A new agreement promising transfer students nearly three-quarters of University of Washington Tacomas (UWT) undergraduate seats was signed Friday by University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert and representatives from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The agreement promises at least 1,300 of UWTs upper-division full-time equivalent enrollments, and at least 72 percent of available UWT undergraduate seats, will be reserved for qualified community college transfer students.
This agreement makes clear our partnership between universities and community colleges, said president Emmert, during a signing ceremony, which included Gov. Christine Gregoire and members of the business and higher-education communities. Were glad to be a part of it.
Legislation is currently moving through Olympia that would allow UWT to begin accepting lower-division students in 2007.
Gov. Gregoire reported that her experiences meeting prospective employers in the state have informed her that there is concern about the higher-education structure in the state. We are importing more college graduates than we should ever have to, she said. This agreement is a tremendous success.
With the addition of freshmen, UWT is positioning itself to meet the states need for expanded four-year opportunities.
The agreement calls for co-admission and co-enrollment agreements to be completed by December of 2006. It will remain in effect through the 2010-2011 academic year, when it will undergo a review. The agreement also promises that community college students will have ample information to use for academic planning and full access to UWT majors. Partners in the new agreement believe that students attending any of UWTs partner community colleges should be in a position to know that if they succeed well at their community college and meet the standards for admission at UWT, there should be a space available when they complete their lower-division studies.
