University of Illinois

President // Speeches and Statements

GLOBAL CAMPUS MESSAGE TO UNIVERSITY FACULTY & STAFF
B. Joseph White President
January 8, 2007  

Happy new year.

I write to add my voice to the vibrant community discussion we have been having about the Global Campus initiative, one of the U. of I.'s five strategic priorities. Those priorities are:

-- Make Urbana America's best public research university

-- Make UIC one of America's best urban research universities

-- Make UIS one of America's top five small, public, liberal arts universities

-- Enable the U. of I. Medical Center and health science colleges to meet the education, research and clinical challenges of the next quarter century

-- Make the U. of I. a national leader in online higher education through the Global Campus initiative.

Global Campus (GC) is a large-scale innovation and deserves special comment. GC emerged as a need and opportunity from our University-wide strategic planning process. A draft GC plan was completed in May 2006 and has been a focus since then of the University's shared governance process.

Now we are approaching a time of decision.

On January 8, I am convening a meeting of faculty representatives identified by the Senates Conference, as well as several deans, Chet Gardner and members of the GC planning team. Our intention is to take as a starting point the draft plan and commentaries on the plan from the faculty Senates and challenge ourselves to reach as much consensus as possible about GC design. This will enable us to make a unified report to the Board of Trustees on January 18 and to the campus Senates in the weeks after.

We have spent considerable time and nearly a million dollars doing extensive research and planning to enable our community to make a well-informed decision on whether and how to make the U. of I. a national leader in online education. In this letter, I want to address the following matters:

-- Why Global Campus?

-- What are the controversial elements of the plan?

-- What are the risks in launching (and not launching) Global Campus?

Why Global Campus?

The Global Campus initiative is driven by mission, mastery and money, in that order.

Mission: Today 85 percent of Americans graduate from high school but only about 30 percent from college. This massive education gap is thwarting achievement of individual dreams and impairing America's competitiveness in the global economy. The University of Illinois' mission as a land-grant institution is to bring quality education to large numbers of able and motivated Illinois citizens and others. We have a moral obligation to capitalize on information and communication technology, much of which was developed at the U. of I., to extend quality education to thousands of people who don't have the personal freedom or life circumstances to spend an extended period of time on one of our three campuses. Online education is especially important in enabling non- traditional students, under-represented minorities, place-bound individuals and single parents to earn a college education. The typical student in online programs is employed and between the ages of 20 and 55.

Mastery: The future of higher education, including the residential form, will be a rich mix of in-person and online learning. Many high school students today take online courses. College students will expect and should have this option to enable them to complete their degrees in four years or less and to make education compatible with student mobility. (In my inaugural address, I showcased Jared Perry who continued his UIS education online while serving with his Illinois National Guard unit in Iraq. This is an option he would not have had as an Urbana or UIC student, and this must change.) We must rapidly grow the University of Illinois' mastery of quality online education and increase our capability to offer a large number of such courses at all three campuses. Global Campus is a means of achieving this goal.

Money: The University of Illinois is in serious need of a major new revenue source that can generate a substantial surplus to help us fund competitive faculty salaries and myriad other needs of which you are aware. We cannot count on increased state support for these purposes, and raising tuition much beyond the rate our Board has been approving could seriously threaten access and affordability. Success in research grants and contracts will help, as will success in our upcoming fund-raising campaign. But without a major new source of revenue and surplus, we are unlikely to be able to achieve our strategic priorities and have the brilliant future which we seek. Global Campus is by far our best new financial prospect. Pro forma financial statements show an annual GC revenue surplus in five years of more than $25 million. As a matter of proportion, bear in mind that for 2006-07, the increase in our direct appropriation from the state of Illinois (the first in five years) was
$10.5 million.

Controversial Elements of the Plan

My reading of the commentary on Global Campus by the various Senates suggests that there is a high level of understanding of the vision and purposes of the GC. Concerns seem to center on three areas:

-- The organizational form of GC, currently proposed to be a limited liability corporation

-- The role of the faculty, both tenure system and supplemental, and the consequences for quality

-- Future accreditation and degree-granting authority of GC.

These matters, and others, will be addressed at the consensus-building meeting on January 8. We should be flexible about organization as long as the form selected is fully compatible with success of the enterprise. With regard to faculty and quality, tenure system faculty will have course design, faculty selection and quality assurance responsibility in GC; supplemental faculty will do a substantial amount of the direct teaching.

This is not a new or unfamiliar educational model at U. of I. With regard to accreditation, in the first several years of GC, all degree programs will be offered through Urbana, UIC and UIS. While we must position GC to have the option of seeking separate accreditation and degree-granting authority at some time in the future, that decision does not have to be made now. Campus Senates will have the opportunity to weigh in on the matter when it arises, and the Board of Trustees will exercise final authority on whether and when to seek separate accreditation of Global Campus.

Risks

In the thinking of the GC team and in discussion with the Board, faculty and students, three kinds of risk have been identified in the GC
initiative:

-- Reputation risk

-- Value of degree risk

-- Operational and financial risk

If Global Campus does not achieve high quality in online higher education, the University of Illinois' reputation will be damaged. We cannot and will not allow this to happen. The tenure system faculty's central role in GC is our best means of ensuring quality.

Some students have expressed a concern that an increase in the number of U. of I. degrees as a result of GC will reduce the value of their degrees.

I have served at two universities (Illinois and Michigan), both of which have three campuses. The market-both applicants and employers-has a full understanding of these institutions and their various campuses. There is no evidence that multiple campuses serving various student constituencies have a negative effect on the value of degrees offered by these institutions. Indeed, the reputation of the University of Illinois and the value of all U. of I. degrees can be enhanced by the University demonstrating that it is the innovation leader in delivering high quality, affordable and accessible higher education.

There is significant operational and financial risk in launching Global Campus. We will need to invest approximately $20 million (an amount we can finance and partially recoup through foundation and donor contributions) before we begin to generate surpluses. Operational risks take the form of competition, enrollment and revenue shortfalls, cost overruns and other potential problems identified in a risk management analysis prepared by the GC team.

However, there is no risk-free path available to the University of Illinois. Not launching GC means that we will, to some degree, fail in our mission, in mastering online education and in securing the money we need to achieve our strategic priorities. We are, as I said in my inaugural address, at a tipping point. In one direction is a slow slide to mediocrity, which is unacceptable for the U. of I.; in the other is the opportunity (though not a guarantee) to create a brilliant future.

I thank all of you for your hard work on behalf of the University of Illinois. Thank you also for your serious engagement in the Global Campus matter. I am confident that working together, we will make the wisest possible decisions.

Sincerely,
B. Joseph White