Acceptance rate 99.8% (2014) | Headquarters Madison | |
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Subsidiaries University of Wisconsin–Waukesha Parent organization University of Wisconsin System Similar University of Wisconsi, University of Wisconsi, University of Wisconsi, University of Wisconsin–Sheboygan, University of Wisconsi Profiles | ||
The University of Wisconsin Colleges is a unit of the University of Wisconsin System composed of 13 local two-year campuses and one online campus, University of Wisconsin Colleges Online.
The campuses are:
An Associate degree can be earned at any of the campuses, including the online campus. Six of the campuses now (2013) offer a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree. The UW Colleges is also frequently used as a stepping stone in order to transfer to another institution in the University of Wisconsin System. This is facilitated by the "Guaranteed Transfer Program" whereby a student is guaranteed admission as a junior to another institution if certain requirements are met.
What is now the UW Colleges system was created after World War II, when the University of Wisconsin-Extension began operating freshman-sophomore centers across the state. 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 old UW System with the Wisconsin State Universities 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. While the two units share a single administration, they have separate provosts and retain separate identities.
The chancellor of UW Colleges is Cathy Sandeen, who also serves as chancellor of UW-Extension.