With a stroke of the pen on Monday, leaders from Santa Barbara City College and California State University Channel Islands partnered up for even more shared course offerings this fall.
Because of high student demand, the schools will be offering three new bachelor’s degree programs on SBCC’s campus, with one leading to an MBA.
Starting this fall, students will be able to work toward a CSUCI bachelor of arts degree in psychology. Students will also be able to work toward bachelor of arts degrees in early childhood education next fall, as well as through the bachelor degree to MBA program, where students will be able to earn a bachelor’s and master’s of business administration degree in as little as 3½ years.
Last year, SBCC entered into a five-year agreement that allowed students to work toward a bachelor of science degree in business. It also recently expanded its nursing program to Goleta in a partnership with Cottage Health System.
Because that first program has been such a success, SBCC Acting President Jack Friedlander said the college decided to expand to offer more degrees.
As the state continues to disinvest in higher education, he said, partnerships have become crucial.
Psychology and business were in high demand, and Friedlander said more qualifications are being asked of those in early education. Workers are now being asked to have bachelor’s degree to help educate even small children, and 36 other states require that. Friedlander said it’s “a matter of time” before California adopts similar requirements.
About 25 to 30 students will be accepted into each of the programs annually. The classes would be taught by CI faculty and held primarily on Saturdays in SBCC facilities, with some optional coursework on Friday evenings.
Both schools are also working on a federal grant to offer accelerated programs for SBCC students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math programs to transfer more seamlessly to CSUCI to complete their four-year degrees.
“In partnership, we can do more than we ever have alone,” CSUCI President Richard Rush said.
After signing the initial business program agreement last fall, Rush said the school was very interested in partnering with SBCC on more programs. He continued that tone Monday, along with Friedlander.
Goleta mayor pro tem and former SBCC student Roger Aceves also spoke Monday.
“As an elected official, I constantly hear the cry ‘create jobs,’” he said, adding that such partnerships were key to that call.
Two adult students also spoke about the programs, noting that the locations and times of the classes have helped them further their education even with the constraints of work and family life.
For more information on the programs, click here for CSUCI’s extension page.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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