Case Study: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign enables remote learning and campus innovation with Verizon Business

How the University of Illinois supports students during (and beyond) campus shutdowns

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a large public university serving more than 51,000 students, had to rapidly shift to remote learning when COVID-19 shut down campus in 2020. Working with Verizon Business, the university needed a way to keep students, faculty, and staff connected for online classes, research, and campus operations, especially for students who lacked laptops, smartphones, or reliable internet access.

Verizon Business helped the university deploy flexible tech loan programs for laptops, smartphones, and mobile hotspots, while also supporting expanded cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity, a safer campus access app, and 5G network upgrades across campus. The partnership enabled the university to keep education and research moving during the pandemic, improve mobile coverage in buildings and Memorial Stadium, and launch a 5G Innovation Hub in EnterpriseWorks to support future research and development.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Uros Marjanovic

Lead network engineer, Technology Services