CCCs

By the Numbers

110 out of 115 California Community Colleges offer an AA-T in Political Science.

Political Science All Awards from Academic Year 2017-18 to 2021-22

Award Type2017-182018-192019-202020-212021-22
Associate in Arts for Transfer (A.A.-T) Degree1,4571,6241,8652,0431,805
Associate of Science (A.S.) degree    1
Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree163173159162151
Certificate requiring 18 to < 30 semester units37    
Certificate requiring 16 to fewer than 30 semester units 25293741
Certificate requiring 6 to < 18 semester units13272  
Source: California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office – Data Mart (cccco.edu)

Current POLS Course Descriptors

A Course Descriptor is a document that lists the status, discipline, descriptor title, units, general description, C-ID number, prerequisites, corequisites, advisories, content, lab activities, objectives, evaluation methods, textbooks, approval date, and revised date. A Course Descriptor is the document used by faculty at CCC campuses to develop a Course Outline of Record.

Visit C-ID – Descriptors Final for more information.


POLS Courses at CCCs and CSUs from 2017 to 2022

  • Overall Growth in # courses: 434 in 2017, 508 in 2020, 520 in 2022
  • Most CCCs and CSUs have American Government (AG), International Relations (IR), Comparative Politics (CP), and Political Theory (PT).
  • Less than half of CCCs and CSUs have Political Science (PS) and Research Methods (RM)

Degrees (AA-T, AA, AS) Awarded by Discipline over 10 years

The six disciplines included in this analysis are Anthropology, Economics, Ethnic Studies, History, Political Science, and Sociology.

  • Sociology has seen extraordinary growth since 2011-2012.
  • Economics surpassed Political Science and History in 2018-2019.
  • Political science has been 3rd behind Sociology and History (now Economics).

Total Enrollment by Discipline from Spring 2019 to Fall 2022

The six disciplines included in this analysis are Anthropology, Economics, Ethnic Studies, History, Political Science, and Sociology.


POLS Courses Offered in California

There were 1,117 POLS courses offered at CCCs in Fall 2022. Below is table showing counts of key term in course title. Some courses are counted twice in the table below, while others are not counted at all. The table demonstrates the wide range of courses that are offered at CCCs.

Term in TitleCount
American161
Political Science131
International113
Comparative108
Theory77
California42
World38
Global32
Ethnic27
Independent26
Race23
Middle East23
Latin/Latinx/Latino/Chicano20
Research17
Directed17
Gender15
Model United Nations14
Philosophy12
Constitution11
Women10
Community9
Black/African American7
Public Policy7
Leadership7
Public Administration7
Asia5
Urban3
Native American2
Total964
Source: California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office – Data Mart (cccco.edu)