UMUC has been from the onset and will continue to be Maryland’s lead institution in distance education. In 1999-2000, UMUC offered 88 percent of the bachelor’s and 50 percent of the master’s degrees delivered via distance learning in the State. This past year, we continued our leadership through offering 382 distinct Web-based courses, 38 certificate programs, and 31 degree programs fully online. As you can see from the chart below, our online growth over the past five years has been phenomenal - from 3,842 online enrollments in fiscal 1997 to 62,686 in fiscal 2001, an increase of 1,532 percent.

Source: Office of Institutional Planning, Research, and Accountability University of Maryland University College

No other institution in the State comes close to these numbers. The sheer size of our online enrollments and our mastery of virtual learning allow us to be cited regularly as one of the top virtual universities not only in the United States, but in the world.

Last year, we received two national awards for our online programming:

• We were the 2001 recipient of the Sloan Asynchronous Learning Network Consortium Award for Excellence in Institution-Wide Web-based Programming.

• We also, in 2001, received a University Continuing Education Association Award of Excellence for our new UMUC-Verizon Virtual Resource site for faculty.

UMUC also stands today unrivaled as a provider of online education worldwide, and this offers a significant new opportunity for the State. Just think for a moment about how our classrooms are enriched by the global reach of our complex academic enterprise:

• We manage a faculty distributed worldwide (more than 500 full-time and 1,300 adjuncts). Of these, 195 are international faculty who teach with us from their home bases in 29 countries.
  
  
• We are also increasingly international in our student body. In addition to the 12,385 online enrollments in our European and Asian divisions in fiscal 2001, largely affiliated with the American military community overseas, we had 331 international students from 70 countries taking online classes with us in fall 2001 including over 100 Russian students. That international mix broadens the classroom experience of all of our students by allowing them insight into cultures and ways of thinking that differ widely from their own.
  
  
• We have signed, or are about to sign, international cooperative agreements with universities in Spain, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, and China that involve joint online programs, cooperative research, and virtual faculty exchanges.
  
  
• This coming May, through an agreement with the National University of Distance Education in Spain, we will host a seminar on cooperation between the European Union and the United States in the area of technology and education.
  
  

  UMUC’s Master's in Distance Education program prepares students for managing distance education enterprises in education, business, government, and non-profit sectors.

  
  
• And we offer a successful Master's in Distance Education program jointly with the University of Oldenberg in Germany. Launched in Spring 2000, the program’s 179 students learn best practices in managing a distance education enterprise whether it be in education, business, government, or nonprofit institutions.

Our leadership in the online arena has enabled us to bring the world to our Maryland students. It adds wonderful breadth and depth to our curriculum, and furthers the contributions we can make to the State.

UMUC’s world-class technological expertise can be leveraged to do much more for the State

• We are well able to advise State institutions wishing to develop online courses or programs on how to build an e-learning enterprise and on the infrastructure necessary for effective online course delivery. Our proprietary course management platform could be licensed to institutions in the State at a more competitive cost than using commercial vendors. And, we have the expertise to assist the State’s historically black institutions to put courses and programs online.
  
  
• Digital learning can increase campus capacity without buildings. In other states, universities are building online learning systems for residential students, saving the cost of new classroom buildings. UMUC can help make that happen.
  
  
• There’s great interest in launching a Virtual High School for Maryland. Three of the State’s school systems are already using online courses with students, and all 24 of the systems have indicated an interest in and a need for this kind of instruction. UMUC can help the Maryland State Department of Education by offering expertise in the design of the Web portal that will provide the services, resources, and information associated with online courses; train school administrators in managing online course development and delivery; and work with teachers on effective approaches to assessing student outcomes online and on the instructional integration of technology to support student achievement. All of these would be a logical extension of our new and innovative programs in the area of K-12 teacher preparation.
  
  
• Last year, I spoke here of the way in which UMUC might facilitate a new university-business collaboration through the use of Web technology. UMUC this past year worked with leaders in higher education, the private sector, and State government to develop a proposal for a new university-business collaboration--"270 U"--that brings together the resources of the corporate and educational communities in the creation of a physical and virtual learning park organized via an Internet portal.
  
  
• UMUC has the capacity, through its extensive online delivery system and through its courses and degrees in tune with the State’s economic development agenda, to reach out to underserved areas of the State. It can meet critical needs, bridge gaps in program offerings through creative partnerships with other institutions, and advise on best practices for online delivery.

All of these initiatives will take new funding and a new way of thinking about the impact of UMUC on the State. Maryland has not hesitated to fund other universities in research areas. Should it not also fund UMUC more extensively as one of the world’s leading virtual universities? Of course, it may not be possible this year. But we must build agendas for the future, and these agendas need to include increased State support for UMUC’s virtual learning enterprise. It is significant. It can be leveraged. And it is cost-effective. It has been, and will continue to be, of great benefit to the State.

I shall return to this point shortly, but before I do, I want to offer you a summary of our activity with the U.S. military. It is a relationship about which you can justifiably be proud, and it is a relationship that is changing.

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