Schools

Education for Every Stage of Live

One thing that you’ll quickly find out about Western North Carolina is that the educational opportunities here are endless. It’s the perfect place for young children just starting their educational careers, for those wanting to earn a degree, or for those who just want to pick up a few continuing education classes. Education in Western North Carolina is definitely geared toward all stages of life. Here’s a little more about the wealth of opportunities that abound in the region.

Higher education
With so many adults looking to finish bachelor and master’s degrees and still work a 9-to-5 job, the schools for adult studies offered by many of the surrounding colleges and universities are designed with you in mind.
Almost all of the schools in the region offer some sort of SPAS (School of Professional Adult Studies) program along with their regular four-year curriculum. So you are thinking of attending any North Carolina colleges, you’ll be doing so in a state that’s rich in higher education systems.
One of the major universities in the area, the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) offers small classes, a low student-faculty ratio, and a range of exciting and meaningful learning experiences, making UNCA one of the nation’s premier public liberal arts universities.
Recently, UNCA was among just 50 institutions nationwide named to the “Best Value” Public Colleges list published by the Princeton Review. UNCA was the only college or university in Western North Carolina to make the list. This is the fifth year that UNC Asheville has been selected by the magazine as one of the 50 best value public colleges in the country.
The Asheville Graduate Center on the campus of the UNCA offers master’s degree programs from six distinctive universities. More than 600 residents of Western North Carolina who are seeking advanced degrees participate in the approximately 30 master’s degree programs currently offered through the Asheville Graduate Center.
Another larger, publicly funded institution in the region is Appalachian State University (ASU), which is located in Boone. ASU has built a national reputation for providing outstanding academics. With a student/faculty ratio of 17:1 and an average class size of 25, faculty members are able to take a personal interest in student progress, often becoming mentors, advisers, and friends.
Appalachian State University recently rose to the No. 8 spot in the “Best Universities-Master’s in the South” category in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 America’s Best Colleges Guide. The university also rose to third place in the magazine’s rankings for the top public master-degree granting universities in the South.
Western Carolina University (WCU), located in Cullowhee, is another state-funded public university in the area. WCU was founded in 1889 to bring higher education and career opportunities to the region. A member of the University of North Carolina system, WCU now provides an education to more than 9,000 students from 38 states and 32 countries.
The university’s mission is focused on quality education and preparation for responsible citizenship in a changing world. Since its founding, WCU has grown in size to become a major cultural, scientific, and educational force in the region and the state.
Its academic programs span more than 120 specialties—including the nation’s highest-ranked entrepreneurship and project management programs, a national award-winning teacher education program, a criminal justice program used as a model for North Carolina’s accreditation program, and the nation’s first accredited four-year emergency medical care program.
Brevard College, founded in 1853, is the oldest college or university in Western North Carolina. It is a four-year private, coeducational liberal arts college affiliated with the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Brevard College, located in the Town of Brevard, offers more than 40 majors and minors from which to choose. The college continues to increase the number of academic opportunities available with the recent addition of a criminal justice program and Teacher Licensure. Also, Brevard College offers several majors not commonly found at most colleges. Examples include ecology, as well as its wilderness leadership/experiential education program.
Brevard College’s unique Voice of the Rivers program combines academics with outdoor exploration as students and faculty explore rivers in sea kayaks. The groups investigate all aspects of rivers and their importance to society while camping along the riverbank and talking about their experiences with the people they meet.
Other colleges and universities in the area include Montreat College in Buncombe County, Warren Wilson College in Buncombe County, and Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory.

Community Colleges
Western North Carolina also has an abundance of community colleges to choose from with excellent courses of study as well as transfer programs.
These include Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College, the Blue Ridge Community College in Henderson County, Haywood Community College in Haywood County, Mayland Technical Community College in Mitchell County and McDowell Technical Community College in McDowell County.
Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College offer a variety of fantastic curriculums, including early childhood, basic accounting, civil engineering technology, dental hygiene, nursing, cosmetology, automotive systems technology, biotechnology, basic law enforcement training, marketing and retailing, criminal justice, business administration, welding, and Web technologies.
Plus, at Blue Ridge Community College alone, more than 15,000 students in Henderson and Transylvania counties take advantage of its Continuing Education Program each year, according to the college’s Web site at www.blueridge.edu.
The college’s wide variety of continuing education courses span everything from cooking and nutrition, to photography, to fire and rescue and emergency medical services, and to gardening, crafts, and sewing.
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is a public two-year community college with a curriculum enrollment of more than 9,000. Add that to an extension enrollment of more than 17,000 students and it makes the school one of the largest in the North Carolina system.
If you are looking to continue your education in hopes of jumpstarting your career, you are in luck, as the school’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education offers classes and training programs and Basic Skills.

Public Schools
As the Western N.C. population continues to increase, the public school systems in the area are meeting the demand while not sacrificing on academic achievement. Schools of Excellence, Honor Schools of Excellence, and Schools of Distinction rankings have been awarded in nearly every county.
Public school systems in the region include Ashe County Schools, Asheville City Schools, Avery County Schools, Buncombe County Schools, Henderson County Public Schools, Haywood County Schools, Madison County Schools, McDowell County Public Schools, Rutherford County Schools, Transylvania County Schools, and Watauga County Schools.
Some ongoing challenges include monitoring schools for possible overcrowding, planning for current and future growth, and helping each student achieve academic excellence.
The good news is that the schools in the region are meeting these challenges head on with several construction, renovation, and expansion projects, while continuing to progress in academic achievements.