The Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) is a statutory agency under the Ministry of Education and Youth, formed by an Act of Parliament passed in 2001 December,  to supervise and coordinate the work of community colleges in Jamaica. The Act was amended in 2023. The Council, which comprises representatives of all colleges, the tertiary and secondary levels of the education system, business and industry, held its first meeting in 2002 July and established offices in August of that same year.

At present, there are ten affiliate colleges; five community, three multidisciplinary and two polytechnic which offer programmes from the certificate, diploma, associate and baccalaureate levels as well as several continuing education courses. Additionally, they offer professional and franchise programmes and pre-university courses in collaboration with the University of the West Indies, Mona, the University of Technology, Jamaica and other universities/colleges.

In pursuance of twin objectives to supervise and coordinate the colleges’ work, CCCJ is mandated to exercising essentially three main functions; Regulatory, Promotional and Developmental.

Regulatory Function

The CCCJ seeks to determine and implement common standards in all colleges to ensure the integrity of courses from one campus to the next, with the intention of addressing a need for articulation into other educational institutions, both locally and abroad. In this regard, CCCJ:

• prescribes conditions under which persons may be admitted as students.
• considers, recommends and approves curricula to be used.
• determines conditions for holding examinations leading to awards of degrees.
• examines and assesses students’ work.
• certify/award students

Promotional Function

This role involves:

1. advising the education minister on policy and educational matters relating to the colleges.
2. promoting the interests of community colleges.
3. implementing public awareness programmes pertaining to these institutions.

Developmental Function

This function relates to:

• providing professional development opportunities for members of staff of the colleges.
• collaborating with other institutions, including those of further and higher learning, in providing educational opportunities.
• soliciting and receiving grants, donations, prizes or gifts on behalf of colleges, subject to approval by the Minister of Education and Youth.