The Program

The University Without Walls (UWW) is an academic major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst designed to help adults finish their first bachelor's degree. Adult students majoring in UWW can design their own individualized, interdisciplinary program of study in a wide range of high demand areas, take 100% online, blended, or on-campus courses, and earn up to 30 credits for life and work experience.

The UWW curriculum emphasizes the enhancement of communication and critical reading and thinking skills. Student centered and interactive, UWW's courses use small group discussion, research and writing to give students the opportunity to make powerful connections between their academic learning and their real world experience. As part of UWW's commitment to the role that work and other experiences can play in education, most students develop a credit-bearing portfolio describing and analyzing the learning they have gained through experience.

Most students in UWW are working adults with family and community responsibilities that make obtaining a bachelor’s degree through a conventional route difficult or impossible. For this reason, UWW offers comprehensive and supportive advising from the first day of class through graduation.

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