Institutional Identity: The Community College as a Baccalaureate Degree Granting Institution.

This paper focuses on the discussion of community colleges as baccalaureate-degree granting institutions. The discussion is based on research projects undertaken in both the U.S. and Canada that investigate the institutionalization of degree programs at community colleges. Colleges in British Columbia and Alberta are baccalaureate as well as sub-baccalaureate institutions, resulting in a muddying of institutional identity. The colleges claimed to uphold community college principles, such as open access and responsiveness to the community, yet their allegiance was to higher-level programming. As a result of these changes, the conceptual framework and the institutional identity have been altered. Now, the community college baccalaureate can be seen as increasing access for populations that are underserved by baccalaureate-granting institutions. In the U.S., state legislation authorizes community colleges to grant B.A. degrees in four states: Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Florida. These states require that the colleges continue to offer programs synonymous with the community college mission. This paper argues that the baccalaureate degree-granting community college possesses a new identity that signifies an end of its former identity as a two-year institution. Contains 66 references. (NB)