English Language Education for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Scotland : Provision and Governance

1. ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision for asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland is distinctive within the UK. The Scottish Government waives ESOL fees for asylum seekers, meaning that ESOL provision is not formally restricted according to immigration status. 2. The ESOL environment in Scotland is currently characterised by complexity. ESOL providers include: colleges, local authorities, ALEOs, the third sector and community organisations. ESOL courses are both accredited and non-accredited, run across a range of competencies, for speakers of other languages of all immigration statuses. 3. Funding for ESOL is channelled through a variety of routes, including through the Scottish Funding Council, the Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), local authority Community Learning and Development funds and NGO funders. Funding routes can be variable, but each contains specific requirements for ESOL provision and shapes (a) how courses are delivered and (b) who can attend. 4. Recent changes to the funding pathways for Scottish Funding Council resources has (a) redirected the responsibility for funding distribution from Community Planning Partnerships to colleges and (b) sought to increase oversight for resources by emphasising accredited learning. GLIMER research suggests that these changes may negatively impact learning opportunities and experiences for displaced migrants

Student Perceptions Of The Honors Program At An Appalachian Community College

Gifted students in the United States are often underserved. Collegiate honors programs are a proven way to provide for gifted students\u27 special needs. Many gifted students attend community colleges, and these institutions have a set of challenges to starting and maintaining thriving honors programs, including accusations of elitism and lack of resources. Community colleges in Appalachia have an additional set of challenges to face, including high proportions of first generation students, rurality, and poverty. Efforts for thriving honors programs need to be effective and efficient at meeting gifted students\u27 needs, but there is little research on the programs at these institutions and how students perceive their experiences. This study is a qualitative case study of the honors program at a small, rural, Appalachian community college in Kentucky. The aim of the study is to assess how students in the program perceive the degree to which the program is meeting their intellectual, social, and professional needs. Students were interviewed with open-ended questions about their experiences in their honors program, including why they joined, the positive aspects, and what needs improvement. It is found that overall, students positively perceived their experience with the honors program, particularly the interdisciplinary discussion format to the coursework, meeting students from other campuses, relationships with faculty, opportunity for travel, and professional development. The negative perceptions students identified were need for more funding and resources, help with transfer to senior institutions, and challenges with honors contract classes. More research into the intersection of gifted students, honors programs, community colleges, and Appalachia is needed to adequately meet the needs of this underserved population. In order to fulfil their social contract of serving the educational needs of their communities, community colleges should offer thriving honors programs for their gifted students, especially in Appalachia, where other opportunities can be severely limited

DOWN FRONT: CHALLENGES FACING COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASED PERFORMING ARTS CENTERS

A number of community colleges have committed significant resources to presenting arts and cultural programming for their communities. These community college based arts organizations face many of the same challenges as other non-profit arts organizations and arts centers located on traditional four-year campuses. However, present research and data considers all centers to be similar and does not take into consideration the unique qualities of community colleges. The purpose of this research study is to first define community college arts presenting and then to identify and explain the challenges facing these arts organizations. The first stage of the mixed method study incorporated quantitative surveys of 28 community colleges; the purpose of using the quantitative surveys was to collect programmatic, operational, and financial data on the organizations. The second stage of the study was qualitative and included a panel of community college arts leaders who was assembled with the purpose of gathering information that could be used to identify and address the challenges they face at their arts centers. The study utilized the Delphi Method, a qualitative knowledgebuilding tool that collects, synthesizes and refines data. The Delphi was modified to utilize a survey, an online list serve and conference calls in three rounds of data collection. Two a priori themes emerged from the analysis of data. First, all arts organizations work very hard to develop and engage audiences in a service of mission and to generate operating revenue. Engaging the community college student and working with faculty as partners is a challenge which is unique to these organizations. A second prevalent theme was the challenge of managing finances of a community college arts center. The funding structure, of these organizations, relies heavily on contributed income from the host college and from revenue generated from ticket sales. Both funding sources have their own issues of stability and sustainability. The study recommends that community college arts presenting organizations continue their work of engaging new and traditional arts audiences. Furthermore the study recommends that these organizations develop new models to achieve these goals. New measures, to assess value and impact of the work, should be developed in order to better connect with communities and acquire support from campus and community. Finally, centers should diversify their funding sources by working with the college and community in order to gain an understanding of alternate funding opportunities which can help secure the future of the arts

