A decrease in the number of minorities admitted to colleges, including NIU, and plans for offering courses in DuPage and Kane counties were two topics discussed at a press conference conducted by NIU President John LaTourette.

At the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology in Sycamore yesterday, LaTourette said NIU recently has completed a minority student profile. The profile was in response to the Terrel Bell report conducted by a 22-member commission from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The NIU profile confirmed the Bell report locally.

The Bell report cites a major reduction in minorities entering college due to increased dropouts from high school. In some cities, the dropout rate among minorities is 45 to 50 percent, LaTourette said. Of those minorities who do graduate from high school, about 25 percent meet NIU’s requirements for regular admission.

LaTourette said this problem is significant for NIU because more than 85 percent of minorities in Illinois live in the 23 counties served by NIU. He said the Bell report predicts minorities will compose one-third of the 18- to 22-year-old age group by 1990.

The major problem is under-preparation for college. LaTourette said there are three programs he would like to see implemented to help minority students prepare for college and graduate from college.

First, a program for pre-high school students to encourage younger minorities to start thinking about going to college. LaTourette also proposed a summer program for minority students admitted under the CHANCE program. Under this proposal, these students would receive eight weeks of training for college the summer before they started. He also called for more support for CHANCE students during the sophomore year to help prevent them from failing.

LaTourette also called for more off-campus programs to serve the Illinois-5 corridor, which encompasses parts of DuPage and Kane counties.

e said in the spring of 1988 he hopes to see some courses in management information systems under the Masters in Business Administration degree in DuPage County. These courses will be offered at the College of DuPage if funding is available. The MBA emphasis in DeKalb is accounting, but he said there is a greater need for management information systems in this area.

A change in the way off-campus programs are presented also is needed, LaTourette said. Most off-campus courses are offered in the evening, but he said students would be able to take more classes if they were offered on weekends. Students can progress faster by taking two to three courses on Friday nights and Saturdays, he said.

Engineering technology courses also are needed along the I-5 corridor. LaTourette said he would like to see supplemental courses at the junior and senior level offered to students who received engineering training at two-year colleges in the area.

LaTourette said he also would like to see off-campus engineering programs offered at Rock Valley College in Rockford and Waubonsee Community College near Aurora.

More courses will be proposed in the future when the West Suburban Regional Academic Consortium, composed of representatives of several Illinois colleges and universities, including NIU, completes its needs assessment of the I-5 corridor next summer.

The study will identify industrial clusters, interview employees to determine their educational needs and decide what programs should be initiated in the area through the year 1995, especially at the graduate level. The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved $80,000 for this study.