Western Governors University
Western Governors University
WGU is very mission driven. Created to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU’s mission has remained one of helping hardworking adults meet their educational goals and improve their career opportunities.
To fulfill the mission, the founding governors also insisted that WGU be affordable, flexible, and student-focused. Hence, WGU strives to serve as many students as possible—including minorities, first-generation college students, those with modest incomes, and others whose lives or geographic locations do not allow them to attend traditional, campus-based colleges.
WGU has flourished into a national university, serving more than 49,000 students from all 50 states, yet remains non-bureaucratic and innovative. It continues to receive praise for its academic model and to enhance its reputation with employers for the emphasis on graduating highly competent professionals.
To fulfill the mission, the founding governors also insisted that WGU be affordable, flexible, and student-focused. Hence, WGU strives to serve as many students as possible—including minorities, first-generation college students, those with modest incomes, and others whose lives or geographic locations do not allow them to attend traditional, campus-based colleges.
WGU has flourished into a national university, serving more than 49,000 students from all 50 states, yet remains non-bureaucratic and innovative. It continues to receive praise for its academic model and to enhance its reputation with employers for the emphasis on graduating highly competent professionals.
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Company Information
Western Governors University—the nation’s only competency-based, accredited, online university—is a great place to work. The university looks for leaders with a strong commitment to our mission of expanding access to higher education. We also actively engage in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and student body that includes members of historically underrepresented groups.
WGU is an innovative leader in distance higher education, receiving numerous accolades from educators and industry leaders. The university currently offers online bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in teacher education, business, information technology, and health professions including nursing.
WGU is an innovative leader in distance higher education, receiving numerous accolades from educators and industry leaders. The university currently offers online bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in teacher education, business, information technology, and health professions including nursing.
Company Contact
Company History
Truly a university without boundaries, Western Governors University is a nonprofit online university founded and supported by 19 U.S. governors. At no other time in the history of higher education have the governors of several states joined together to create a university.
View the WGU Timeline of the first 15 years
Watch a video celebrating the first 15 years
It Started with an Idea
The idea for WGU was born in 1995 at a bipartisan meeting of the Western Governors Association (hence our "western" name). Going into the meeting, the chair of the association—Utah governor Mike Leavitt—had the foresight to realize that distance learning technologies had the power to tackle one of the western states’ most pressing problems: rapid population growth confronted by limited public funds for educational services.
The governors decided then and there to create their own university. They agreed that this new university would make maximum use of distance learning technologies, would be collaborative among the western member states, and would use competencies rather than seat time as the measure of its outcomes.
View the WGU Timeline of the first 15 years
Watch a video celebrating the first 15 years
It Started with an Idea
The idea for WGU was born in 1995 at a bipartisan meeting of the Western Governors Association (hence our "western" name). Going into the meeting, the chair of the association—Utah governor Mike Leavitt—had the foresight to realize that distance learning technologies had the power to tackle one of the western states’ most pressing problems: rapid population growth confronted by limited public funds for educational services.
The governors decided then and there to create their own university. They agreed that this new university would make maximum use of distance learning technologies, would be collaborative among the western member states, and would use competencies rather than seat time as the measure of its outcomes.
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