For several decades Micronesia was in dire need of indigenous health professionals. To meet this need a proposal was made by the Community College of Micronesia (CCM, the predecessor to the College of Micronesia-FSM) to form a program that will encourage young Micronesians to major in health fields. In 1980 a grant was given to Community College of Micronesia to establish the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP)for Micronesia in an effort to address the health manpower needs of these islands. The main objective is to attract, identify, and recruit Micronesians to the health profession.
Since the advent of the program, the selection process was changed only twice. At first the panel composing the CCM coordinator, faculty, and health personnel evaluated the students who were recommended by the local coordinator of each island and selected those who were suitable for the program. The present method is to choose students with English and math scores much higher than the cut-off score of the entrance test of the college. And the high school GPA must not be lower than 3.0. The coordinator contacts these students and encourages them to join the program and pursue studies in a health related field.
Between the years of 1980 to 1997, the national campus HCOP coordinator traveled to all the major Island of the FSM, Palau, and the Marshall Islands to recruit the best and the brightest young Micronesians. The college lost the US Department of Interior grant in 1984 and again in 1987. The grant was renewed in 1989 and the college gained an additional six years of funding.
In the early years, the selected students had one year of training at the college and a committee selected the most likely students to make it in a US college or university to earn a degree in a medical or health field of his or her choice.
In 1990, the students were required to attend summer school for extensive academic preparation in math, English, and science with a practicum at Pohnpei state hospital. One day a week the students were assigned to observe at the state hospital. The students also performed tasks as assigned by hospital personnel, and make report at the end of the day. The summer program did not earn the students academic credit, it was solely intended to prepare the students for the rigors of their regular courses during the upcoming year. The summer preparatory program was very effective and it dramatically improved the performance and grades of the HCOP participants.
During the regular school year the participants were required to attend a one hour counseling-study hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:00 in the afternoon. Before the end of a sophomore's last semester, the coordinator helped the students apply for transfer to the Universities in the United States, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. A few students applied for the Mombusho Scholarship from Japan.
During the Friday sessions, professionals in health fields and allied health were invited to talk to the students about their work. The professionals explained both their academic preparation and their present work.
On the order of thirty HCOP participants were receiving a stipend of about $250.00 for two years. That small amount attracted a great number of above average students. The students graduated with an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts/Health Careers Opportunity Program.
In 1997, the funding was not renewed. The college continued the program but had no budget for recruitment, stipends, office supplies, and salary for the part-time director, part-time secretary, and the coordinator. The summer training program was discontinued. Recruiting by the coordinator was limited to the island of Pohnpei and the coordinator became dependent on the state campus directors and admissions board recruiting teams to disseminate information about the HCOP program as well as identify high school seniors who might succeed in the academically rigorous program. This process has led to a virtual collapse in the program's ability to successfully obtain academically capable students from locations other than Pohnpei in the FSM.
The institution has been unsuccessful since the 1989 award of the grant in its re-application for the extension of federal financial assistance to the HCOP project. Because of the critical manpower needs in the health fields of Micronesia, it is important that the college seek to regain participation in this federal program.
| Course | Number of sections | Enrollment1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Spring | Fall | Spring | |
| SC 101 Health Science | 4 | 4 | 63 | 81 |
| SC 122a Anatomy & Physiology I w/lab | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| SC 122b Anatomy & Physiology II w/lab | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| SC 180 Microbiology w/lab | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| SC 230 Introduction to Chemistry w/lab | 1 | 1 | 23 | 23 |
| SS/PY 101 General Psychology | 91 | 88 | 3 | 3 |
| ED/PY 201 Human Growth and Development | 2 | 2 | 35 | 39 |
| EN/CO 205 Speech Communication | 3 | 3 | 55 | 72 |
| MS 101 College Algebra and Trigonometry | 1 | 1 | 27 | 26 |
| Math Elective: MS 150 Introduction to Statistics |or| MS 152 Calculus I | 2|0 | 2|1 | 53|0 | 59|13 |
| Natural Sciences SC 240 Introduction to Physics w/lab or SC 255 General Zoology w/lab | 0 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
