Q: I wonder if you have any thoughts on the pros/cons of using term “Continuing Education” as the tab name of our district website as the means to direct potential CE students to the right area of our website? As you know, we have 5 colleges each with a CE division but each college has a different name. Some prefer to emphasize their Corporate/Community tag; Others Lifelong Learning. The problem is we only have 1 Tab off the main page and are limited to no more than 20 characters to name it. In the spirit of full disclosure; I prefer “Continuing Education” as I believe it in more inclusive of the wide and diverse offering of our courses/programs. Others argue the “Corporate” tag does the same thing. I believe I have the most skin in this game since my division focuses most our effort on Open Enrollment courses v. contract and grant training. This puts me in a tough spot as the other colleges tend to rely of contract and grant training so you can appreciate the situation. I should point out the site will display a dropdown box showing an inventory of the type information under this tab but just feel strongly the tab should be labeled “Continuing Education” as the best way to communicate with prospective students. I’ve included a PDF of the page in question. The tab is second from the left which is currently titled “applying to SAC”. I should also point out the link to Business & Community at the top of the page.          

A: In a situation such as yours, the more inclusive the term, the better. The term "lifelong learning" possibly encompasses the broadest range of content, but there is not a shared understanding of what falls under this terminology. For example, to some it does not carry the connotation of professional continuing education, corporate training, or workforce development. The term " Corporate training " would be less encompassing and exclusive of some other types of continuing education, such as open enrollment, Professional CE, Certification programs, etc., and we would not recommend that you use this term, because it would not represent the kinds of programs you offer through open enrollment.

The most descriptive term in your situation would be "continuing education." It is inclusive, and with a drop-down box listing specialty areas under the continuing education umbrella, you would have the best opportunity to reach the largest number of people. If space is not an issue, you might consider using “continuing education and training.”