Colleges of Contra Costa - Diablo Valley College

The Contra Costa Community College District values academic freedom, the freedom of faculty and students to pursue knowledge without constraint and to explore the life of the mind and express observations in an open, responsible, and respectful academic environment. Only in such a free environment can imagination thrive and intellectual skills develop.

Institutions of higher learning exist to seek the truth and to serve the common good. Academic freedom must be guarded as a basic right of all people in a free society. The freedom to think, to read, to speak, and to question is necessary for the development of an informed society.

Diablo Valley College (DVC) is one of three publicly supported two-year community colleges in the Contra Costa Community College District. The larger of DVC’s two campuses is located off Interstate 680 in Pleasant Hill, and the newer San Ramon Campus serves the south county in Dougherty Valley. Between its two campuses, DVC serves more than 28,000 students each term with a wide variety of program options. 

DVC has distinguished itself as one of the nation's most successful community colleges by offering incomparable transfer opportunities and exceptional career-technical programs and degrees to a diverse student body, while responding to an evolving need for robust adult basic skills and ESL programs. At both the Pleasant Hill and San Ramon locations, local and international students engage with high-quality instruction and support services designed for student learning and success. Faculty from DVC's various career-technical programs are in continuous dialog with the surrounding community to keep pace with emerging technologies and new skill requirements that students need to be successful in any job market. The college's unparalleled transfer programs prepare students in large numbers to be successful in four-year colleges and universities all over the state and the country. DVC continuously ranks among the top transfer pathways to UC Berkeley.

Why Diablo Valley College (DVC)

• Leadership: Students come to DVC with a variety of aspirations, interests, and abilities, and each brings to DVC a certain level of maturity and preparation. DVC recognizes that the student must decide which educational program to pursue, but feels obliged to help each student make realistic choices and to develop the skills and proficiencies appropriate to college work.
• Campus Safety: The District Police Department is the law enforcement agency for Diablo Valley College, they are first to respond during campus emergencies. The college Safety Committee focuses on the prevention of injuries and preparation for emergency response and ensures information and training is available to all employees
• Academic Advancement: Research figures recently released by UCLA's Center for the Study of Community Colleges show that DVC's transfer rate to four-year universities is 67 percent higher than the national average. Another report, released by the California Post-secondary Educational Commission, shows that DVC ranked number one in transfers in the state, ahead of all other California community colleges.