Professional Studies, AAS

Overview

Narrative

The Professional Studies, AAS degree program at Northampton Community College is for students seeking an associate degree that is flexible, inter-disciplinary, and aimed at up-skilling for career advancement. It is not intended for students who plan to transfer into a bachelor's degree program at a four-year institution.

The Professional Studies degree program is designed to maximize the personal and professional experiences that students already bring to NCC. Working with the Assistant Dean of Prior Learning Assessment, incoming students will explore ways that they may be able to turn prior job experience, credentialing and training, professional development, military service, or self-taught studies into college credits that can be directly applied towards degree completion. Students who have served in the military, been part of extensive on-the-job-training or apprenticeships, participated in a non-credit program, earned certificates for professional development, are fluent in another language, or have spent dedicated years of service in a given career all may qualify for significant credit awards.

Features

Recognizing that the needs of a given employer or that an incoming student seeks in pursuit of personal and professional goals may not map directly onto a traditional associate, certificate, or degree program, the Professional Studies program combines core communication, math/science, and information literacy skills with humanities-based general education requirements, alongside an additional 36 elective credits that students can tailor to meet their specific career needs and desired learning outcomes. Working with a dedicated advisor, Professional Studies students will select coursework that most effectively addresses the needs, industry standards, and growth areas within their own professional field.

This program is intended as a degree completion program for students that seek a college credential to assist in furthering their career goals. This program is not intended to transfer into a baccalaureate degree program.