There are public and private community colleges in the United States, and public colleges account for the vast majority, about 85%. Each community college has the cultural and geographical characteristics of the area it serves, and at the same time, they also have many similarities. Most community colleges offer three types of courses: language training ESL course, bachelor transfer course, livelihood education (that is, vocational and technical education) and community service. The latter includes adult continuing education and industrial and commercial training and retraining. American public community colleges are higher education institutions recognized by American states, and the highest degree awarded by community colleges is a bachelor's degree. In addition to two-year associate degrees in arts, science and applied science, one-year training certificates are also awarded. The financial support of community colleges mainly comes from the government's public taxes. Colleges mainly recruit day students, and some colleges also recruit international students.
In addition to the two-year academic system of American community colleges, there are three differences between American community colleges and domestic colleges. First, the curriculum and teaching purposes are different. In China, most junior college courses focus on students' employment, and there are few research-oriented or comprehensive courses or disciplines. One reason why students go to junior college is that their scores in college entrance examination are not high enough, and another reason is that junior college education focuses on skills and studies some practical courses for employment. American two-year universities offer not only vocational courses, but also transfer courses. Transfer courses are specially designed for students who want to continue to apply for 4-year universities. Students can take basic courses in the first two years of community colleges (freshmen and sophomores), and the credits they have taken are recognized by four-year universities. Second, domestic colleges and universities need strict examinations to upgrade to undergraduate courses. Domestic students who have finished junior college must be admitted to an undergraduate school if they want to continue their studies. It is not difficult. In the United States, when students transfer from two-year community colleges through credits, they don't need to take exams. Students can apply for transfer on the basis of credits obtained from two-year universities. Of course, there are other conditions for American universities to evaluate students besides scores. Students with high GPA scores can also apply to transfer to the top four-year universities in the United States. Third, the diplomas obtained are different. When a domestic junior college is promoted to undergraduate course, students often indicate it on their graduation certificates after graduation? College books? Words. However, after two-year university students finish their freshman year and sophomore year and transfer to a four-year university, there is no difference between the diploma they get when they graduate and the graduates who go directly to a four-year university. Therefore, it can be said that the two-year university is to give students a buffer period, so that high school students with poor grades have the opportunity to enter famous universities through these two years' efforts. Many students regard a two-year university as a springboard to a prestigious school.
After reading the introduction of the article, we should have a clear understanding of the academic system of American community colleges. As a two-year university education system, its credits are recognized by many regular American universities. Therefore, in recent years, American community colleges have become a springboard for many American applicants studying abroad. From this perspective, it is also one of the ways to study in the United States.