Guiding Principles
Extended University serves as UTEP's hub for nontraditional academic programs, professional training and education, and community enrichment. Its units include: the Center for Instructional Design, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Professional and Public Programs, and UTEP Connect.
Launched in 2014, UTEP Connect is a suite of fully online degree programs with the goal of making exceptional, affordable education accessible to anyone who has the ambition to learn and the drive to succeed. It combines the quality and engagement associated with earning a degree on our campus with an online education's flexibility and convenience. While many UTEP Connect students are new to UTEP, a large percentage are students who have started their degree with UTEP and took a pause before finishing their bachelor’s degree, or they are graduate students who are returning to UTEP to further their education.
UTEP Connect staff assists academic programs in the administrative aspects of offering an online degree or certificate program: marketing, student recruitment, undergraduate advising, scheduling, state authorization, enrollment management, and so on.