Community Colleges and Global Counterparts: Defining a Higher Educational Sector

How community colleges and other TVET institutions contribute to the united nations sustainable development goals

“…Such an approach can be used to measure the quality and efficiency of educational systems (Nóvoa & Tali, 2003); it can also help generate new ideas, counter existing stereotypes and lead to improvements in practice (Bray et al, 2007). Even though differences among various types of CC and TVET can pose challenges (Skolnik, 2018), their fundamental similarities permit valuable academic comparison (Raby & Valeau, 2018).…”

“…As more people around the world obtain a post-secondary education, the number of CC and TVET graduates will also increase. In more than a century of existence, CCs and TVETs have evolved into more than 150 different kinds of institution, such as community colleges, vocational education colleges, technical and further education (TAFE) colleges, polytechnics, professional and technical lycées, colleges of applied arts and technology (CAATs), vocational training centers, university colleges, and university institutes of technology (Raby & Valeau, 2018), to name only a few. Such variety allows for different institutional missions.…”

“…Community colleges in India place particular value on skills development through apprenticeship education (Gross, 2018), whereas those in Hong Kong emphasize the transfer of academic-based education (Tang, et al, 2018). Their differences notwithstanding, all these institutions share some key characteristics (Raby & Valeau, 2018;Skolnik, 2018;Wheelahan, 2016). They have traditionally offered programs that specialize in apprentice training, paraprofessional training, and practical vocational or technical training.…”

“…They have traditionally offered programs that specialize in apprentice training, paraprofessional training, and practical vocational or technical training. Today, most of them also offer a multifunctional, multipurpose mixture of programs for young and mature learners alike (Raby & Valeau, 2018;Wong, 2015). In addition, an increasing number of CCs and TVETs throughout the world are starting to offer three-and fouryear applied-baccalaureate degrees (Gaisch & Aichinger, 2018).…”

Vocational Educational Training (VET) in Tunisia: Barriers and Challenges to its Internationalization and Possible Solutions to Boost Socio-Economic Development of the Country

“…This system also includes a wide range of skills development opportunities relevant to national and local contexts (UNESCO, 2015). Higher education VET exists within International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 4 and level 5 categorizations, and many institutions offer both levels (Raby & Valeau, 2022). Level 4 and level 5 correspond respectively to post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary Education and to short-cycle tertiary education.…”