The articles focusing on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign left the impression that major new investments on the north campus, where engineering and computer science programs are concentrated, were somehow detrimental to the rest of the university and took away from undergraduate education.
In fact, the University and Engineering College administrations should be praised for bringing to fruition a ten-year plan to maintain the U. of I.`s world leadership in both undergraduate and graduate engineering. During this period, the U. of I. College of Engineering has established itself as the top publicly-funded engineering school in the nation, ranking third overall.
These state, federal and privately funded investments have been critical to serving the education needs of 4,366 undergraduate engineers in 1992, nearly one-fifth of the university`s total undergraduate population.
Ten years ago most of the university`s engineering and computer science labs were in a sorry state of disrepair and obsolescence. With the rapid technological transformation of the industrial workplace, new undergraduate engineers must be trained on the most modern computer-aided design equipment. The U. of I.`s north campus now boasts one of the greatest concentrations of computers and computer-aided design and manufacturing equipment in the nation. The modern facilities have become a magnet for Illinois industry`s direct involvement in training of both undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Many undergrads must complete a senior team engineering project, partnering with a faculty member and company. The students get a real look at industry, and the company gets a usable result.
This is the kind of undergraduate education we ought to be celebrating.
