Et tu, Kreibich?

You know its a rare moment of glory for the University of Wisconsin when Rob Kreibich, a state representative known for his distaste of campus policy, goes out of his way to congratulate UW.

But, alas, the deal struck between the system's flagship university and MATC seems to be cause for just such an occasion, as Mr. Kreibich glowed in a press release:

The Chair of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee praised UW Madison's announcement that formalizes credit transfer agreements with three Wisconsin Technical Colleges that addresses one of the most frequently voiced concerns from students. Kreibich says there is no reason such an agreement only involves one four-year UW institution. "This is a giant step forward in creating a seamless and more efficient post secondary system in Wisconsin," Kreibich says. "Students will save both money and time knowing credits they take at a technical college will automatically count when they switch to a four-year university."

Kreibich says this agreement should lead to the other 12 four-year UW campuses following the example of our flagship Big Ten school. Kreibich says the issue of credit transfers has received more scrutiny and led to recent agreements between leaders of the UW and Technical College System. Given tight budgets, and the need to increase the number of Wisconsin residents with four-year degrees, Kreibich says improved credit transfer agreements is one way to serve more students, and lessen the time and cost of a college education. Kreibich says UW System officials should seize on the UW-Madison announcement and encourage other four-year institutions to create articulation agreements with technical colleges in their respective regions of the state.

To good to be true? You bet.

There is an interesting angle taken in the final paragraph of Mr. Kreibich's release:

The Eau Claire lawmaker says the UW-Madison agreement also signals that two- year UW campuses should be absorbed as satellites of four-year institutions. "We don't need two-year UW Colleges duplicating what many two-year technical colleges offer," Kreibich says. "We need to redefine the mission of the two-year UW campuses, and better utilize the 13 two-year colleges that collectively serve only 9,000 full-time students." Kreibich says making them branch campuses of four-year institutions would give students currently on two-year UW campuses everything they have now, plus the option of earning a four-year degree without having to transfer and possibly move to a four-year institution. "Technology and increased mobility of our citizens can allow us to reach out to students on two-year UW campuses and offer the chance to earn four-year degrees in more remote parts of the state.

Apparently the representative's message is simple: good for UW and MATC, and this proof that schools like MATC can only make progress at the peril of two years schools. Never mind that there is a fundamental distinction between a technical college and a two-year college.