A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.

Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults enhance their numeracy and literacy skills. Today, courses are designed for personal development of an individual and/or for employment outcomes. The educational program covers a variety of topics such as arts, languages, business and lifestyle; and are usually timetabled to be conducted in the evenings or weekends to accommodate people working full-time. Funding for community colleges may come from government grants and course fees; and most community colleges are not-for-profit organisations. There are community colleges located in metropolitan, regional and rural locations of Australia.

Learning offered by community colleges has changed over the years. By the 1980s many colleges had recognised a community need for computer training and since then thousands of people have been up-skilled through IT courses. The majority of colleges by the late 20th century had also become Registered Training Organisations; recognising the need to offer individuals a nurturing, non-traditional education venue to gain skills that would better prepare them for the workplace and potential job openings. Qualifications such as undergraduate degrees and higher are not offered at community colleges, though some community colleges do offer certificate courses I to IV.

Ocean County College is an accredited, coeducational, two-year, public, community college located in Ocean County, New Jersey. Its main campus is in Toms River. Other locations include the Southern Education Center in Manahawkin and over twenty off-campus sites throughout Ocean County.

The Toms River campus also houses the Fine Arts Center and the Robert J. Novins Planetarium. Both offer programming for the local community.

The current President is John H. Larson, who entered office in 2000. Previously, he was president of Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, PA. He holds a BA degree from Norwich University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Ocean County College received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to develop an online education model to address shortages of RNs in the hospital setting, and to create New Jersey’s first online Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program.^{[citation needed]} Although there are many online RN to BSN and MSN programs, there are very few online programs at the ADN level. The program allows those currently employed in the health care field to complete an RN program by attending class only one day per week (primarily on-site in host health care institutions) supplemented by online instruction. In November 2006 the OCC One Day per Week Nursing Program received a President's Award from the New Jersey Public Health Association honoring this online nursing program for helping to reduce the nursing shortage in New Jersey.^{[citation needed]}