Pasadena City College Ranks No. 1 in California for Number of Associate Degrees Awarded

Community College Week magazine has ranked Pasadena City College as No. 1 in California for awarding the most associate degrees in 2016.

CCW is a Fairfax, Virginia-based biweekly publication that ranks community colleges throughout the U.S. using data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources. Rankings are done on a number of categories related to the number of degrees offered, including all disciplines, Top 50 Associate Degrees in Business, Management, Marketing and Related Support Services; Top 50 Associate Degrees in Communication, Journalism and Related Programs; and Two-Year Certificates.

PCC placed No. 1 in the state for Two-Year Certificates awarded, according to the publication’s Top 100 Associate Degree and Certificate Producers, 2016 Issue.

PCC Superintendent-President Rajen Vurdien says this is the second year in a row the college has ranked No. 1 in the state.

“We have a lot of students and our faculty and staff work hard to make sure that our students are graduating or passing their classes and moving in the right direction, and provide the right type of counselling so that students know what to take,” Vurdien said. “We are a big school also – we have more than 30,000 students.”

Vurdien stressed that their faculty and counseling staff are focused on student success.

He also mentioned that among all community colleges in the state, PCC has awarded the most number of degrees to minority students. For the number of associate degrees awarded to Asian-American students, Vurdien said PCC ranked second in the nation, and No.1 in the state.

Vurdien also said PCC has a consistently high number of graduates moving on to universities and four-year colleges in the state.

“We’re also one of the top transfer schools in the state of California,” Vurdien said. “We rank very high in the transfer of students to California State University and the University of California system. We also believe in bridging the achievement gap; we want all students to perform regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of their economic status. We are here for everybody.”

Among the top 50 community college offering Associate Degrees in Business, Management, Marketing and Related Support Services, CCW ranked PCC No. 2 in California and No. 17 in the U.S. PCC also ranked No. 10 among the top 50 U.S. community colleges in the number of Associate Degrees awarded in Communication, Journalism and Related Programs.

In 2012, PCC ranked No. 2 in the U.S. in the Top 50 Associate Degrees for Multi-disciplinary Studies. PCC was on the top spot nationwide in this category in 2009.