Education in Illinois

              Illinois residents are serious about the importance of educa-tion. Education is a major component of the state's budget, with state and local operating expenditures for elementary and secondary pupils ranking among the top five in the na-tion. About half of Illinois workers have pursued education beyond the high school level. Illinois has some of the finest colleges and universities in the nation.
Elementary and Secondary Education
Illinois has approximately 900 public school districts, with more than 4,000 public schools and approximately 1,400 nonpublic schools. In the 2005-06 school year, there were nearly 2.4 million pupils attending Illinois schools. Approx-imately 139,000 students graduate from Illinois high schools each year (according to the most recent data available).
Community Colleges
Career and technical education is important in Illinois. There are 48 community colleges and one community col-lege center located in 39 college districts in Illinois. During fiscal year 2006, community colleges enrolled over 680,600 students in credit courses. The colleges provide instruction and work force preparation in more than 240 occupational specialties. The Community College Board estimates more than 90 percent of its graduates remain in Illinois to work. Many community college students are working adults.
Illinois community colleges provide comprehensive, market-driven services based on local employer needs. Colleges can analyze an organization’s needs and offer in-depth as-sessments of the entire organization. Training is delivered at the workplace, on campus, or on-line. Services range from professional continuing education and customized job training to entrepreneurship training, consulting services, government contract procurement assistance, and industrial attraction and retention. The colleges also help businesses acquire training funds through various state and federal pro-grams. In fiscal year 2005, community colleges provided customized training to 3,032 companies, serving over 88,000 employees.
A primary economic development activity of the community colleges is the valuable resources they provide to business and industry. Across the state, community colleges, through their business and industry centers, work with businesses, industries, and economic development entities to recruit and train workers, retain existing businesses, and bring new businesses and jobs to Illinois. Additionally, colleges en-gage local business partners through their participation on program advisory committees for the career and technical education programs. This provides industry partners with a forum to render input directly to the college – and ensures that community college programs are always reflective of the latest industry trends.
Colleges and Universities
Illinois boasts 203 degree-granting institutions that enrolled 806,945 students in the fall of 2006. There are nine public universities on 12 campuses that offer a full range of educa-tional programs, including nearly 700 baccalaureate degree programs; more than 550 master's degree programs; nearly 200 doctoral programs; and professional degrees in medi-cine, veterinary medicine, dentistry and law. In the private sector, 94 institutions are not-for-profit colleges and univer-sities, while an additional 30 are proprietary. In fall 2006, three in ten college students – 251,549 – enrolled in private institutions.
Many Illinois institutions have world-class reputations. U.S. News and World Report's 2007 rankings of National Uni-versities - Doctoral (schools with a wide range of undergra-duate and graduate programs that often emphasize research) included three Illinois universities among the top 40: the University of Chicago (9th) Northwestern (14th), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (38th). Business Week 2006 assessment of M.B.A. programs ranked Univer-sity of Chicago first and the nearby Northwestern was ranked 3rd. the University of Chicago graduates are lauded for their financial and analytical skills while Northwestern is credited for its close-knit culture and honing of marketing skills. In addition, the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana is ranked fifth nationally by U.S. News & World Re-port for its school of engineering.
Updated: September 2007
Education in Illinois