1 Enrollment in the bulk of these courses does not represent HCOP program students.
| Fall 04 | Spring 05 | Summer 05 |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | 66 | 41 |
| Program | # of Full time, first time students enrolled | Comp. ≤ 2 yrs | Graduation rate (2 yrs) | Comp. 2<4 yrs. | Graduation rate (>2 yrs) | Total Completers | Total Graduation rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Career Opportunity Program | 10 | 2 | 20% | 5 | 50% | 7 | 70.00% |
| Course | Students per section |
|---|---|
| ED/PY 201 | 18.5 |
| EN/CO 205 | 21.17 |
| MS 101 | 26.5 |
| MS 150 | 28 |
| MS 152 | 13 |
| SC 101 | 18 |
| SC 122A | 23 |
| SC 122B | 20 |
| SC 180 | 22 |
| SC 230 | 23 |
| SC 255 | 18 |
| SS/PY 101 | 29.83 |
| Student seats | Credits | FY 2005 budget | Seat cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1564 | 5512 | $515,313.00 | $329.48 |
| Course | Percent D or better | Percent C or better |
|---|---|---|
| ED/PY 201 | 93% | 75% |
| EN/CO 205 | 83% | 69% |
| MS 101 | 62% | 34% |
| MS 150 | 90% | 78% |
| MS 152 | 38% | 38% |
| SC 101 | 63% | 42% |
| SC 122A | 100% | 100% |
| SC 122B | 95% | 75% |
| SC 180 | 82% | 68% |
| SC 230 | 80% | 72% |
| SC 255 | 78% | 50% |
| SS/PY 101 | 78% | 64% |
| describe the structure, function, and basic pathologies of the human body. | communicate health, nutrition, and premedical information in both written and oral formats. | describe health care and allied professions. | demonstrate a foundation in basic biology, chemistry, microbiology, anatomy, nutrition, health, and physiology. | work effectively in groups to solve human life sciences and health problems. | quantify and analyze human life sciences and health problems using analytical, statistical, and computer methods. | acquire and synthesize human life science, health, and nutrition information in a critical, scientific, and technologically advanced manner. | |
| SC 101 Health Science (3) | • | • | • | • | |||
| SC 120 Biology | • | • | |||||
| SC 122a Anatomy & Physiology I w/lab (4) | • | • | • | ||||
| SC 122b Anatomy & Physiology II w/lab (4) | • | • | • | • | |||
| SC 180 Microbiology w/lab (4) | • | ||||||
| SC 230 Introduction to Chemistry w/lab (4) | • | ||||||
| SS/PY General Psychology (3) | |||||||
| ED/PY 201 Human Growth and Development (3) | |||||||
| EN/CO 205 Speech Communication (3) | • | ||||||
| MS 101 College Algebra and Trigonometry (3) | • | ||||||
| Math Elective (3) | |||||||
| MS 150 Introduction to Statistics (3) or | • | ||||||
| MS 152 Calculus I (3) | • | ||||||
| Natural Sciences (4) | |||||||
| SC 240 Introduction to Physics w/lab (4) or | |||||||
| SC 255 General Zoology w/lab (4) | |||||||
| HCOP Enrichment & study session | • | • | |||||
| Open elective (Nutrition recommended) | • | • | • | • |
In 2005 a five year plan was called for that would assess the program learning outcomes in the health career opportunities program. That document is reproduced immediately below. The source of the document is not recorded. The document was part of a packet of information distributed at an assessment workshop August 2005. The source is thought to be either the office of the director of academic programs or the institutional research and planning office. There is no attribution as to whom determined that the shown tasks were completed. Work on ensuring that all outlines are up-to-date and in the proper format is ongoing in fall 2005.
August 2004: all courses in SLO objective format. Completed.
December 2004: program learning outcomes (see above). Completed.
May 2005: Matrix analysis (see above). Completed.
August 2005: Five year assessment plan. Undone as of November 2005.
August 2005: Assessment started and data collected per assessment plan.
The resulting program would be more tightly focused on health careers and be a more reasonably achievable 66 credits than the original 70 credits in two years.
• Recommend re-seeking financial support for FSM-wide recruiting of academically capable students and for the reinstatement of the successful summer preparatory program.