University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Senate

SC.07.03 Report on Board of Trustees Meeting at UIUC, Thursday, September 7, 2006

The Board received a report from Special Assistant to the President Chet Gardner on plans for the Global Campus. He summarized the planning process up to the present point in time, and the schedule ahead. The “Global Campus,” which will eventually receive a permanent name, logo, and color scheme as a branch of the University of Illinois, is proposed to be an LLC (Limited Liability Company) along the lines of the Research Park and Illinois Ventures. It would be governed by a Board of Managers appointed by the Board of Trustees, which would include some of the Trustees as members, to be chaired by the President of the University.

The Global Campus is intended to provide wider access to higher education opportunities at an affordable cost by expanding existing online courses and programs, and in some cases establishing new ones. The eventual plan is for this entity to become an accredited degree-granting institution. Dr. Gardner emphasized that as a for-profit entity the Global Campus would need to be fully self-sustaining financially, and its business plan is being developed with this condition in mind

Dr. Gardner also stressed in his comments that the three other campuses would need to be involved in the development and oversight of the academic programs of the Global Campus.

There was fairly lengthy discussion of this proposal among the Board members, emphasizing the three themes (as Chairman Eppley summarized it) of “governance, quality, and control.”

The current schedule provides for a vote to establish the LLC and Board of Managers at the Nov 9 Board of Trustees meeting, and for the Global Campus to begin operations in January 2007.

The Board then received a report on the university budget for FY 2007 and a preview of the university budget request for FY 2008 for their approval. For FY 07 total revenues will increase by 6%. There was discussion of the level of compensation for faculty and staff, and the need to set longer-term targets for where the university wants to be in terms of competitive salaries, as opposed to merely year-to-year planning. The first year of President White’s 5/$500 plan achieved its targets.

Respectfully submitted
Nicholas C. Burbules, UIUC Senate Observer