COLUMBIA, SC (courtesy of columbiasc.edu) — Columbia College announces the establishment of The Communiversity at Columbia College.
The Communiversity is a partnering of the community and higher education. It is about establishing a campus that meets the needs of the community, starting at the high school level through the university, Master’s and Doctoral degree levels.
The Communiversity at Columbia College will be one of just over a dozen located throughout the United States and Canada. The initial concept was brought to higher education within the last decade in keeping with its roots and history, Columbia College will embrace the essential concept of a communiversity as it moves into the future. This means understanding the needs of the Columbia community and the communities to which Columbia is directly and indirectly tied, and through partnerships, addressing those educational and service needs.
The announcement was made on campus during a gathering of community leaders from across Richland County.
“The future of higher education is in creating community partnerships that provide lifelong learning opportunities, where we impact the needs of those living and working in our community,” said Executive Vice President, Dr. Carol Moore.
Columbia College will seek partners, both accredited and non-accredited organizations, to provide and advance education for people in the community and will engage our higher education partners as we do so. It would mean looking to businesses to provide a career continuum for their employees in partnership with Columbia College and our higher education partners. Columbia College will proactively engage with the community to identify educational needs and work with our partner educational institutions to match community needs to existing programs and, where there is unmet need, develop courses and programs to meet the needs of individuals, organizations, and businesses in the communities we serve or could serve.