Historically, community colleges have served two vital pillars within America's higher education system. The first pillar has been to provide two-year academic foundations for students who wish to continue seeking a four-year degree and beyond. The second pillar has been to provide vital workforce development, training, certifications, and prepare students to enter the workforce. Today, these vital roles continue to be important parts of the mission for community colleges. However, with the changing world of work, community colleges would be well served to add the pillar of entrepreneurial education to their student coursework.
Implementing entrepreneurial education and business development takes community colleges to their next logical step. By providing entrepreneurship training, schools teach students how to create a job and not just look for one. With colleges implementing entrepreneurship curricula, students learn important skills like business development, creating minimal viable products, marketing and hiring staff.
Entrepreneurship education fits well into already existing community college programs. For example, a school that offers a certification in welding can incorporate entrepreneurial training to help students turn their welding skills into a new small business. Other programs can benefit as well. Certification such as nursing, plumbing, or cosmetology are perfect examples of careers that lend themselves to adding entrepreneurship and small business development training.
By adding the pillar of entrepreneurship education, community colleges can also benefit by gaining additional resources, potentially increasing enrollment, and adding to their reputation as a place for business and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial programs also provide additional ties for colleges within their communities , which reach well beyond traditional students, pervading all aspects of community life.
Unlike other institutions, community colleges are perhaps best poised to incorporate entrepreneurship into their curriculum due, in part, to their typically smaller size. Community colleges often have less "red tape" and bureaucracy to cut through in order to make beneficial changes in their programs. In a word, they have the potential to be more entrepreneurial. This provides the opportunity to quickly and effectively implement entrepreneurial-based education into existing degrees and certifications. Community colleges also have access to organizations such as the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). NACCE provides access to both financial and academic resources to help colleges working to incorporate entrepreneurship into their schools.
In addition to providing entrepreneurship education, community colleges can serve as an active catalyst toward economic development and increasing new businesses. Whether by providing access to funding through grants, making available the use of specialized equipment or providing reduced-cost space, schools can help new businesses and entrepreneurs get off the ground. In addition, they can also provide technical guidance and expertise with access to key faculty. Finally, colleges can provide a boost to a new or existing business giving clout and credibility by purchasing goods and services from small, local and new businesses.
From urban settings to rural areas, community colleges have long served as important institutions for education, workforce development and retraining. The time has come for these schools to add entrepreneurial education to the array of certifications and trainings they offer. Doing so will provide students a more robust, effective, and well rounded education and teach them one of the most important skills: how to create a job and not just look for one.