Framingham State inks WPI transfer agreement for in-demand degree programs

Photo | Courtesy of Framingham State University Framingham State President Nancy Niemi and WPI President Grace Wang sign a transfer and accelerated master’s degree program agreement on Wednesday.

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By Eric Casey

Worcester Polytechnic Institute has inked another transfer agreement with a fellow Central Massachusetts higher education institution, this time signing a deal with Framingham State University aiming to benefit undergraduate pre-engineering students and create new accelerated master’s degree programs.

The agreement, signed by Framingham State President Nancy Niemi and WPI President Grace Wang on Wednesday, allows for pre-engineering students at Framingham State who meet minimum academic requirements to transfer into WPI’s School of Engineering, allowing them to complete a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

The deal will see the two universities collaborate on three new accelerated master’s degree programs in data science, medicinal chemistry, and neuroscience. All three programs are in fields anticipated to have strong employment growth in the near future, according to a joint Wednesday press release from both universities announcing the agreement.

This is now the sixth such agreement WPI has with other area schools. In August, the school signed similar agreements with Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner and Bedford-based Middlesex Community College.

"We are proud to collaborate with Framingham State to strengthen affordable and accelerated educational pathways for STEM students,” Wang said in the press release. "We look forward to welcoming these transfer students to WPI and supporting their journey through our distinctive project-based approach.”

FSU students have already shown interest in studying neuroscience, with the minor offered by the school consistently having the highest enrollment for the university’s interdisciplinary minors.

“We are thrilled to partner with WPI on these agreements, which provide students with an affordable path to an outstanding master’s degree in three in-demand fields in the commonwealth,” Niemi said in the release. “When universities can partner to support student success and opportunity, everyone wins.”

Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.