Powered by MHEC and NEW ERA
In 2020, two nonprofit organizations, Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance (NEWERA) and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) joined forces to help high school teachers find content-specific graduate courses, allowing them to earn credits that will meet instructor qualification expectations of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
NEWERA already supported a successful search tool named Graduate Credit Quest which served teachers and featured Wisconsin universities’ course offerings. MHEC provided the connections, expertise, and funding to expand the site to help teachers and feature courses offered by universities in all twelve of MHEC’s member states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
What Is Midwestern Higher Education Compact?
The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) is one of four regional education interstate compacts in the United States, all of which advocate for and support higher education. A compact is a statutorily-created contract among the states to work collaboratively on their shared concerns and issues. The MHEC legislation that was passed in each state makes the governing body of the Compact (Commission) an instrumentality of state government in each member state. Similarly, other regional education Compacts, including the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), were created statutorily. There are three states not covered by any of the Compacts: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Established in1991, MHEC brings together Midwestern states to develop and support best practices, collaborative efforts, and cost-sharing opportunities. Through these efforts, it works to ensure strong, equitable postsecondary educational opportunities and outcomes for all. Twelve midwestern states have enacted legislation to become members of MHEC: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
What Is NEW ERA?
The Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance (NEWERA) is a collaborative of 7 public higher education institutions located in the Northeast quartile of the state, including 4 Technical Colleges, a Tribal College, and 2 of the state’s 13 Universities. This 20-year-old organization, serving 55,000 students, was formed to provide a peer group of higher education leadership that collaborates on articulation, program development, shared resources, and common community advocacy issues – including support for teachers seeking HLC credentials.
