India

Overview

Santa Fe College hosted a delegation of fourteen Indian community college administrators from October 5-16, 2015 as part of a six week Community College Administrator Program (CCAP) funded by the United States Department of State. The CCAP with India was administered by Florida State University with Santa Fe College as the lead community college partner.

India faces some daunting educational and economic challenges. Over 50% of the country's current population of 1.2 billion is under the age of 30. It is estimated that by 2025, India will account for approximately 25% of the world's total workforce. The Indian government is exploring different ways it can provide educational and economic opportunities to this young population to ensure their individual and the country's prosperous future. Beginning in 2012, the government of India introduced a plan to pilot 100 community colleges throughout the country. Community colleges affiliated with a university require completion of 10th grade plus two years of high school. Students seeking admission to community colleges affiliated with polytechnic colleges are required to complete only grade 10. Private community colleges may follow a slightly different model. The fourteen Indian administrators who visited Florida as part of the CCAP came to learn about the U.S. community college model and best practices on how to administer it. The video below captures some of what these visitors experienced and learned.

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Department of StateProgram Overview

The Community College Administrator Program with India will be a six-week program of study for Indian officials with higher education planning responsibilities and administrators from post-secondary vocational and technical institutions in India. Conducted by the Florida State University and Santa Fe College, the exchange will consist of a one-week Executive Dialogue and a five-week Community College Seminar.

Executive Dialogue

The Executive Dialogue is designed to provide an overview of the U.S. community college system and explore India's development of community polytechnic programs. Indian higher education officials and administrators will meet with senior policy-makers of the Florida Community College System to provide a comprehensive understanding of the development, organization and administration of a U.S. community college system integrally linked to secondary education, higher education and the workforce training needs of business and industry. In addition to the 14 administrators, the program will support four high-level Indian higher education officials to participate in the Executive Dialogue

Five-week Community College Seminar

The Seminar is designed to train 14 administrators from Indian post-secondary vocational and technical institutions or officials with higher education planning responsibilities in key elements of community college leadership, to provide direct exposure to the day-to-day administrative responsibilities and challenges of a U.S. community college, and investigate specific community college academic and vocational programs relevant to the needs of India and/or participants' home institutions.

Objectives

As a result of participating in this program, participants will

  • Demonstrate enhanced ability to effectively address governance and policy questions integral to the establishment of community polytechnic programs relevant to the Indian context;
  • Contribute to the present and future demands for policy formulation, continuous planning, program management decision making and day-to-day administration of community polytechnic programs in India;
  • Explore aspects the U.S. higher education system and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the U.S. community college administration;
  • Articulate the unique and important opportunities created through merging academic, business and management skills through the community college/polytechnic system; and
  • Encourage on-going collaboration between Indian and U.S. counterparts involved in community college/polytechnic administration.

Topics of Study

  • Governance
  • Finance
  • Student Affairs/Student Services
  • Program Assessment
  • Leadership
  • Technology
  • Workforce Development
  • Community Engagement
  • Private Sector Partnerships
  • Distance Learning

Format

  • Classroom Instruction. 20 hours per week of intensive instruction by graduate faculty of the Florida State University College of Education, former officers of the State of Florida Community College System, and current Santa Fe College administrators.
  • Job Shadowing/Mentoring. One-on-one interaction with current community college administrators whose day-to-day responsibilities most closely match those of participants.
  • Site Visits. Targeted site visits to Florida community colleges to investigate academic/vocational programs or administrative practices of relevance to participants and their home institutions.

Audience

  • The program will fund the participation of four senior-level officials from the All India Commission on Technical Education to participate in the one-week Executive Dialogue with 14 administrators. The Executive Dialogue will be the first week of the Community College Administrator Program.
  • The program will fund the participation of 14 senior-level administrators from post-secondary vocational and technical institutions involved in the establishment of community polytechnic programs to participate in the one-week Executive Dialogue and the five-week Seminar.

Locations

  • Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A.
  • Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.

Duration

  • Six weeks. Tentative dates: September 20, 2015 to October 30, 2015.

Vilma Fuentes:

This is our president, Dr. Jackson Sasser

Dr. Jackson Sasser

Welcome! I'm Jackson. I am glad you are here today.

Narrator:

In October 2015, Santa Fe College was honored to host delegates of 14 educators from India as part of Community College Administrator Program (CCAP) funded by U.S. Department of State. At the current literacy rate just over 74%, India has the largest illiterate population and only 10% Indians have a college degree. These Indian educators came to Santa Fe College in order to learn best practices in United States Community College System by immersing themselves over a course of 10 days. They learned about governance and how Santa Fe College has been able to grow, build, and expand to serve students and the community better.

Dr. Niladri Biswas:

In America, you have 300 million population, but in India we have 1.2 billion population. So, our task is gigantic. How can we increase the level of income? That's why I'm interested.

Dr. Prabhakar Laishram:

I want to go to this place so that I can do something for our country or particularly for our state.

Dr. K. Visalakski:

I want to know how you are developing the curriculum, how you're going about the teaching methodology, how you're counseling the students to take up the courses, and how your partners and industry partners are playing a role in employing the students.

Santa Fe Student Ambassador:

I'm here to give you the best possible tour in Santa Fe College Experience you can have.

Mayamole Thomas:

Right in from the walking tour of the campus until now, it has been a great expedition and an exploration into the various accepts of the community college. You left no stone unturned in explaining the different offices and departments. Staring with its governance, curriculum development, student support system, strategic planning, implementation, and assessments, helping students through Student Affairs, career counseling & development, etcetera. And it was satisfying to look at the senders of your outreach program. This is what made you #1.

Dr. K. Visalakski:

I hope to give a presentation to our government about what I have learned here and the main thing I want to just stress to our government is the transfer of credits. Because it holds a greater part for our students and allows for vertical student mobility.

Dr. Prabhakar Laishram:

I like to copy from this the community college the way they are working: the coordination among the faculty members, coordination among the teachers and staff members, coordination among the students. There is no difference between the staff, faculty, and students. That should be there.

*Singing*

Fr. Melwyn Anil Lobo:

Everyone feels here that it is their college, and I think it is because of shared governance. I'm very happy about it. When I go back, I take this as my treasure. I'm grateful to Santa Fe College. I have learned a lot.

*Singing*

U.S. flag and U.S. Department of State logo

The Community College Administrator Program (CCAP) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Florida State University and Santa Fe College.