West Virginia Community and Technical College System is a statewide system of nine regional
community colleges serving the state of
West Virginia. It was created to bring uniformity to the state's system of community colleges. Previously some area had schools that were a part of large universities, others a part of small colleges, and others were stand alone. There also was a great overlap between different community colleges and between the community colleges and the state universities in the same areas. The system tries to define the programmatic distinctions between the community college and the state universities, and the geographic service area of each community college.
BridgeValley Community and Technical College, commonly called "BridgeValley", it is a merger of Bridgemont Community and Technical College and Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College and maintains both campuses and all course offerings of the former schools. The
Montgomery campus (formerly Bridgemont) serves the upper Kanawha Valley region, and the
South Charleston campus (formerly Kanawha Valley) serves the greater Charleston metropolitan area.
Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, commonly called "Eastern", is based in
Moorefield. This college serves the
Potomac Highlands of West Virginia by offering classes throughout Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Pendleton, and Tucker counties via their Discovery Centers. Eastern has a Technology Center located in Petersburg, WV. This college offers baccalaureate transfer programs, customized degree options for adult learners, career and technical training programs, and workforce education options. Programs of study include accounting, administrative support, art, automotive repair, business, computer technology, early childhood development, electromechanical technology, information technology, maintenance, medical assistant, nursing, wind technology, and numerous skill sets and short term training options in the education, energy, healthcare, information technology, maintenance, and transportation industries.
West Virginia University at Parkersburg, commonly called "WVU Parkersburg", was founded as the "Parkersburg Branch of West Virginia University" in 1961 before going through other name changes and was formerly a regional campus of West Virginia University. The Jackson County Center in
Ripley, West Virginia is a smaller center of WVU Parkersburg. WVU Parkersburg is the only member of the system allowed to be independently accredited to offer four-year degree, and is classified as a four-year college by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.