Reaching down and doubling up: Challenges and opportunities for rural workforce development through greater localization and network strategies

In Bertie County, North Carolina, workforce development providers acknowledge that they are challenged to meet the population they serve. Many factors are cited for this, including poor infrastructure, the distance to services due to the county’s large geography, and institutional distrust. There is a belief that existing employment training opportunities, most offered at the community colleges or by the county NCWorks (formerly JobLink) office, are underutilized. The recommended response involves closer collaboration between existing state-funded training supports and more localized community-based and faith-based entities. The strengths and challenges of this kind of public/nonprofit partnership lie with the unique characteristics of each entity. Community colleges have existing curriculum and educational professionals on staff. Community colleges and larger regional social service entities, supported by the workforce investment consortiums, are also characterized as having more organizational capacity and longevity. They also depend more on government support, which is a relatively stable source of funding, but which also has a high level of reporting and scrutiny, and can be impacted by political volatility. In contrast, the community-based and faith-based organizations have the trust of and are located in closer proximity to the individuals being served. They also are characterized by a nimbleness of decision making, and a reliance on sweat equity and private contributions, which allows for more flexibility in decision making but which requires professional skill, time, and resources to sustain. This paper explores the opportunities and the challenges of collaborations between community colleges and community-based organization as a means to increase the delivery of job training opportunities in rural settings. Specifically, this paper will address the following questions: how can college/community workforce partnerships overcome challenges to employment training that are due to geographic and institutional challenges unique to rural communities; in what ways do community providers have to be strengthened to successfully integrate into networks and implement workforce initiatives; and how can these collaborations be built in a way so that they are long lasting and can leverage the resources of other potential partners necessary for community-wide economic and workforce development impact.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Community College President in the 21st Century

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them” Albert Einstein. The quote by Albert Einstein indicates where community college presidents are in solving the issues facing their institutions. The 21st Century has brought new challenges and opportunities to college presidents. A college leader is no longer just concerned about academic matters. While there are significant challenges facing community college leaders, opportunities are available for them to make changes to adapt to the changing landscape of higher education

From Novelty to Expectation: Recommendations to Develop a System of Campus Support for Foster Youth

As longtime funders of efforts to promote educational opportunity for current and former foster youth, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation (WSJF) and Stuart Foundation have been in the forefront of efforts to replicate successful models of campus support programs for former foster youth at public institutions of higher education in the Bay Area and Northern California. This paper was commissioned to help the funders determine what additional investments could be made to help additional campuses implement support programs and to move the field toward a "tipping point" where temporary philanthropic support for a relatively small number of demonstration programs begins to be replaced by on-going public support for the widespread replication of CSPs throughout the state's public institutions of higher education. This paper examines the challenges and barriers faced by campuses that seek to replicate campus support programs for foster youth, determine what campuses need for effective replication, and the most useful ways in which support could be delivered. In also includes a potential design for a campus support program initiative and makes recommendations for the type of intermediary needed to manage the initiative

Skilled Trades Playbook: Dynamic Partnerships for a New Economy

Many businesses, especially those that rely on skilled trades workers, report difficulty finding qualified individuals to fill open jobs. We believe it's time to meet this training challenge by creating partnerships that provide an opportunity to better align the skill needs of businesses with the education and training offered by community colleges. Unfortunately, many businesses and community colleges interested in such partnerships don't know where to start. That's why this playbook was created -- as a tool for businesses, community colleges and anyone else trying to find out if this solution may make sense, showing how to get started building a partnership and the benefits that may result. It includes checklists and links to outside resources throughout this playbook that can be used either to have a conversation about beginning a partnership or guiding efforts to sustain an existing partnership. The ideas in this playbook in part grew out of a Partnerships in Practice event at the Aspen Institute in February 2013, where business leaders, community college presidents and academic experts discussed the reality and scope of the skills gap, the challenges they face, and how businesses and schools can work together to prepare the future and incumbent workforce. This was combined with real-world examples of local partnerships that are preparing skilled trades workers

The Case for Community Colleges: Aligning Higher Education and Workforce Needs in Massachusetts

Reviews research on the need for middle-skilled workers with at least an associate's degree, Massachusetts' community college system, promising models for aligning community college curricula with workforce needs, and challenges. Makes recommendations