The Roanoke Higher Education Center is a partnership between a number of institutions, giving the city's residents access to more than 200 education and job training programs. Through the center, students can access undergraduate and graduate courses from Roanoke's colleges and universities, as well as Averett University, Bluefield College, James Madison University, Mary Baldwin College, Old Dominion University, Radford University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. The center is located in an art deco building that was once the headquarters of the Norfolk and Western Railroad.
Established in 1966, Virginia Western Community College is a two-year public college located southwest of downtown Roanoke on a 70-acre campus. The college confers associate degrees and certificates in a broad range of subjects, including liberal arts, business, science, engineering, social sciences, accounting, culinary arts, horticulture, early childhood education and nursing. The college offers day and evening classes, and the average class size is approximately 20 students.
Roanoke College is located eight miles west of downtown Roanoke in Salem, Virginia. The college grants bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and bachelor of business administration degrees. The "Princeton Review" named Roanoke one of the best schools in the Southeast, and "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the college seventh in its list of up-and-coming liberal arts colleges. Roanoke is also one of 280 colleges that qualifies for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the country's oldest honor society.
Established in 1842 as Virginia's first chartered women's college, today Hollins University has women's undergraduate and co-educational graduate arts and science programs. The university's 475-acre main campus is north of downtown Roanoke. Popular majors at the college include English, psychology, studio art, business and biology. Hollins also offers teacher licensure, pre-medicine, pre-law, pre-dental, pre-pharmacy, pre-physical therapy and pre-veterinary programs.
The Jefferson College of Health Sciences is a professional college adjacent to the Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital in downtown Roanoke. The college confers bachelor's degrees in biomedical sciences, emergency services, health and exercise science, healthcare management, health psychology and nursing. It also offers nursing, physician assistant and occupational therapy master's degree programs and associate degree programs in a number of healthcare fields.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute was established in 2007 through a partnership between Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic in Roanoke. The campus is located near downtown Roanoke, next to the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. With the first medical school students being admitted in 2010, the school uses the adult-learning Patient-Centered Learning model in its curriculum. This approach uses patient-centered education and reduces the amount of passive learning through lectures.