NIU has had off-campus courses for a while, but how NIU responds to the academic needs of the “high technology corridor” near the East-West Tollway in the western suburbs might determine its future.

Bill Young, dean of the College of Continuing Education, said he is concerned about NIU’s educational involvement in the high-tech corridor because “NIU’s future will be determined, to some degree, on how we respond to the needs of the corridor.”

Young said the Council of Academic Deans will discuss NIU’s academic involvement in the corridor in March and might make a recommendation of action by May. The Council of Academic Deans is comprised of 10 NIU academic deans, library Director Theodore Welch, acting Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer and Provost Kendall Baker.

Young said NIU must respond to a study done by the West Suburban Regional Academic Consortium, which outlines the educational needs of the high-tech corridor. The WSRAC report was an Illinois Board of Higher Education sponsored study which determined the demand for academic programs along the Interstate 88 (formerly Illinois 5) corridor east of Aurora in Chicago’s western suburbs, Young said.

Douglass Day, IBHE associate director of academic affairs, said the study made “an educational needs assessment” of the corridor. “The report was a look at that west suburban area to see what was there and what was needed,” he said. The study also determined what kind of programs the businesses in that area needed, Day said.

The study showed a need for technology and advanced graduate courses in the corridor area, which is the home for many science-oriented businesses, Day said.

Ross Hodel, IBHE deputy director of public affairs, said the study was done more than one year ago.

The IBHE fiscal year 1989 budget made a recommendation for $3 million in appropriations to plan a multi-university graduate research center which might be located near the DuPage and Kane County area, Hodel said.

NIU, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Champaign and the Illinois Institute of Technology are among the universities that might participate in the graduate research center, Hodel said. The center would teach science and technology courses such as high-energy physics, he said.

Hodel said planning is scheduled to begin in July if funds are available. He said the planning costs of the project are usually 8 to 10 percent of the project’s total cost.

NIU is involved in a multi-university center which is located at the College of DuPage in west suburban Glen Ellyn, Young said. NIU graduate and undergraduate courses are taught there, he said.

Young said most of NIU’s off-campus courses are in the northwestern suburbs, along the I-88 corridor and in Rockford. Some of the graduate courses include business administration, education, library information studies and public administration, Young said. Some of the undergraduate courses include nursing and general studies, he said.