Chapter 14: Bridging the Gap Between the Community and the Ivory Tower: A Case Study of University–Community College Partnership Models

This chapter focuses on the social responsibility of public universities and community colleges to expand access to higher education through collaboration. Higher education has historically been riddled with hierarchies, including selective admissions, institutional rankings and faulty narratives about the inferiority of community colleges. More recently, there has been a shift in the relationship between community colleges and universities as universities begin to see the value of reaching out to their communities, diversifying their student bodies and providing alternative pathways to a bachelor’s degree. The authors begin by arguing that public universities should collaborate with their community college counterparts to right historical wrongs, serve the broader community and maximize the use of public resources. The authors then present a case study of a concurrent-use partnership model between institutions and highlight the everyday practices that contribute to successful implementation. The authors conclude by describing the benefits of collaboration for institutions and students with the goal of showing that social responsibility and organizational effectiveness go hand in hand.