Educational Innovation empowers faculty and staff to be the agents of change for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The inherent creativity of our world-class faculty and staff will be the spark for innovative approaches to education and research, and set the university on the path to greater self-sufficiency. We will move forward by becoming more of who we are.
All across the country, public higher education is facing the challenge to provide high-quality research and education while navigating a shifting resource base. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s response is based on a culture of collaboration and creativity, and on our foundational belief in serving the state and the world. Through the initiatives of Administrative Excellence, Creative Philanthropy, and Educational Innovation, we are developing a comprehensive approach to resource stewardship.
Educational Innovation focuses on academic structures, policies and programs. It will take place concurrently in departments, units, schools and colleges all across campus. Educational Innovation can include course, curricular and co-curricular reforms, departmental restructuring and establishing new revenue. Incentives will align with innovations; units will have opportunities to reinvest the savings and revenue they produce.
We are peerless in our ability to creatively and collaboratively find revenue and mechanisms to produce quality research and solve social problems. We have never skirted this challenge; indeed, our ability to face challenges head on has made us great. Educational Innovation will allow us to continue to provide students with world-class instruction, maintain our status as a leading research university, and deepen the Wisconsin Idea of making better lives within and beyond our campus boundaries.
Guiding Principles
- UW–Madison’s mission is multifaceted, combining education, public service and scholarship. Our new revenue model must embrace all facets of our mission.
- Our commitment to shared governance is a deeply held value to be honored.
- Student learning outcomes drive innovations.
- Innovations can and should address the entire student experience—in and out of the classroom.
- Innovations should support a model of the 21st-century scholar whose workload and rewards are compatible with the needs and economy of a 21st-century society.
- Benefits from innovations must act as incentives for units generating the innovations, allowing for their reinvestment and ongoing improvement.
- Innovations in one department or unit cannot come at the expense of effectiveness or costs to other departments or units.
- Continual assessment practices will be used to assure we achieve our goals.