University of Illinois to close aviation program - chicagotribune.com
By Jodi S. Cohen Tribune reporter 4:38 p.m. CDT, July 17, 2011
University of Illinois officials have decided to shut down its Institute of Aviation after 50 years, pending approval by university trustees this week.
The program, at the university's
Urbana-
Champaign campus, has fewer students than any other program on campus. It came under review last year as the university looked at ways to cut costs. Some had argued to keep the unique program, and the Faculty Senate voted 57-54 this year against cutting it.
The proposal before trustees says the institute should be closed and its undergraduate programs discontinued "because of its high cost, declining enrollments, adverse impact on the campus academic profile, and the relative weakness of the Institute's connection to the central mission of the campus."
The program trains and certified pilots and offers degrees in aviation human factors, a psychology-based discipline that focuses on improving flight safety. That bachelor's program would be eliminated, but the university is looking at ways to make flight training available to students, possibly through a community college.
The institute wouldn't close until current students can complete their studies, likely at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
After a decade of enrollment declines, only 34 freshmen started the program last fall. Students in the program consistently have among the lowest ACT scores and high school class ranks on campus, officials said.
Officials have estimated that closing the program would save at least $500,000 a year.
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