The School of Continuing Education has experienced an increase in popularity throughout the past year.

Enrollment numbers for the School have increased 5 percent from last fall to this fall.

Credit hours taken by those students have increased 8 percent in that time frame.

“We have a continually strong demand for off-campus courses due to the interest of the adult students and non-traditional students off campus,” said William Hine, dean of the School of Continuing Education.

Hine added a large portion of off-campus students are preschool through 12th grade teachers or administrators working on their Master’s or specialist degrees.

“We are in a life long learning society, and so people have to continually upgrade their skills,” he said.

This year’s enrollment for the school is 2,155 students compared to the 2,046 students enrolled last year.

Hine said one of the biggest challenges with the increase in enrollment is finding professors to teach the courses.

“The faculty are stretched,” he said. “They have heavy work loads. It’s difficult for them to do their on-campus teaching as well as distance-learning/off-campus teaching.”

The school has also seen a large increase in distance-learning courses, otherwise known as Web-based courses.

Hine said the school consistently works with the different colleges on campus to find Eastern faculty members or qualified, part-time faculty members to teach the growing number of non-traditional students.

“It’s a continually process that we work in collaboration with the colleges,” he said. “It’s something we deal with every week.”

Hine said an important part of the increase in enrollment is recruiting efforts by the school. The school works with the colleges on campus to organize recruitment activities, attends fairs and open houses at community colleges, he added.

“The school of Continuing Education’s staff is continually meeting with off-campus groups and individuals to market our programs and to assess educational needs,” Hine said.

The school also receives requests for degree programs and conducts surveys of student’s needs at off-campus locations. The school then tries to meet those needs within Eastern’s faculty resources, Hine said.

Eastern has been offering off-campus courses for almost 80 years, and Hine said he would like to see the increase in enrollment continue to grow.

“With resources, there is no question the increases can continue,” he said.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.