The University of Wisconsin Colleges, established in 1971[1] was a unit of the University of Wisconsin System composed of 13 local two-year campuses and one online campus, University of Wisconsin Colleges Online. These campuses offered a liberal arts, transfer-parallel curriculum. The Colleges as a functional unit was dissolved as of June 30, 2018.
The campuses were then made affiliates of some of the four-year campuses of the University of Wisconsin System, although many of them have since been closed or are in the process of closing. [2] In addition, UW system Jay Rothman recommended in October 2023 that the branch campuses are eventually phased out as associate-granting institutions in favor of coordinating with the technical colleges in the state so students can pursue Liberal Arts coursework there. For each branch campus in question that continues to operate afterwards, it was suggested that they sell some of their facilities and pivot to primarily providing dual enrollment opportunities for high school students and non-credit corporate training opportunities for local employers. [3]
| University of Wisconsin–Colleges | |
| Image Upright: | .7 |
| Chancellor: | Cathy A. Sandeen |
| Established: | 1971 |
| Closed: | June 30, 2018 |
| Faculty: | 531 |
| Administrative Staff: | 61 |
| Total Staff: | 362 |
| Students: | 11,608 |
| Country: | United States |
As of 2018, the campuses were the following: [4]
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire:
University of Wisconsin–Green Bay:
University of Wisconsin–Platteville:
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee:
University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh:
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point:
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater:
An Associate degree could be earned at any of the campuses, including the online campus. As of 2013, six of the campuses offered a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree. The UW Colleges were also frequently used as a stepping stone in order to transfer to another institution in the University of Wisconsin System. This was facilitated by the "Guaranteed Transfer Program" whereby a student was guaranteed admission as a junior to another institution if certain requirements are met.
In 1940, the University of Wisconsin-Extension began operating freshman-sophomore centers across the state. After World War II, the UW Board of Regents encouraged counties and municipalities to donate land for this purpose, mainly to serve the influx of students enrolling after the war. After the 1971 merger of the University of Wisconsin System with the Wisconsin State Universities System to form the present-day UW System, the freshman-sophomore centers became a separate institution of the newly created system known as the University of Wisconsin Centers. The centers became known as University of Wisconsin Colleges in 1997.
In 2005, the Board of Regents partially reunited UW Colleges with UW-Extension. Although the two units share a single administration, they have separate provosts and retained separate identities.
The last chancellor of both UW Colleges and UW-Extension was Cathy Sandeen.
Due to years of declining enrollment, the UW Board of Regents voted on November 9, 2017 to proceed with a proposal that merged the physical University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses with seven of the four-year campuses of the University of Wisconsin System.[10] [11] The merger created regional clusters with two-year branches of the comprehensive four-year campuses. It would allow the system to maintain a higher education presence throughout the state's counties where college-aged students had dropped because of declining birthrates.[12] The resulting merger also allowed students to freely transfer from a two-year campus to any four-year institution within the university system.
Bower, Jerry. The University of Wisconsin Colleges, 1919-1997: The Wisconsin Idea at Work. New Past P, 2002. 978-0938627555