The Global Campus offers fully accredited baccalaureate degree completion programs and master’s degrees, as well as certificate programs. These programs are developed in partnership with colleges and academic departments of the University’s residential campuses at Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. The baccalaureate degree programs consist of the last 40 to 80 hours required for degree completion. They are targeted to students who have completed the first year or so of studies at a four-year college or university or who have received an associate’s degree from a community college. The certificate programs typically consist of three courses in a specialty at the graduate level, and if taken for credit, these courses could be used towards a master’s degree. The Global Campus may also offer non-credit programs at some future date.
The Global Campus offers degree programs developed in partnership with the colleges and departments of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Springfield. These campuses will award the degrees under their individual accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
For students, this means that your degree from the University of Illinois Global Campus will be a fully accredited University of Illinois degree.
Online education is instructor-led, resource rich, and highly interactive. It engages faculty and students in new interactions with information, each other, and the world outside the classroom. It builds a culture of lifelong learning and fortifies the skills needed in today’s information society. Many graduates of online programs have tremendous time management skills because they learned to work three shifts: job, family, and education. They have the excellent communication and IT skills that today’s employers are seeking. The most visible testimony to the effectiveness of online learning is its rapid, continuing growth, which is 10 times the overall growth rate projected for all of higher education. At this rate, one in five students involved in post-secondary education will soon be taking at least one online class. Academic leaders believe that online learning quality is already equal to or superior to face-to-face instruction, that its quality is readily assessable, and that students are at least as satisfied learning online as they are face-to-face.
Each program offered by The Global Campus has competitive entrance requirements, which are determined by the University of Illinois faculty who create the programs. Only students meeting (or exceeding) those requirements will be admitted. However, unlike the admissions processes at most residential campuses, all students meeting the admissions criteria will be admitted to The Global Campus and will be able to enroll in classes in their chosen programs of study.
The courses and programs offered by the Global Campus are designed and developed by faculty at the residential campuses of the University of Illinois. These faculties establish the academic standards and participate in teaching Global Campus courses. They also establish the criteria for admitting students and hiring part-time instructors. A committee of faculty from the residential campuses provides advice to the CEO of The Global Campus on academic issues. Class size is kept small (less than 25 students per class, with an average class size of 20 or less) to promote student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction. All instructors are required to complete a rigorous, online teaching certification program before they can teach. They are mentored by experienced online faculty members, and their teaching effectiveness will be evaluated on a regular basis.
Faculty from University of Illinois campuses have an integral role in The Global Campus. They provide the content and take part in course and program design, program oversight, and may elect to teach online courses. University of Illinois faculty will also provide oversight of the programs through the campus faculty senates to ensure the highest quality academic standards are achieved and maintained.
The University of Illinois is mission-driven. As a public university with a strong land-grant heritage, we have an obligation to provide broad access to our educational resources. Today, that access is urgently needed. The economic and social future of the country is at risk because there is a large and growing gap between the percentage of Americans who finish high school and those who get a college degree. The Department of Education Commission on the Future of Higher Education issued its September 2006 report addressing the crucial issues confronting colleges and universities: student access to college, cost and affordability, the quality and value of higher education, and institutional accountability. This report has articulated important and urgent challenges for American higher education, which The Global Campus can help address in substantive and meaningful ways. Now is the time for the University of Illinois to step forward as a leader.
