The purpose of this study was to examine the economic development activities at selected small, rural two-year community colleges. Specifically, the study addressed the question of how a small rural community college can effectively contribute to the economic development efforts of the community it serves.
This study combined the survey and the exploratory case study methods to determine those economic development activities that small rural community colleges do emphasize in accomplishing overall community economic development. The literature on the community college's role in economic development identified 25 activities that support economic growth and development. These activities were used as the basis for the survey questionnaire. In this study, the presidents of 237 small rural colleges in 13 Southern states were asked to rate each activity as to the level of emphasis that was occurring at their institution and to ii assess the level of success for each activity. Although the major purpose of the survey was to identify small, rural community colleges with extensive economic development programs, the survey data was analyzed to provide other useful information.
The survey results were used to identify four colleges with extensive economic development efforts. One college was used to conduct a pilot case study. The other three colleges were used as sites to conduct the actual case studies. Seven specific research questions were formulated to guide the case studies. These were:
The findings of this study show that all three colleges operate in states where statewide initiatives exist to encourage involvement in economic development activities. At all three sites studied, there was widespread support for the colleges' economic development efforts. Each college had taken a leadership role and served as a catalyst in accomplishing certain economic development functions. The college-business connection was strong at each college. Close collaboration between each college and existing economic development organizations was evident. The college president and other key administrators had made economic development a top institutional priority. / Ed. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/109236 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Currin, Earl C. |
| Contributors | Community College Education |
| Publisher | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation, Text |
| Format | [vi], 174 leaves, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 19658769 |
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