Prairie View A&M University’s College of Business and Cy-Fair College have developed a new educational partnership program.
The program, which will begin as early as the summer of 2007, is designed to allow students of the Cy-Fair College to concurrently receive credit for courses at Prairie View.
This program has been in the works for two years, and in December 2006, the Texas A&M University Board of Regents officially approved the partnership.
Cy-Fair College, located in Northwest Houston, is the fifth comprehensive college in North Harris Montgomery Community College district, a district which represents one of the fasting growing community college districts in the state, according to information released on Prairie View’s Web site by the president’s office.
The students of Cy-Fair College will be expected to pay the same tuition for Prairie View classes that are held on the campus, and will be able to qualify for a bachelor’s degree at Prairie View after completing an associate’s degree at Cy-Fair. The summer of 2007 will also mark the beginning of a joint admission program, a system which will allow Cy-Fair students to gain credit toward bachelor’s degrees at Prairie View.
President George C Wright and Chancellor John Pickelman executed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of the two institutions to cement the new partnership.
“This is actually an uncommon occurrence,” said Wright when asked about the concerns of students who felt the partnership may hurt Prairie View’s credibility. “There are actually Prairie View students on campuses across the state of Texas.”
Wright defended the decision by stating that many institutions, including Texas A&M, were associated with community colleges. “Students from community colleges tend to have greater retention rates. They do well in school, but are unable to go to four year universities because of unfortunate circumstances”
Many students have supported the president in this decision, as the program is expected to benefit Prairie View by providing more students to represent Prairie View’s business education program.
“The Cy-Fair College has a really diverse student body-a good opportunity for Prairie View to diversify,” said Munir Quddus, dean of the College of Business at Prairie View. “This will definitely be advantageous for both institutions.” Quddus said that this may lead to a rise in national prestige for Prairie View as an institution of higher learning.