As of September 2020, Western Governors University (WGU) serves 134,719 students nationwide, with a global network of more than 200,00 graduates. The majority (more than 75 percent) are from federally-defined underserved populations: low income, minority, first-generation college students, and rural students. The opportunity to complete an academic credential, regardless of time or place, and to accelerate through areas for which past opportunities have developed competency, result in WGU being the best postsecondary education option for many. In 1997, WGU pioneered competency-based education measuring learning rather than time. Competency units correlate to course outcomes without regard for the time it takes a student to master them. Students receive course credit when they have passed the required objective and performance assessments. WGU’s high standard of mastery has been designed to equate to a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. WGU's Teachers College was the first exclusively online university to receive accreditation for its teacher licensure programs from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). In 2018, it received accreditation from the Council of the Accreditation for Educator Preparation (CAEP) with no stipulations nor areas for improvement.