The University of North Carolina System Office and the North Carolina Community Colleges System Office invite senior leadership at those institutions, as well as private, nonprofit, and public sector leaders who are focused on serving adult learners in the state, to a special event: North Carolina’s Adult Promise Symposium | The Higher Education and Workforce Imperative.

This gathering is focused on decision makers and senior leaders who can impact the direction of policies and practices across institutions in North Carolina. In our state, all public universities and public community colleges share in the constitutional mandate to provide high quality education at the lowest cost possible.  This shared affordability commitment and the dedication to embrace the recently-adopted statewide educational attainment goal is driving many current conversations to help more students get to and through college.   This goal, born from a year-long effort led by public, private, and nonprofit leaders engaged in the MyFutureNC Commission, was adopted last year by the state legislature and governor: 2 million high quality credentials for North Carolina adults ages 25-44 by the year 2030.

It will be impossible to reach this goal without improving services to the traditional college-going population and focusing on serving non-traditional students in a meaningful, intentional way.  The UNC System and the North Carolina Community College System are working closely together to improve collaboration, streamline transfer processes, and minimize hurdles that have tripped up so many students along their pathways to success.  Shared funding and programmatic opportunities have provided increased opportunities to collaborate, including being named one of the Lumina Foundation’s Adult Promise states in recognition of North Carolina’s efforts to support non-traditional, adult students.

As North Carolina embraces the challenge facing many states to address issues of affordability and quality in higher education, our public institutions are aware of demographic changes impacting the sector and the evolving profile of “today’s student”.  As many students, faculty, administrators, and others around the country recognize, the post-secondary student population is changing and institutions must be proactive in their planning to address the needs of today’s students, both traditional and non-traditional.   More can be done for the residents of our state and the students at our institutions in order to support the growth of North Carolina and by focusing on the needs of today’s students (traditional, non-traditional, military veterans, transfer students, parents, caregivers, and more), North Carolina is pivoting towards the future in the policy and practice arenas of higher education.  This gathering is one part of that discussion.

Please join us on February 13, 2020 at the Friday Center for Continuing Education in Chapel Hill, NC to discuss promising practices, emerging issues, and student success for a key and growing demographic in North Carolina’s higher education landscape: adult, non-traditional students.