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Sygielski returns from D.C. summit
The Advocate
MHCC President John Sygielski said the first national community college summit held Tuesday in Washington, D.C., provided opportunities for constructive discussions about how to remove barriers for current and future community college students.
"The summit achieved what it was intended to do," Sygielski said.
As chairman of the Board of American Association of Community Colleges, Sygielski attended the summit with the expectation it would allow time to focus attention on the challenges U.S. community colleges face, according to his e-mail Monday.
At the meeting, several topics were discussed including the challenges the community colleges face, enhancing or changing national and state policies and evaluating the teaching and learning systems.
Sygielski said Thursday all of the discussions covered are being summarized and will be sent to the 100 participants and at that time the group will create action to take to follow up on the discussion points made during the breakout sessions. "Eventually there will be changes that will impact students," said Sygielski, but "not in the near term."
Although the summit was headed up by Dr. Jill Biden, the U.S. vice president's wife, Sygielski said he had an opportunity to meet and have a one-on-one conversation with Vice President Joe Biden himself.
On a related topic, Sygielski said "a poorly-constructed study was unveiled on Monday funded by the proprietary colleges and it provided some chatter within the higher education communities." The study said respondents to a survey about community colleges reported recruiters are not being entirely up front with recruits about graduation rates, employment rates of graduates, and pass rates on certification exams.
"Most community college professionals, including some members of the Administration, dismissed the study as incomplete and unscientific."
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