The Concordia University System (CUS) is an organization of five colleges and universities and one satellite campus in the United States that are operated by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). All of the institutions are named "Concordia"—a reference to the Latin title of The Book of Concord, the collection of Lutheran confessions—and all include professional church work programs as part of their curricula. The CUS was formed in 1992. In 2011, 28,421 students attend Concordia University System institutions.[1] In 2021, the official website for the system claimed an enrollment of over 35,000 students.[2]
Each Concordia except the one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is independent and has its own president, faculty, and board of regents; Concordia University Ann Arbor is now a satellite campus of Concordia University Wisconsin. At the same time, the schools interact with one another and share some resources and services. One service offered by the CUS, the Simultaneous Enrollment Program, allows any student enrolled at one Concordia to attend another CUS college for up to a year as a "visiting student". During that time, visiting students are considered to be enrolled at both CUS institutions simultaneously.
The 2019 convention of the LCMS passed Resolution 7-03 to create a new governance model for the schools. In February 2021, a committee appointed the synod's board of directors tentatively proposed a new model under which each school's board of regents and administration would be responsible for its own property and business matters, while the CUS would be replaced with a Commission on University Education which would govern the "ecclesiastical functions and connections of the schools" and would establish "ecclesiastical accreditation process". The plan is not complete and the committee is receiving comments from interested parties in the LCMS.[3]
Campuses
The six campuses in the Concordia University System are:
