CUMBERLAND — Four area colleges signed an agreement last week that paves the way for the institutions to collaborate in offering workforce training and other educational opportunities in the future.
Allegany College of Maryland, Garrett College, WVU Potomac State College and Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College have created a partnership to facilitate sharing in specialized areas of study.
“This agreement provides a mechanism to increase accessibility and reduce student costs in high-demand programs throughout the region,” Chris Gilmer, president of Potomac State, said in a news release.
The agreement authorizes the colleges to create pathways for students from all partner institutions to enroll in degree and certification programs offered by other partners when the home college doesn’t offer that specific program.
The presidents of the four schools plan to use paramedic studies, currently offered only at Garrett College, as a pilot partnership program.
“We want to use paramedic studies as a road map for future collaborations,” Richard Midcap, president of Garrett College, said.
A program-specific agreement, including procedures will be signed in the near future.
“There is no reason for every partner college to offer every program when the same goal can be accomplished more economically through this partnership,” Tom Striplin, president of Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, said.
“This model doesn’t limit institutions from offering programming that can be supported exclusively by residents of a particular service region,” Cynthia Bambara, president of Allegany College of Maryland, said. “It increases access to programs for which individual colleges may not have the critical student mass to offer.”
David Jones, vice president of advancement and community relations at ACM, said the agreement helps to avoid duplication while extending resources to area students. “The purpose is to setup a framework so there is more collaboration instead of competition,” he said.
Under the program, Jones said general course work will be taken at the student’s institution and given guaranteed transfer to the host college offering the certificate or degree area of study.
He said the paramedic certificate is only offered at Garrett College.
“For example, with the paramedic program they will hold open seats for ACM students to take their general education courses at ACM and then be accepted into the paramedic program at Garrett College. Students would then take the core paramedic courses at Garrett,” Jones said.
The four schools hope to add additional certificate and associate degree areas of study to the share program in the future, officials said.
“The same model will be used at other colleges if they offer a specialized program,” Jones said. “You take the general education at their institution then take the specific program at the home college.”