The University of Wisconsin System launched a new website Wednesday that they hope will help increase the number of graduates in the state by consolidating all of the online degrees programs offered by the system in one location.

The UW System hopes this website, called UW System eCampus, will help people with college credit find a way to finish their degrees easily.

“Online learning is booming, and for good reason,” said UW System President Kevin Reilly at a press conference Wednesday.

Reilly said the website should give more opportunities for nontraditional students to access degree programs while still being involved in other life obligations, like work and their family.

Reilly said out of the about five and a half million people in Wisconsin, about one million had college credit but no degree and around 60,000 of these wanted to go back to school to finish a degree.

“The primary mission of both colleges and the extension is to maximize access to the education everywhere in the state,” said UW Colleges Interim Chancellor Marv Van Kekerix during the press conference.

David Giroux, a spokesperson for the UW System, said the eCampus helps provide another option for people to pursue degrees at their own convenience. He said the portal supplies more than 70 degree programs.

“We’re bringing the UW quality to the game of online degrees,” Giroux said.

Giroux said individual campuses have set up websites with their online degrees listed before, but the new UW System site is a much higher quality and brings the campuses all together in one place.

Giroux said the UW System’s long term goal for the next 15 years is to increase the annual number of degrees earned each year by 30 percent.

He added there has been interest in a website like this for some time, and this will more accurately communicate what the UW System has to offer in a more appealing package.

“This UW-System eCampus really is about bottom line, simply put, serving our students and serving the needs of the state better,” Reilly said.