The continuing education division of Coastal Carolina Community College has a rather lofty goal. As stated on its Web site‚ it aims to “upgrade the occupational skills and knowledge of individuals at all levels of labor and management.”

It’s a goal that’s also being well met. Boasting more than 15‚000 enrollees‚ Coastal Carolina’s continuing education programs meet a wide spectrum of job performance and professional development needs. Courses of study range from computer training – including programming and certification training – to business skills‚ health-related studies‚ and industry‚ trades and technical courses.

Coastal also partners with businesses‚ the military and local governments to offer customized training programs for various organizations.

One of the most exciting – and unusual – of these customized courses is one you probably won’t find at any other community college in the nation: a survival-level Arabic language course‚ geared toward the military population. In this intensive four-week course‚ students spend 160 hours of class time learning over 600 words.

“Graduates have to get up and speak in Arabic‚” says Layne Harpine‚ director of professional development and custom­ized training for the school’s division of continuing education.

“We have graduated 1‚500 Marines and sailors from this course. The feedback is that some of these students have been able to defuse potentially hostile situations in Iraq.”

And the military isn’t the only group requesting customized courses. Marine Federal Credit Union has sent its staff to school workshops. City and county government workers are linked for mutual learning and skill sharing. Spanish classes for Onslow County teachers are brought onsite to hone communication.

Too busy to go to college? No problem. Lunch and Learn workshops cover topics like creating a positive image‚ leapfrog ging your competition or understanding how to serve different generations – all over lunch.

Harpine is also proud of the profes sional development courses offered. Six Sigma is a quality- and performance-management system that projects outcomes and focuses on process refinement and teamwork.

“We have people coming from all over the world to take this course‚” Harpine says. “We are one of only a few community colleges that offer it‚ and the only one in this area.”

Coastal has recently added the nationally recognized American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers certification course to its roster‚ one of only 60 schools nationwide to offer the program.

Harpine says the college’s success lies in the outstanding pool of adjunct instructors – more than 400 strong‚ affordable fee structure (Coastal is one of the least expensive schools in the country)‚ and a broad range of continuing education and customized learning opportunities.

The triple-whammy of assets leads Harpine to make a claim that he considers a statement of fact‚ not an idle boast.

“We are‚” he says matter-of-factly‚ “considered one of the best schools in the state.”