DUE-Banner Image
DUE Intro
WPI is committed to providing a unique, experiential undergraduate STEM education. We believe that in order to best serve the needs of the world, we must find new ways to attract and support those who want to make a difference and to prepare them even more effectively to meet today’s global challenges. Our strategy to extend and expand our distinctive undergraduate education is threefold:
More in Four
The growing cost of higher education is under increasing scrutiny by the media and families alike. And yet, the hands-on, project-based aspects of WPI’s distinctive education are expensive to deliver. To reduce the burden on families, and to enable students to do more during their four years, by 2018, we will:
- Offer a four-year BS/MS degree that will allow WPI students to accelerate through a dual degree program at lower cost, and graduate with a competitive edge
- Offer students the opportunity to participate in a co-op program allowing them to have valuable professional experiences and earn additional money while they are students
Global Projects For All
WPI is a world leader in project-based learning, our data shows that the experience our students have during their project work is life changing, and that it matters to employers. To make sure that every student has the opportunity to take part in this signature WPI program, by 2018, we will:
- Provide a global stipend to every undergraduate student to ensure access to WPI’s signature academic experience.
- Offer PhD students the opportunity to participate in global and industrial experiences as part of their graduate experience.
- Establish a Global Impact Lab to document and disseminate impacts of global projects, and to catalog all project work at WPI in alignment with a list of WPI Grand Challenge Themes.
Major and a Mission
Major and a Mission will leverage our students’ strengths, passions and interests, and empower them to pursue a more intentional path at WPI and reflect on the connections between their academic coursework and co-curricular pursuits
- Launch a Sophomore Reentry Program that allows every undergraduate to identify their strengths, values, passions, and professional aspirations and connect them deliberately with the academic skills and experiences that will enable them to pursue and realize these aspirations effectively and meaningfully in their professional life.
- Provide access for all students to an electronic portfolio system in which students capture and explore the purpose of their education. WPI will develop a co-curricular transcript to create an official record of all activities and learning outside the classroom.
- Graduate more NAE Grand Challenge Scholars than any other university, and create a Grand Challenge Scholars Program for non-engineering students at WPI.
- Provide workshops and other opportunities for students and faculty in order to enable pathways to entrepreneurship.