The News-Gazette: UI's Global Campus starting small
URBANA – Global Campus isn't exactly spanning the globe – yet.
Right now, 10 students are taking classes through the University of Illinois' new virtual campus – three in a bachelor's-completion program in nursing and seven in electronic-learning programs – and the majority are from Illinois.
Given the $3 million spent on Global Campus this year, that's not an ideal student-cost ratio, as one trustee dryly noted last week.
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While the nursing program has had difficulties, the E-learning programs have been unexpectedly popular, attracting teachers, college administrators and corporate employees hoping to manage or teach online learning, he said. Twenty new students signed up for the eight-week term that starts in May and another 25 are expected in September, well ahead of original goals, he said.
The nursing program is a bit of a puzzle. Market research showed "very high demand" for the program nationally, and initial recruiting drew 3,000 inquiries, he said. But only three people ended up enrolling.
Many of those interested were hoping to finish their bachelor's degrees quickly and inexpensively, Gardner said, and they were intimidated by the prerequisites required.
"We have high standards," Gardner said, noting the College of Nursing is ranked in the top five nationwide. "It is a demanding program."
To qualify, students must be registered nurses who have completed a number of tough prerequisite courses. Most applicants needed to take four to six courses before they could enroll, Gardner said.
To create a "pipeline," the UI made arrangements for students to take the prerequisites online through Parkland College, and 15 to 20 should be ready to enroll in Global Campus by September, he said.
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Global Campus will always attract a strong contingent of Illinois residents, who are famliar with the UI name, he said. But it's stirring more interest from across the country and even overseas, said Becky Vinzant, director of student services.
History may be on his side. Now 40,000 students strong, the Urbana campus opened 140 years ago with 44 students.
(UPDATE: edited by IP to shorten the excerpt.)
It just proves that UI name isn't worth poop beyond 150 miles... When I went to grad school at Northwestern, everybody thought UI was a joke. NU:UIUC as UIUC:EIU.
Um, isn't this what we predicted when the President took the lead on this in the first place?
Hmm, $3 million spent divided by 10 students enrolled = $300,000 each. I think they need to raise global campus tuition!
History may be on his side. Now 40,000 students strong, the Urbana campus opened 140 years ago with 44 students.
Cmon. 44 people 140 years ago was a bunch. There were only 1.2 billion people on the planet back then, and a lot less of them as a percentage were going to college. But regardless, just adjusting for population, those 44 would be like 250 people now. This makes their 10 look even worse, not better. Remember, Global Campus in 2008 can serve anyone anywhere, while in 1860 they had to take a horse or a train to school.
Curious, I'm not sure whether your post was tongue in cheek or serious, but either way, I agree with it and find it humourous. :)
Anon 12:28, Clearly you have not traveled much beyond Big Ten territory, but in Asia the University of Illinois is viewed as one of the world's leading universities, and is likely to be mentioned by any Asian if you ask them to name 5 universities in the United States. They are unlikely to have ever heard of Northwestern.
That does not mean that Northwestern is a lesser school than UIUC, but your comment reveals a very limited view of the target audience for the Global Campus.
This preeminence in Asia is related to the fact that the UIUC and its then President helped create the University of Beijing 100 years ago; facts you may not have known. Its not an accident that the UIUC is the leading American public university in terms of foreign enrollment, in excess of 5,500.
So Northwestern can claim Jane Pauley, and the UIUC has to settle for John Bardeen and the Transistor.
Please don't copy-n-paste entire articles here. Doing so robs the original publisher of hits and ad revenue. Link and excerpt, please.
I'll edit this post for you and kick to the front page. I was going to post something about this anyway.
UPDATE - I think you did excerpt, but I cut down the quotes to a more manageable size. I'm glad you posted about this, though.
I would just hasten to mention that this is the first year. And the $3 million is not being spent every year, so the investment will payoff over the long run. The benefit of the cost cannot be judged on the first year alone.
That said, ten is a low number. I would have expected more. But again, this is a program that is going to run for a long time and simply judging it a "disaster" after the first year is very short-sighted.
Also, on the idea that UIUC is somehow equal to EIU in the eyes of NU: I think it depends on the school. The College of Education at UIUC, for example, is inferior to ISU in almost every way. On the other hand, the College of Engineering is in the elite class, up there with MIT. While the college of Liberal Arts might not be as excellent as NU's (and their journalism school is really top-notch) that hardly means the U of I is a joke.
UIUC and asians, of course.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the perception of online education in general. Pretty much all the ads I see for online education are for institutions that are less than impressive, not to mention the huge number of diploma mills out there.
Yeah, if "Global Campus" is such a great idea, why ain't Princeton doing it, why ain't Yale doing it, why ain't Haavaad doing it?