Work in progress - NAE study: enhancing community college pathways in engineering

Abstract

Engineering workforce studies have found that 40% of engineering graduates have attended a community college. Recognizing that we face serious shortages of engineers in the future, the National Academy of Engineering has initiated a study to investigate how community colleges can help to increase the number of science and engineering graduates. The authors participated in the first phase of this study. While those who work with community college engineering science graduates accept that they are equal to their 4-year counterparts, the public does not appreciate the strength of these programs. For the community college engineering science programs to grow and thrive, four-year engineering colleges need to partner with them to help market the programs as a viable alternative and provide support in building a smooth articulation process