On Community Colleges of USA and their development prospect in China
论美国社区学院及其在中国的发展前景

Community is a relatively stable society formed naturally over the long period of development due to similar cultural characteristics and value systems of the people in the society.In China,community is often wrong interpreted as an administrative division,which results in some kind of inappropriateness in the planning and administration of communities.The ideal model of autonomous administration by the citizens formed naturally in the democratic development process in western societies is reduced to a simple model of administrative divisions,and this deficiency in understanding has made it difficult for communities to reach a high standard of autonomous administration.The history of community colleges gives a glimpse of the social changes in the US.Through the development of over a hundred years,community colleges in the US are now under pressure from both internal and external changes.Globalization,the learning mode of electronic era and the reform of internal mechanism are exerting great influence on the administration,curriculum,student population and the social demand on the colleges.Community colleges have to carry out reform in all aspects to adapt to the ever-developing economy and profound changes in educational environment,thus promoting development at a higher level and injecting greater vitality into the colleges.As an ideal model of higher education,community colleges have been very successful and played a very important role in American education,and even now their unique function and position in professional education cannot be replaced by any educational institution or university.The potential of community colleges in China is unlimited and they can make up for some of the deficiencies of the existing higher education system.To solve the difficulties of community colleges in China,four things must be done:(1) community colleges should be open to people both within and outside the communities;(2) proper educational function of the community colleges should be decided on;(3) community colleges of similar nature should be merged or other educational functions be explored;(4) enrollment,curriculum,teaching services and college administration should all be open to the public so as to cater for the needs of the general public for higher education of a greater variety as far as possible.An ideal model of Chinese community colleges should be as follows: making full use of the existing resources of professional education,transferring the four other functions of community colleges to vocational and technical colleges and making the latter become higher education institutions open to communities or even the whole society;meanwhile,a bridge should be built between vocational and technical colleges and general higher education institutions.