To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "President B. Joseph White" <presidentwhite@uillinois.edu>

Reply-To: presidentwhite@uillinois.edu
 Subject: MASSMAIL - Global Campus message from President White

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 WhiteThis mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

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