Indeed, the economy of the metropolitan area, and thus the State of Wisconsin, is itself tied to the ability of its citizenry to access undergraduate and graduate degree programs and continuing education. Purposeful growth is the linchpin of our ability to provide that access while accomplishing our institutional goals. Enrollment growth is both inevitable and strategic for us. As we embark on a five-year growth plan, it is imperative that we ensure that the quality of instruction and the scholarship undergirding teaching and learning be strengthened. Growth is inevitable because UWM's student enrollment has been steadily increasing since 1995-96 and is projected to continue to increase.
Growth is also strategic.
UWM's future is built on purposeful and planned enrollment increases. This purposeful enrollment growth enables UWM to meet increasing demand for access to quality programs, current and potential, to achieve its related goals of partnering with the Milwaukee area through The Milwaukee Idea, to grow its research and scholarship initiatives, and to achieve its diversity goals. Within this planning framework UWM plans to grow its enrollment between 2 and 4 percent per year for the next five years. This is an ongoing process that will help us produce increasingly more accurate models to help the campus and the units predict and manage enrollment change. But with such an investment, UWM will be able to sustain its program array and services and also build new program opportunities for faculty, staff, and students.