Established in 1971, as of 2013 approximately five-percent of UMass graduates were receiving their undergraduate degrees through the program annually.

[4] The program enrolls more students who are veterans of the U.S. armed forces than any other academic department at the University of Massachusetts.

Program-specific courses are taught by dedicated UMass University Without Walls faculty and deal with academic writing, critical thinking, research skills, and issues analysis.

Additionally, UWW also offers its own Interdisciplinary Studies degree completion program in a wide range of academic areas through flexible options.

Beginning in 2012, the UWW program began offering a "social justice residency," a one-credit, three-day, intensive course held at the University of Massachusetts' Springfield Center that teaches the "theory and practice of social justice activism, particularly as related to racial and economic inequality.