the public postsecondary education segments:
* UC is designated the State's primary academic research institution and is to provide undergraduate, graduate and professional education. UC is given exclusive jurisdiction in public higher education for doctoral degrees (with the two exceptions--see CSU below) and for instruction in law, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine (the original plan included architecture).
* CSU's primary mission is undergraduate education and graduate education through the master's degree including professional and teacher education. Faculty research is authorized consistent with the primary function of instruction. SB 724 (2006) authorized CSU to award a specific Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership. Other doctorates can be awarded jointly with UC or an independent institution.
* The California Community Colleges have as their primary mission providing academic and vocational instruction for older and younger students through the first two years of undergraduate education (lower division). In addition to this primary mission, the Community Colleges are authorized to provide remedial instruction, English as a Second Language courses, adult noncredit instruction, community service courses, and workforce training services.
2. The establishment of the principle of universal access and choice, and differentiation of admissions pools for the segments:
* UC was to select from among the top one-eighth (12.5%) of the high school graduating class.
* CSU was to select from among the top one-third (33.3%) of the high school graduating class.
* California Community Colleges were to admit any student capable of benefiting from instruction.
More interesting are the potential policy issues that will grind glacially and have more to do with external/internal power politics in terms of need/demand, faculty selection, curriculum design relative to general education requirements, and the necessary relationship as with the UC/CSU doctoral degree programs, to have undergraduate research "consistent with the primary function of instruction" that should have partnership with each such selected community college with their nearest CSU campus. Good luck negotiating all of that with the usual brand of what passes for task forces, joint committees, assessment plans...etc.. The rationale of meeting output numbers of degrees is not how credit/hour production and enrollment benchmarks are created.