Office of Academic & Student Affairs

Current 2020FWD Initiatives

University of Wisconsin System initiatives that support UW institutions in their work to deepen the learning and success of undergraduate students include the following 2020FWD Initiatives under the direction of the Office of Academic and Student Affairs.

• High Impact Practices: Employers seek candidates who have broad-based and integrated knowledge across disciplines; who are proficient in written and oral communication, teamwork, ethical decision making, and critical thinking; and who can apply their knowledge in the workplace. High Impact Practices (HIPs) such as undergraduate research, internships, service learning, capstone projects, and collaborative learning can promote development of the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities. Students who participate in HIPs also may be more likely to experience academic success and complete their college studies. For these reasons, UW System will provide support and resources, including through the National Association of System Heads Grant, to build institutional capacity so that every undergraduate student, prior to graduation, will participate in at least two HIPs.
• Seamless Transfer:  The transfer process must be seamless, smooth, and easily navigable for all students at any step of their educational journey. UW System continuously improves transfer tools and processes to help students who move from one institution to another, from within or outside the System. Easing the transition between UW System institutions so the transfer process is more efficient and seamless is critical to transfer student success. To enhance uniformity and consistency in transfer, the UW System will work to improve how lower division general education courses apply for students transferring within the System.
• 360 Advising: Advisors play a critical role in assisting all students in UW System schools to navigate their educational experiences and engage in career planning. Without effective, accessible advising, students may take longer to graduate, not graduate, or choose career paths that do not offer opportunities or fill needs in the current job market.
• Math Initiative: Mathematics must serve as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block for students. To remove barriers and increase student success, UW System has engaged faculty and staff representing all degree-granting institutions in an initiative to reduce the number of students placed into remedial math, improve success of students in remedial and gateway math courses, and help ensure that math courses transfer and apply for the gateway math requirement aligned with a student’s broad field of study.

Academic & Student Affairs and Restructuring

Approved by the UW System Board of Regents in November 2017, the restructuring initiative aims to expand access to higher education, maintain affordability, and create more opportunities for Wisconsin students and communities. The Office of Academic and Student Affairs is leading the advocacy for and development of academic policies related to ensuring the access and affordability mission of UW Colleges is successfully integrated, maintained, and advanced throughout UW System institutions. Additionally, through the restructuring integration of UW-Extension’s division of Continuing Education, Online and E-Learning into the OASA, UW System is deepening and expanding its commitment to post-secondary access to NEW Traditional students.

Ongoing and Past Initiatives

• Competency-based Education and Assessment: UW System remains an innovator of competency-based education and direct assessment through the UW Flexible Option and Prior Learning Assessment opportunities for returning adult students at institutions system-wide. Through a Lumina Foundation grant, UW System chronicled the development of the UW Flexible Option via a case study website and identified alternative student success metrics appropriate for returning adult students and competency-based education.
• Credit Transfer: UW System recognizes the importance of serving transfer students.  It continues its commitment to improve transfer policy and process and positively impact transfer student success.  UW System and the Wisconsin Technical College System established a transfer tool, the Universal Credit Transfer Agreement, and identified a minimum of 30 credits that are universally transferable between and across the two Systems. This work was foundational for the current Seamless Transfer Initiative.
• Development/Remedial Education: Multiple works groups built a body of knowledge to inform a common cut score for math placement, reduce placement into developmental math, and shorten developmental math sequences. This work was foundational for the current Math Initiative.
• UW System developed tools including Guiding Principles of Inclusive Excellence and identified programs and strategies to close equity gaps, as included in this 2013 Board of Regents report. The joint pursuit of equity and excellence remains core to UW System’s mission and a shared responsibility for UW institutions and System, evidenced through development of the Office of Student Success to support, retain, and graduate students.
• Liberal Education: Through the LEAP Wisconsin initiative, the UW System focused on helping students acquire the essential learning and preparation they need to take their places in the 21st-century knowledge-based, global society. This work was foundational for the current High Impact Practices Initiative. In addition, the AAC&U LEAP/Faculty Collaboratives project led to development of an Innovation Hub, a faculty collaborative website now under revision.
• PK-20: The UW System PK-20 Initiative works with internal and external partners to advance state and national PK-20 efforts, including:
  • The UW System Education Deans and Directors;
  • The UW System Institute for Urban Education;
  • The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
    • Teacher Education, Professional Development, and Licensing
    • Academic Standards Council
    • Academic & Career Planning (ACP)
  • The Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences – High School to College Mathematics Pathways: Preparing Students for the Future
  • The UW System Math Initiative
  • College Readiness
  • The UW System Board of Regents Task Force for Advancing Teachers and School Leaders in Wisconsin
  • Lumina’s Wisconsin 60 Forward with the Wisconsin Technical College System and DPI
• Veterans: UW System continues to offer the Wisconsin GI Bill, one of the nation’s most comprehensive state education benefits for veterans and the children and spouses of disabled veterans. In addition to the Wisconsin GI Bill, which eliminates 100% of tuition and fees, UW System created the Veterans Education & Transition to Success (VETS) certification program in 2015 to ensure that programs and services targeted to student veterans and their families meet a uniform standard of excellence across the system. By November of 2017 every UW System four-year campus had achieved VETS Certification.

Academic Policies

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs maintains the 100 Series: Academic & Student Affairs of the UW System Administrative Policies & Procedures. These policies cover areas including academic program planning and review, program audits, inter-institutional articulation, international education, and distance education.