I feel compelled to correct Nigel French's misunderstanding of the US tertiary education system as demonstrated in his letter headlined, 'Four-year degree not international norm' (South China Morning Post, July 13).
Mr French claimed that 'more than half of the higher education institutions in the US are community colleges which offer two-year associate bachelor's degrees'. However, this is not the case.
First, community colleges in the US do not offer 'associate bachelor's degrees'. They offer 'associate degrees'.
Students who graduate from a community college are only recognised as having completed the first two years of the regular four in a university. By no means is this comparable to a four-year bachelor's degree. In fact, many community college students attempt to transfer to a four-year university.
Apart from acting as a stepping stone to a four-year university, community colleges also provide specialised technical curriculums, such as paramedics and car/aircraft mechanics. In this sense, they are similar to the sub-degree programmes offered by the former polytechnics and Vocational Training Council in Hong Kong.
I agree with Mr French that the debate over three versus four years of undergraduate education is a long-term issue, but have serious reservations about his view that 'the expansion of university places . . . was achieved without material loss of quality'.