Consortium of Colleges on the Creative Coast to connect education at six Sarasota-area campuses
A joint effort among Southwest Florida’s most prominent institutions of higher education will allow Sarasota students to earn credit on six different campuses and count them toward a single degree. The Consortium of Colleges on the Creative Coast, or C4, will connect some 20,000 students to resources around the region. “Collaboration among regional higher education institutions and local foundations allows the consortium to take on new initiatives that will expand and improve the quality of life and educational landscape here–further positioning Manatee-Sarasota as a preferred college and university community,” said Dr. Larry R. Thompson, president of Ringling College of Art and Design. The consortium includes New College of Florida, Ringling College of Art and Design, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, Florida State University at The Ringling and Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg. The effort will be supported by philanthropic organizations including the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation, Community Foundation of Sarasota County and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. While the consortium was formed two years ago, the foundations on Tuesday announced support for a new effort to allow campuses to take classes as various institutions. “When the collective strength of these institutions’ faculty, programs and leadership is assembled and leveraged, our region has the resources of a major research university,” said Mark Pritchett, president and CEO of Gulf Coast. “This consortium has developed plans that we think can attract more quality students, provide a stronger workforce and help diversify our economy. This can be a real economic development ‘calling card’ for our region.” The most notable announcement thus far is allowing cross-registration for students at any of the institutions. In the new system, students will still seek a degree at a home campus, but can take classes on a space-available basis at other schools in the consortium. The schools together have a combined 20,000 students registered for the semester starting this month. “That’s a significant number of students that can benefit from our collaborative work,” said Dr. Carol Probstfeld, president of State College of Florida. On a more administrative level, the colleges have also participated in emergency management training together and will look at other pooled resource efforts. Read more in tomorrow’s edition of SRQ Daily. Filed under (uncategorized) 
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