Competency-based learning is the future of higher education.

Thousands of WGU Texas students are getting the opportunity to rewrite their stories thanks to our 21st century approach to higher education:

• Technology working for the student
• Innovative approaches to when and where students take a course and just how quickly they can complete it
• Mentorship model that is essential to student success
• Competency-based education (CBE)

Competency-based education reimagines higher education by measuring actual learning – that is, competency – rather than merely time spent in a seat. CBE recognizes adults have different levels of knowledge and learn at different rates. Rather than enrolling in semester-long courses with fixed schedules, students advance through courses as quickly as they can demonstrate mastery of the material.

CBE is ideal for adult learners, who come to college with different learning styles, responsibilities and existing obligations, and a wide array of knowledge and skills. Students study and learn on a schedule that best fits their lives – with regular one-to-one instruction by course faculty and ongoing support from a program mentor who stays with them throughout their academic journey at WGU Texas.

Forbes magazine recently published findings of a Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) commissioned study on competency-based education programs. In part, the study measured the career and financial outcomes of graduates from other comparable traditional nursing and teaching programs and WGU. They found that CBE programs are just as good as traditional programs, and often less expensive. 

And a recent case study Aligning the Business Model of College with Student Needs by Alana Dunagan of the Christensen Institute discusses how the WGU model is disrupting higher education and the potential of the CBE approach. 

WGU’s programs and courses are designed with ongoing input from academic and industry leaders to ensure their relevance to employers and the specialized needs of a changing workforce. Our defining principle is a focus on the student—every initiative is evaluated and prioritized based on its impact on student success.

We are proud of our innovative model and the high rates of student success that it helps to produce. Our competency-based education model isn’t for everyone—no academic model is—but we are confident in ours.

And in a 2018 Gallup report, our students agree with our academic model for success.

• The full-time employment rate of WGU graduates exceeds that of graduates nationally, graduates of public and private not-for-profit universities and other nontraditional graduates by almost 20 percentage points, on average.
• Two-thirds of WGU graduates strongly agree that they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams — a rate substantially higher than that of graduates from comparison group institutions.
• 72 percent of WGU graduates strongly agree that their education was worth the cost, a percentage that more than doubles that of private not-for-profit graduates who say the same (31 percent).
• 74 percent of WGU graduates say they are extremely likely to recommend the university to their family, friends, and colleagues.
• 69 percent of WGU graduates who strongly agree that WGU was the perfect school for people like them surpasses — by 33 percentage points, on average — the percentage of their comparison group peers who hold the same view.

The effectiveness of WGU’s learning model and student focus is demonstrated in results—a graduation rate significantly higher than other institutions serving adult learners; student, graduate, and employer satisfaction levels that outpace the national average; dramatically lower student debt levels, which continue to decrease annually; and better employment outcomes for our graduates.