Cooperative alliances bring opportunity to students
Students attending Mid-America Technology Center in Wayne and Moore Norman Technology centers now have the opportunity to earn college credit from OCCC at the same time as attending the centers.
OCCC has entered into cooperative alliances with both technology centers, said Paul Sechrist, OCCC president.
“A cooperative alliance is a relationship between a college and one or more of the career technology centers,” he said.
The alliances are designed to avoid unnecessary duplication of courses, Sechrist said.
By offering credit for certain courses at a technology center, co-enrolled students can get jump-started on their college transcript, he said.
For example, the technology centers offer some courses in information technology similar to those offered at OCCC.
A technology center student interested in earning college credit could co-enroll at OCCC while completing the courses at the technology center, thus giving them a head start on their college transcript.
“Students only pay [fees] to the technology center,” Sechrist said.
OCCC also has a cooperative alliance with Francis Tuttle and program agreements with Metro-Tech.
Program agreements allow students to receive credit for certain courses, as well, Sechrist said.
Since each center is allowed only one cooperative alliance, it allows colleges to work as an organizer for technology centers.
For example, Francis Tuttle has a culinary program; OCCC does not.
OCCC is the center’s partner, but has helped coordinate arrangements for students to receive college credit at Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee for culinary courses, Sechrist said.
Cooperative alliances also help the college.
“The new agreements should improve our enrollment rates in the long run and provide more opportunities for our students,” he said.
Editor Christiana Kostura can be reached at editor@occc.edu.
