Lone Star College System was ranked 16th overall nationwide – and first in the state of Texas – in the 2009 list of Top 100 Associate Degree Producers published recently by Community College Week magazine.
“The production of degrees and certificates is just one of the many important contributions that community colleges … represented in this analysis make to their communities, constituents and clients,” wrote Victor M.H. Borden, in a report about the analysis and resulting lists. “But it is one of the most tangible and calculable outcomes that lends itself to analysis and ranking.” Borden is an associate vice chancellor and professor at Indiana University.
The Top 100 Associate Degree Producers list is compiled by the magazine each year from data collected through the National Center for Education Statistics and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set survey.
According to the Community College Week analysis, LSCS awarded 2,398 associate degrees to students for all disciplines for the 2007-2008 school year, which placed it in the 16th spot nationwide.
In subsequent “sub-lists” as part of the analysis, LSCS was also ranked as 10th nationwide in the Top 50 Associate Degrees in the category of Nursing with 296 associate degrees awarded in the 2007-2008 school year and 12th in the category of Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences with 495 associate degrees awarded last year as well.
Other Texas schools that were ranked in the top 25 nationally included Central Texas College, in Killeen, with 2,383 degrees awarded in all disciplines, which was ranked 17th overall, and Houston Community College, ranked 19th, with 2,322 associate degrees awarded during the 2007-2008 year. San Jacinto College was ranked 39th with 1,812 associate degrees awarded.
In addition to the associate degree ranking, LSCS was also recognized as a Top 100 Certificate Producer as well for awarding 449 two-year certificates to students during the 2007-2008 school year. This recognition placed LSCS as 70th nationwide on the list of Top 100 Certificate Producers, which is also produced by Community College Week as part of the same analysis.
“This is a very prestigious ranking for Lone Star College System among a number of great two-year as well as four-year universities,” said Ray Laughter, vice chancellor of external affairs at LSCS. “While we are extremely proud of this recognition, it’s not just about the numbers.
“Our challenge is to continue to provide a quality education, that our community can afford, even while we face unprecedented growth at all of our colleges,” Laughter said.
Lone Star College System consists of five colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, and LSC-Tomball, six centers, LSC-University Center, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. LSCS recently acquired a 1.2 million square foot facility in northwest Harris County to serve multiple purposes, including a new university center, an instructional satellite campus, a Corporate College conference and training facility, and system administration and support space. With more than 51,000 students in credit classes last fall, LSCS is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and third largest community college system in Texas. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.
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