City College of San Francisco - California Competes

STANDARD I
Alemany Campuses offer extensive English as
Second Language (ESL), literacy, and citizenship
training and the Southeast Campus, serving the
Bayview Hunters Point community, focuses on
general education and several occupational
specializations.
The College offers 46 degree programs as well as
a wide range of occupational certificate and professional
training programs designed to prepare
students for direct entry into the job market.
With over 14,000 students who declare their
intention to transfer to a four-year institution,
the College offers general education and
lower-division major coursework that meets
the California State University, University
of California, and Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum requirements.
In addition, the College has developed and
actively maintains individual articulation
agreements with public and private colleges
and universities throughout the state as well as
Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Historically
Black Colleges and Universities nationally.
The population of the City of San Francisco is as
diverse as any urban center in the United States,
and that diversity demands that the College
provide San Francisco’s population with the
language skills and basic education necessary to
thrive in our social and economic environment,
and continue on to additional post-secondary
education. Therefore, it is not surprising that
the largest academic department at CCSF is ESL,
offering credit and noncredit instruction
throughout the City. The Transitional Studies
Department provides the bridge between secondary
and post-secondary education for both
native-speaking and second-language students.
Because of the very large cohort of second-language
students in the credit programs at CCSF,
the academic and vocational disciplines employ
a variety of innovative and more traditional
teaching strategies to reach students from diverse
educational and ethnic backgrounds.
The College has a comprehensive array of vocational
and occupational programs and courses
ranging from Trade Skills and Culinary Arts to
Graphic Arts and Business. Students can earn
certificates in a wide variety of fields that will
prepare them for entry-level employment with
internship and work experience opportunities
available in many programs. The Office of
Workforce and Economic Development provides
funding and support for new occupational programs
that respond to new areas of opportunity,
such as the recently developed programs and
services related to the emerging biotechnology
industry in the Bay Area. In an effort to respond
to the diverse economic and educational backgrounds
of potential students, CCSF developed a
“Bridge to Biotech Program” that assists students
transitioning into college-level studies as well as
a feeder “On-Ramp to Biotech Program” that
prepares low-income adults with skills at the
6th-9th grade levels for entry into the Bridge
program. (See also the Theme V Essay.)
The College has an extensive fee-based continuing
education program that provides members of
the community with a broad range of cultural,
business and finance, test preparation, skills
development, and personal development opportunities.
The Office of Contract and Continuing
Education also works with local businesses,
industries, and agencies to provide specific feebased
training through contract education. The
Older Adults Department serves almost 3,000
students over the age of 55 at over 40 sites
throughout the City. In addition, CCSF serves an
international student population of over 600 students,
who enroll on a tuition basis, studying in
a variety of vocational and transfer programs.
The College has developed a broad range of support
services to meet the needs of its different
student populations. Beyond the usual student
support services like counseling, financial aid,
and various matriculation services, the College
has an extensive array of specific student retention
programs such as the African American
Scholarship Program, the Latino Services
Network, and the recently inaugurated Asian
Pacific American Student Services Program. In
addition, CCSF provides extensive learning assistance
support ranging from tutorial services to
learning laboratories designed to support classroom
instruction. Since the last accreditation
review, the College has made a concerted effort
to increase the range and number of support
services, as appropriate, to each of its major campuses.
While significant progress has been made,
budgetary constraints have limited CCSF’s ability
to increase services for each site. There is still
CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
99