Our Mission

To create, integrate, transfer and apply knowledge.

Our Objective

To sustain and strengthen our position of preeminence in research and higher education.

University of Wisconsin-Madison: Building Value for the People of Wisconsin

Our Strategic Priorities and Goals for 2007-09

• Amplify the Wisconsin Idea
• Promote Research
• Advance Learning
• Accelerate Internationalization
• Nurture Human Resources
• Enhance our resources and their strategic use

Advance Learning

Undergraduate Education

Goal 1. Cultivate, develop and nurture ways for students to engage fully in the Wisconsin Experience.

Students benefit from their “Wisconsin Experience” — a culture that engenders a belief that one’s work and life should be meaningful and have real impact on our world. We see evidence of this belief every day, as our students go on to volunteer and play leadership roles in Wisconsin, the state and the world. To enable these successes, we provide research experiences, global and cultural competencies, and leadership and activism opportunities. We help students apply knowledge in real-world settings through internships, service learning and community-based research.

Graduate and Professional Education

Goal 1. Develop an integrated approach to funding support for graduate students.

We must enhance our recruitment and funding efforts to compete with our peers for attracting the best students. To do so, we will assess and build on recruitment best practices, monitor the policy on graduate assistant tuition remission, and address tuition remission issues for fellows and trainees.

Goal 2. Create efficiencies in diversity recruitment and degree approval/review processes.

Recruitment of graduate and professional students from diverse backgrounds is crucial to the continued excellence and relevance of our programs and to the success of our graduates in an increasingly global and diverse economy. Campus units will work together to develop policies and processes to meet anticipated increases in doctoral degrees beyond the PhD and established professional degrees.

Goal 3. Broaden professional development opportunities for graduate and professional students.

It is critical for graduate and professional students and postdoctoral scholars to be trained in responsible conduct of research and to be engaged in contributing to the Wisconsin Idea. We will broaden ways that graduate and professional students can participate in professional development and community-engagement activities.

Lifelong Learning

Goal 1. Sustain and strengthen our national stature in continuing education.

UW–Madison is considered a national leader in the provision of continuing education. To preserve this stature, we must respond to the needs of people in various markets. Cross-campus leadership will ensure the viability of these programs, which operate on a program-revenue, self-supporting basis and currently serve more than 135,000 learners via continuing education, credit outreach and independent-learning courses.

Goal 2. Expand educational services and lifelong learning programs.

The volume of demonstrated interest in lifelong learning programs creates a steady market for these programs. We will continue to expand our services beyond the thousands already being served, including part-time and non-degree students, learners in retirement, alumni, donors and youth.

Goal 3. Foster learning opportunities for part-time and nontraditional students.

Working adults who cannot easily leave their jobs and attend school full time are seeking continuing education opportunities. We will foster and support new courses, capstone degrees, certification programs and degrees, including the development of new master’s and capstone degrees, and certificate programs that serve working adults throughout the state and region.

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