Austin Community College District

The Austin Community College District promotes student success and community development by providing affordable access, through traditional and distance learning modes, to higher education and workforce training, including appropriate applied baccalaureate degrees, in its service area. 

To fulfill its mission, the college will provide, within its available resources, the mission elements prescribed by the State of Texas:

• Vocational and technical programs of varying lengths leading to certificates or degrees.
• Freshman- and sophomore-level academic courses leading to an associate degree or serving as the base of baccalaureate degree program at a four-year institution.
• Continuing adult education for academic, occupational, professional, and cultural enhancement
• Special instructional programs and tutorial services to assist underprepared students and others who need special assistance to achieve their educational goals.
• A continuing program of counseling and advising designed to assist students in achieving their individual educational and occupational goals.
• A program of technology, library, media, and testing services to support instruction.
• Contracted instruction programs and services for area employers that promote economic development.

Intended Outcomes

The Austin Community College is committed to enhanced learning success for all students. The primary goals of the College’s efforts to promote student success shall be to:

• Increase persistence (term-to-term & fall to fall)
• Complete developmental and adult education course progression to credit courses
• Increase completion of all attempted courses with a “C” or better
• Increase degree/certificate graduates and transfer rates
• Increase success equity across all racial/ethnic/gender/ income groups

The Austin Community College District will establish institutional effectiveness measures designed to assess the College’s success in providing:

• Balanced instructional offerings among the College’s mission elements;
• A teaching and learning environment that encourages students to be active, life-long learners;
• Accessible and affordable post-secondary and higher education programs and services for all who qualify and have the ability to benefit;
• Enrollments reflecting diverse and traditionally underserved populations in numbers that represent the local populations of our Service Area;
• Job placement from career workforce programs into family- wage careers;
• Efficiently administered programs and services that create an institution that is a good place to work, learn, and otherwise experience the higher-education process.

Student success and institutional effectiveness measures and assessment results will be reviewed annually by the Board of Trustees as an indication of the College’s progress in achievement of its Strategic Plan.

Vision

The Austin Community College District will be recognized as the preferred gateway to higher education and training, and as the catalyst for social equity, economic development, and personal enrichment.

Values

The Austin Community College District values and respects each individual student. In Austin Community College District’s internal and external interactions with each other and our community, we value:

• Student success and equity in which all students have equal opportunity and support to achieve their academic goals.

• Student access to an affordable, challenging, and empowering higher education.

• Excellence, innovation, and relevance in all of our programs and services.

• Preparation of students for a globally competitive and technologically complex workplace.

• Open, honest, and respectful communication, collaboration, and teamwork in all of our operations.

• Promotion of equity as a means to understanding, an appreciation of cultural and individual differences, and a democratic society.

• Ongoing professional development by all faculty, staff, and administrators.

• The use of data and proven best practices in our evaluation processes, decision-making, and plans for continuous improvement.

• Ethical, effective/efficient, and accountable use of public resources.

• Partnerships with local, state, national, and international entities that are respectful, engaging, and help us leverage our resources and expand our expertise.

• Creation and maintenance of a sustainable, safe, and healthy environment for students and employees.