Mountain Empire Community College relies on its mission to drive its processes used to identify the College’s goals and outcomes for student achievement. The mission of Mountain Empire Community College is to provide our region with accessible, quality higher education, workforce training, and community programs to ensure an educated population and globally competitive workforce. To achieve its mission, the College offers a variety of programs and services to meet the diverse needs of its students and the community, including the needs of regional employers.
The College evaluates student achievement by means of external and internal reviews by programmatic areas, as well as overall college goals. The evaluation criteria supporting the College mission include enrollment, retention, graduation, and transfer rates, as well as national and state certification and licensing examination results.
As one of 23 colleges within the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), MECC receives benchmark data from the VCCS annually for each of the criteria used for evaluating student achievement. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) also publishes data via the SCHEV website that is specific to MECC and other Virginia educational institutions. MECC strives to exceed a threshold of achievement that is greater than national or state averages that are consistent with current trends in education.
As a data-driven institution, MECC collects data from many aspects of the College. Below are many of the areas MECC studies in order to make decisions for the College.