College Strategic Plan

Ensure Completion For All
Ensure at least 60% of all students successfully complete their credentials, with equitable outcomes achieved across all student groups defined in the NC Community College System performance measures.

Strengthen Workforce-Ready Talent Pipelines
Increase the number of community members attaining workforce credentials at a rate commensurate with regional population growth. This includes programs and services such as Adult High School English language acquisition, the Small Business Center, Human Resource Development, and Customized Training.

Accelerate University Transfer Success
Ensure at least 77% of transfer students matriculate to a baccalaureate program upon completion of an associate degree.

Advance Opportunities for Living Wages
Ensure at least 80% of students in applied degree programs will attain employment earning a living wage of $45,552 ($21.90/hour) or higher.

Increase Mobility Through Pediatric and Family Well-Being
Leverage the College’s assets to strengthen pediatric and family well-being across the community as a key strategy for advancing economic mobility by:

• Partnering with community organizations to support the development of a childcare center for students, employees, and community members to ensure that families have the support needed to succeed.
• Expanding the use of the College’s Community Health Lab to increase pediatric services by 15% while aligning service delivery and outreach to connect families to educational opportunities, health resources, and workforce pathways.

Initiatives for Strategic Action:

• Expand dual enrollment by building a vertically aligned high school-to-college pipeline that creates early momentum through seamless partnerships with public, charter, private and homeschool networks.
• Implement a comprehensive Strategic Enrollment Management framework that aligns recruitment, onboarding, retention, and completion through targeted, data-informed enrollment and marketing strategies focused on priority populations.
• Build clearly articulated pathways from Continuing Education, College and Career Readiness, the Center for the Global Learner, and the Center for Workforce Engagement to degree, diploma, certificate, and short-term training programs and beyond.
• Assess enrollment gaps among key populations and geographic areas across Durham and Orange counties. 

Initiatives for Strategic Action:
Persistence

• Implement a fully integrated Early Success System that proactively identifies and addresses student needs by providing personal and academic support through real-time intervention.
• Improve online learning experiences by strengthening standards for high-quality online instruction, investing in faculty professional development, and expanding full-time faculty leadership in online course and curriculum development to support engaging, effective, and student-centered online learning experiences that increase student success, persistence, and course completion.
• Increase persistence and retention by: 
  • delivering efficient, targeted, data-informed student support services; 
  • scaling flexible, high-quality course delivery; and
  • fostering student engagement through employer-connected networking opportunities.

Completion

• Advance dual enrollment outcomes to boost college transitions in alignment with the 25% credential completion pipeline goal with Durham Public Schools and Orange County Schools and the 35% goal with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
• Phase out the Associate in General Education program as an enrollment option to provide intentional advising to students currently enrolled in the program to help them identify and transition to a high-opportunity pathway.
• Ensure all students on competitive admissions pathways have a plan to access an alternate pathway if they are not admitted into their chosen program.
• Design and implement structured educational planning pathways and proactive advising for students enrolled in short-term workforce programs by aligning those programs with stackable credentials that support continued skill development, wage growth, and career advancement.

Transfer/Post-Completion Outcomes

• Strengthen high-quality instruction, expand dual enrollment opportunities, and implement proactive advising and transfer support early in the student experience in order to increase the number of transfer program students successfully matriculating to 77%.
• Redesign advising strategies for transfer programs by identifying the students’ intended transfer destinations and academic majors on the admissions application to Durham Tech.
• Strengthen advising by ensuring all transfer students have an education plan aligned with their intended transfer destination and major. 
• Double the number of apprenticeships offered by implementing a College Sponsor model alongside an employer sponsor model for the Registered Apprenticeship Program. 

Initiatives for Exploration:

• Expand personal and professional networks for students with a focus on campus environments, clubs and activities, employer connections, and alumni engagement. 
• Implement a fully integrated career development framework embedded within advising services including intentional alignment between educational planning, workforce pathways, and long-term career outcomes for students. Strengthen career services and integrate career development throughout the student experience. 
• Strengthen and expand existing eight-week course access with a goal of increasing credit accumulation, decreasing zero-credit semesters, and increasing full-time enrollment. 
• Align seamless pathways into both university transfer programs and high-demand fields such as Health & Wellness and Building, Engineering & Skilled Trades.

Initiatives for Strategic Action:

• Partner with community organizations to support the development of a childcare center for students, employees, and community members to ensure that families have the support they need to succeed. 
• Expand the use of the College’s Community Health Lab to increase services provided to children by 15% while aligning service delivery and outreach to connect families to educational opportunities, health resources, and workforce pathways. 

Initiatives for Exploration:

• Collaborate with community partners including local K-12 school systems to identify and address additional priority needs that support healthier families and create clearer pathways to opportunity.