Objective: This project analyzed recent doctoral dissertations addressing the role of community colleges in rural development for the purpose of identifying themes in the reported results and offering recommendations for future research. Methods: A meta-synthesis approach was utilized with 20 doctoral dissertations from the time period 2009 to…

Recent media reporting and research suggest that regional comprehensive universities (RCUs) and other postsecondary institutions may play an integral role in the welfare of rural regions, yet empirical research on the regional service of rural postsecondary institutions is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine how a single RCU serves…

This report provides the recommendations made by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology based from its examination on the accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada. Colleges are the advanced skills educators of choice. Aligned with the needs of…

Innovative rural development practices at community colleges are reviewed. Factors that can facilitate replication of these practices include the quality of college leadership, the state system in which community colleges operate, and funding mechanisms. Policy recommendations include increasing resources, supporting college networking,…

Some regional two-year and four-year colleges are moving beyond their traditional mission of education to take proactive roles in promoting the economic development of their regions and communities. A study of regional colleges that help rural businesses and labor forces adapt to the challenges of rural economies found five outstanding goals of…

This brief reports on the Ford Foundation's establishment of the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) for selected institutions in economically distressed areas of the Southeast, Deep South, Southwest, Appalachia, and western Indian reservations. This is the fourth report in a series by the RCCI Documentation Team. The RCCI program challenges…

Contributions of rural high schools to their local economic climate are both underestimated and undervalued. Functions that high schools can and should perform in rural economic development today include providing occupational training to meet immediate labor market needs, raising community educational attainment levels to meet long-term…

Monumental social and economic problems confront the rural communities of the South. Diversification of the rural economy is the key to revitalizing the rural South, but new industries, anticipating the need for a more highly skilled work force, find the region's human capital resources to be deficient. Vibrant economies are not sustainable in a…

This paper urges foundations and state and federal agencies to consider funding rural community colleges, in light of the successful experiences of the Rural Community College Initiative. Much of rural America is in trouble because educational attainment and job opportunities are low; innovation is stifled by poor schools, isolation, and…

The report of a regional seminar on rural development planning specifies as its objectives: to study the problems of rural development planning, and to elucidate training requirements for managers of rural development projects, with particular reference to the links between education and productive work and employment. The first chapter gives…