University of Illinois closing its online global campus

University of Illinois closing its campus because of low enrollment to its global online campus. they expected 9000 students but only had 340 students last year.

any feedbacks or thoughts.

 

9,000 online students? I have to say such expectation is a bit over the top.

As much as I LOVE doing distance education and online studies, we have to admit that there are certain shortcomings associated with such external mode.

In fact, I know a handful of countries that won't allow their government or semi-official agencies to provide any verification service for the holders of online foreign degrees or foreign degrees earned in a third country/place (often the case for students to study programs through offshore partnerships etc.). So a lot of international students still prefer to study on campus.

Even in the Internet era, online education will gradually be playing a larger and greater role but it's unlikely to outpace the traditional format, at least I don't see it happening in the next 2 decades.

Regards.

 

Short article from the Chicago Tribune on the layoffs that will occur due to the closing. Apparently they were planning to serve 9000 students with only 32 employees? Also mentions that the program provoked "anger" from faculty and that a relaunch is planned.

Edit: Apparently the Trib article is based on this more complete article from New-Gazette.com.

 

There seems to have been a number of operational missteps, but the marketing bottom line is that the name University of Illinois should have sold like hotcakes online. The second article states they were at 510 students after 18 months and the University expected at least 4,000 in three to five years; it seems they were making good progress against unrealistic goals. The University administration seems to have vastly misunderstood how difficult it would be for the Global Campus to integrate with the rest of the University. In sum, unrealistic time expectations killed that start-up venture.

 

Did this online global campus really offer programs of its own? Or was it a marketing interface, bringing DL programs originating in the various IL state universities together on one website? Are the programs that this thing offered still available directly from the universities themselves?

 

My initial question as well. Will the individual campuses maintain their online programs?

 

I know UIS had offered several MIS-related certificates that got shifted over to the global campus. To apply for them you had to submit your application there, no longer could apply via UIS. No idea of what their status is now or about other degree programs.

 

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I applied and was accepted for spring start last year. I changed my plans, and contacted my advisor- told her to take my name off the list. Every semester since then, she has placed a personal phone call to me asking if I am interested in enrolling. I knew they needed numbers, but I'm not sure why they are not seeing numbers. UoI is a great school, great reputation, not too expensive, and they have a good selection of degree options. I don't think they have stuck it out long enough- this is a growth industry, and in a few years, they could have really started to boom. Maybe they should have done more marketing.

 

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Yes to both. 2 of the campuses used to offer a few distance degrees, and the global replaced those into a one-stop-shop. In addition, over the past 2 years, they have launched a lot of degrees under the global campus. I think they will simply send the programs back to their respective campus now.

 

It's done!?! Global is gone.

http://global.uillinois.edu/

 

Wow. 9000?

I was always under the impression that UI's global campus was pretty selective in their admissions process, and that they only allowed a very small number of people into their programs (both undergrad and grad).

 

Adjuncts need only apply

 

The UIS website looks the same as always - no mention of closing it's online programs.

http://www.uis.edu/online/

 

It sounds as though all of the online programs will remain in place. However, rather than being administered and/or run through the Global Campus, the programs will now revert back to the individual schools.

 

interesting article

interesting article -
i will give them a call and see what they say.

 

I am a graduate of a UIS online program and thought I’d weigh in here. I know that when the Global Campus was just coming into being that it created quite a few concerns for faculty and students in the UIS online programs. My main concern, which I think was shared by others, was that the online programs attached to the ground campuses would be wrongly associated with the Global Campus. Based on what they were telling us, it seems that the Global Campus had prioritized size and revenue over quality. A name of a certain online educational monster was used in comparison and, to be frank, I didn’t want the kind of stigma that might bring to be even indirectly associated with my degree.

As far as I remember, the admissions standards for the Global Campus were pretty tenuous, whereas many of the online programs at UIS are harder to get into than the campus programs. More important, while I was being taught by eager tenure-track faculty from the very best schools, it sounds like the Global Campus was to be comprised of a slew of [likely] disgruntled adjuncts.

In any event, an email was sent to online students pretty early on explaining that the UIS online programs would remain independent of the Global Campus.

-RLD

 

So there's one thing that I'm not clear on. Was the Global Campus supposed to be considered a completely separate institution from the other University of Illinois campuses? If so, then I don't think this failure is as much of a surprise as I originally thought. Given the choice between taking an online program from a well-recognized bricks and mortar school and taking a similar program from the "online ghetto" of the same state university system, I'm going to go with the b&m school every time, and I suggest most people would as well.

 

Oh, that's what went wrong... failed strategy. The Global Campus was competing for faculty and students in online programs at the regular campuses. No wonder the Global Campus failed. Try deep sea diving with someone stepping on your air hose...

 

I was afraid of Stetson doing this as well. When I contacted them about their MAcc program, the full-court press I experienced seemed inconsistent with their brand image. Could've just been the account person, however.

I think more and more schools are farming out their online programs to new campuses and/or entities. That could backfire badly in the years to come.

 

I agree that the "ghetto" aspect is off-putting. One of the things I looked at before going to Regis was the description of the degree and what it says on the diploma and transcript. If I were to lie (which I wouldn't) I could tell prospective employers that I was on-campus and there is nothing to disprove it.

Regis used a third-party vendor to manage its online MBA program when I signed up. (It is called University Alliance and it handled several school's registration functions.) They handled the money part of registration, ordering books and assigning classes. It worked really well - they were very responsive. That type of arrangement may have the benefit of allowing the university to focus on what it does well - teaching - allowing the vendor to handle the nitty gritty details. I guess it all depends on how it was handled.