Speeches and statements
Statement re Global CampusPresident B. Joseph White I would like to report to you on Global Campus this morning and make a recommendation for your consideration.
This Board has supported the Global Campus initiative from the outset because of its mission: to increase access to quality, affordable higher education for qualified people, primarily in Illinois, who want, need and deserve a U of I education, but do not have the ability to earn it the traditional way on our campuses. America and Illinois are experiencing a crisis in higher education access and affordability. The Board has recognized that. So has President Obama, who recently challenged the nation to retake first place among all nations in our college graduation rate, a dramatic improvement from our decline to 10th place today. So also has the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s new strategic plan, about which Chairwoman Carrie Hightman will speak to you this afternoon. A state-by-state grading of higher education gives Illinois an F in affordability and a C in access. The plan intends to change that and puts access at the top of the priority list. Everyone who has studied the access and affordability challenge comes to the same conclusion. Great universities like Illinois must partner with community colleges to create high quality baccalaureate completion degree programs in high demand areas, both on-campus and on-line, to enable qualified students to have a seamless experience as they begin college near home and complete it at a four-year university. Chancellor Herman and his team are doing a great job in increasing the opportunities for on-campus baccalaureate completion at Urbana in partnership with Parkland Community College. UIC and UIS have counterpart programs. But we have not yet created the on-line baccalaureate completion option on a significant scale. Though Global Campus has multiple programs and 425 students, the academic units of the University have not come forth with the on-line baccalaureate completion programs needed for Global Campus to achieve the mission for which it was created. Recognizing this, last November the Board directed, on my recommendation, that Global Campus seek its own accreditation to free it to develop needed programs in cooperation with individual University of Illinois faculty. Global Campus staff filed a letter with the Higher Learning Commission stating our intention to seek accreditation. However, as the Board learned in March, faculty governance of the University, especially in Urbana and Springfield, has strongly opposed such accreditation. Because earning accreditation requires a high level of institutional unity among the Board, faculty and administration, I now believe that pursuing accreditation is a problematic path for Global Campus. A second option is to terminate Global Campus entirely. But this would be turning our back on a mission — increasing access to and affordability of higher education — and a means of achieving it — on-line technology — to which nearly everybody professes allegiance. On the horns of this dilemma, I turned to the faculty as I have often done during the last 20 years to seek advice. More specifically, I asked Senates Conference to be as constructive and creative about what they think we should do with regard to Global Campus as they have been vehement about that to which they are opposed. They responded. The result is a report by a task force chaired by Professor Nick Burbules — the product of a group comprised of thoughtful, experienced faculty and administrators from our three campuses. Their recommendation, which they label Global Campus 2.0, is to recommit the University to Global Campus’s access and affordability mission while “resetting” our approach to achieving it: making the campuses and their academic units wholly responsible for all on-line education and putting Global Campus resources in a support role. After receiving the task force report, I convened the officers of the University, including the chancellors and vice presidents, and we as a group reached consensus: to embrace the task force report and recommend it to the Trustees as the way forward. In addition, I have recommended to the Trustees that they require a multi-year plan from the campuses for baccalaureate completion degree programs, on-campus and on-line, so that, as former President Ikenberry said to me, this most important goal of Global Campus is not left to chance under Global Campus 2.0. And, I have recommended that the Trustees require an expedited but careful review by the campuses of Global Campus resources, human and otherwise, to ensure that the expertise we have assembled in on-line education is put to the best possible use going forward. The resolution before the Board today reflects the points I have covered here. I recommend its adoption. I deeply appreciate the Board’s understanding that our mission as a University is not exclusivity. Rather, in line with our land grand roots, it is quality, access and affordability. From the outset, Global Campus’s purpose has been to extend that mission. My colleagues and I invite your comments and questions. |
