MILWUAKEE — The Universities of Wisconsin’s College of Health Professions and Sciences is hone to more than 2,000 students.
“That can include nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, radiation technologists jus to name a few,” said Kim Litwack, Dean of UWM College of Health Professions and Sciences.
More than 80% of UWM graduates stay and work in Wisconsin. However, many of them have all faced the same delay in getting the right certification and licensing need to secure those jobs.
“It could be up to six month to get licensed because of the various delays,” said Litwack. “We’ve already certified that they have met all of their graduation requirements but the delays in getting processed delays them getting into the workforce.”
Tuesday morning, the Universities of Wisconsin and the Department of Safety and Professional Services announced the LicensE Educator Access Portal or LEAP. It is a new tool helping students close the gap in time between graduation and certification completion.
“LEAP is a tool that enable higher education partners throughout Wisconsin to interact directly with our licensing system and to facilitate and expedite the licensing of the students in our department,” said Dan Hereth, DSPS Secretary-Designee.
Hereth said they’ve seen about a 25% reduction in wait times for students. He said this is an essential fix for students relying on the completion of this process to begin their careers.
“The primary time frame that we’re talking about has to do with the necessity of being approved for post graduation, taking national exams and then it’s the time frame in which they are spending time studying and taking those exams,” said Hereth.
“We need workforce, we need a healthcare workforce and the faster we can get students through their educational program and into the workforce it’s a win for the state,” Litwack.
A full roll-out of LEAP is expected to be in place for the graduating class of Spring 2024.
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