PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 7, Oct. 4, 2007

Students enrolling in Global Campus for January classes

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu

Photo L. Brian Stauffer

Going global The UI’s Global Campus initiative launched a new Web site (http://global.uillinois.edu) in early September, and is on schedule to implement the required business, information technology and academic infrastructure needed to serve the first students, according to Chester Gardner, left, special assistant to the president, who leads the Global Campus. Lee Kantz, chief marketing officer, is promoting the Global Campus to prospective students through a variety of online and outreach initiatives.

Starting the first week of October, the UI’s Global Campus began taking applications for the first of its four online degree and certificate programs, which begin in January, and initiated the hard launch of its marketing campaign, intended to attract students to those programs and others expected to begin during 2008.

The Global Campus is accepting applications from prospective students for its bachelor of science in nursing degree completion program. In November, pending approval of the Urbana-Champaign Senate, the Global Campus will begin accepting applications for a master’s of education degree with a concentration in E-learning and two graduate certificate programs in foundations of E-learning and technologies for E-learning.

Chester Gardner, special assistant to the president, who has led the Global Campus from its inception, said that about 75 total students will be enrolled in the initial programs, with about 20 students in the nursing program and the remainder spread among the other three education programs.

Courses begin Jan. 2 and will last eight weeks. The second and third cohorts of students in the nursing and education programs will begin classes on May 7 and Sept. 3. Depending upon student demand, other start dates may be added later.

Another 15 degree and certificate programs – in disciplines such as engineering, labor studies, business, health care education and patient safety – are in various stages of development and could be announced in December, pending approval of the Urbana-Champaign Senate, the UI Board of Trustees, and in some cases the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Another 12 programs are being evaluated.

By September, the Global Campus is expected to offer up to 10 academic programs in partnership with six UI colleges.

“We have a healthy and rich pipeline of additional programs that we’re exploring,” Gardner said. “What’s been most impressive is the response that we’ve had from our faculty colleagues and colleges on the three campuses, who have looked seriously at partnering with the Global Campus.

“The Global Campus is providing an opportunity for us to extend a UI education far more broadly than we can today. And we are going to be able to generate revenues that can help support and strengthen academic activities in our partnering units on the three campuses, and that’s important too.”

When the UI Board of Trustees approved the $6.4 million initial financing plan and tuition and fees for the Global Campus at its July 30 meeting, facilitating the program’s January 2008 launch, the trustees stipulated that the program be self- supporting.

Gardner said the Global Campus has hired about 40 full-time-equivalent staff members, has filled all the key positions, and is on schedule to implement the required business, information technology and academic infrastructure needed to serve the first students.

The staff includes three course designers – one of whom previously designed online courses for the UI, and two other people who developed courses for other universities – who work with faculty members to create the courses.

“The help that we need from our faculty colleagues is preparing the course syllabi and content, defining expected learning outcomes, and establishing the admissions requirements,” Gardner said. “We’d like to have our faculty members teach, and we pay a 30 percent premium on the teaching stipend for UI tenure system faculty. If a faculty member in one of our partnering units serves as teacher of record or a master teacher, they get a 50 percent premium.”

Parkland College is the preferred educational partner for undergraduate prerequisite work, such as the prerequisite courses in the liberal arts and sciences that applicants must complete before entering the BSN program.

In mid-September, a new Web site for the Global Campus (http://global.uillinois.edu) went live, precipitating more than 500 inquiries, ranging from students seeking information about programs, to instructors seeking teaching positions, and general inquiries about the Global Campus.

Lee Kantz, chief marketing officer for the Global Campus, said the Global Campus’s marketing activities will be a mixture of online promotion – such as listings in educational directories,  e-mail and search marketing – as well as outreach to hospitals, professional associations and organizations and corporations.

During December, the Web portal for the Global Campus will be activated, facilitating the online business and service functions, such as enrollment and tuition payment and requests for information and transcripts.

“I’ve been amazed at the amount of work and wide variety of details that must be addressed in order to enroll students and provide them with classes,” Gardner said. “As a faculty member I had little appreciation of what it really takes to operate an educational institution and how much our staff members contribute. Now I do, and I’m humbled. The Global Campus staff has worked very hard to get us to this point, but this is a team effort, and we’ve had enormous help from our partnering colleges and from faculty and staff members such as Keith Marshall, associate provost for enrollment management in the Office of the Provost; Stacey Kostell, director of admissions, and other staff members in the Office of Admissions and Records; and Dan Mann, the director of student financial aid, and his staff in the Office of Financial Aid.

“Because of this teamwork with our academic partners and campus staff, I’m pleased to say that the Global Campus startup is on schedule,” Gardner said.

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