PURPOSES --

In 1970, the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities (UECU), a consortium of progressive higher educational institutions, launched the University Without Walls program. It was intended as a "utopian university", building on the innovations pio neered by the member schools of the UECU, including Antioch, Bard, Goddard, Sarah Lawrence, and other institutions influenced by the philosophy of John Dewey. UWWs espoused the value of experiential learning; individually designed, interdisciplinary maj ors; the use of community based adjunct faculty; and the inclusion of a broad age range of students, among other things.

By 1972, there were over 3000 students enrolled in 20 UWWs operating around the country. By 1976, there were 50 UWWs, some free-standing but most seeded within established colleges and universities, both public and private across the US. The UECU operat ed several of these UWWs itself, and also developed Union graduate school, a PhD granting institution designed along many of the same principles. UWWs helped pave the way for the infusion of adult students that changed the face of student bodies across t he country in the '80s.

In keeping with the mission of the UECU, the UWW movement was intended as an experiment in social change and elaborate protocols for research and evaluation were built into the original proposals. Unfortunately, the UECU fell on hard times before the dec ade of the '70s was over, and the research that had begun was never brought to fruition.

This site is dedicated to resurrecting research on the University Without Walls movement.

It is designed as an open and interactive research site, meaning that all those interested are welcome to participate, whether by taking part in threaded discussions, or by posting papers, or by archiving documents and recollections relevant to the projec t. It is hoped that the site will bring together those who have worked in or studied in or simply been interested in UWW, to complete the research that the UECU might have continued, had they the advantage of the communications technologies available to day.

Papers

Projects

People