Vocational and trade schools offer a variety of vocational certificates and associate's degrees. Ordinarily, these may require two years to complete. Many such schools offer accelerated versions of their programs for working professionals and others who may not be in a position to study full-time. For example, the Milwaukee Area Technical College and Bryant and Stratton College's Milwaukee campus offer a range of accelerated associate's degrees including business management, administrative professionals, IT network specialists, marketing management and management development.
Some accelerated bachelor's degree programs are designed for full-time students, and shorten the program by anywhere from six to 18 months. Others combine part-time classroom instruction with self-directed or online study. Another popular style of program provides a one-year upgrade for students who have already earned an associate's degree. The Milwaukee campus of Bryant and Stratton College offers accelerated baccalaureates in management, health services administration, IT, financial services and criminal justice.
Working professionals are common in graduate degree programs, and accelerated degrees are correspondingly popular. These are provided through evening and weekend programs at college campuses, distance and online learning or some combination of these. The LEAD program at Wisconsin Lutheran offers an online master's in education; while Mount Mary College offers an MBA through the part-time structure. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University both offer accelerated executive MBA programs.
One additional type of accelerated program is the combined or joint degree. For undergraduates, this type of program makes it possible to simultaneously earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree in a given major. In graduate programs, this often means combining degrees in related or complementary disciplines, and treating one discipline's core curriculum as electives for the other degree. Marquette University's joint graduate programs include engineering management, health care technologies management, and MBAs combined with law, political science or nursing.