URBANA – University of Illinois trustees voted Tuesday to create a virtual campus to give the state’s higher-education flagship greater reach and a new source of revenue.

The go-ahead followed a unanimous vote, but came only after a lengthy debate and obvious unease among some board members.

“I just have a feeling that there are issues that need further exploration,” trustee Robert Sperling said. “I hear a kind of tenuous voice, a certain concern.”

University President B. Joseph White told Sperling and others that the time for further talk had passed.

“You can only go so far telling your kid what it’s like to ride a bike, and then you’ve got to put the kid on a bike,” White said.

The Global Campus will begin operating in 2008, with a projected enrollment of more than 9,000 students after five years, university officials have said.

At that point, the university expects the Global Campus to generate more than $10 million a year that could be used elsewhere within the university system.

Faculty from the three university campuses – Champaign-Urbana, Chicago and Springfield – will design and control the online courses, with bachelor’s and master’s degree programs expected. Students will be awarded degrees through existing academic departments.

Initial offerings, according to a university news release, are planned in high-demand areas such as nursing, K-12 teacher training and business.

Trustees provided the new campus with $1.5 million in general revenue, as well as $750,000 a year for 2007 through 2009 from other sources.

More funding will be needed, $20 million, and will be requested through the normal budget process, they said.

The decision followed about an hour of debate among trustees, faculty and others at the meeting over the details of the new campus that some said were lacking.

Terry Bodenhorn, who teaches Chinese history at the Springfield campus and is chairman of the university Senate conference, said faculty fear both the possibility of relying on online offerings from other institutions that university faculty have no control over – a possibility, according to White.

Some faculty also continue to worry that the new campus could compete for students with the Springfield campus, almost half of whose students also take at least one online course.

“I also have a concern about the financial model you have put together,” trustee Niranjan Shah told White. “I think before we start, some of the fundamental questions must be answered without any ambiguity.”

White appeared frustrated by the questions, many of which he said already had been answered during earlier discussion.

“I think we have learned everything we can through consultation,” he responded to a suggestion from Sperling that the Global Campus be further studied.

White has championed the online initiative since he took office in 2005. After the meeting, he said the new campus, through its performance, could easy many of the concerns raised Tuesday.

“Nothing breeds confidence like success,” he said.

To read about the development of the Global Campus Partnership from the beginning: (most recent first)

Trustees discuss revised online course system

Global Campus ‘Partnership’ more inclusive

Online plan under attack by UC Senate

Student senators worry that initiative will cheapen quality of University degree

Trustees look to expand online