Illinois

Illinois (pronounced IL-i-NOY), the 21st state admitted to the United States, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the US.

Illinois is often viewed as a microcosm of the United States; an Associated Press analysis of 21 demographic factors found Illinois the "most average state", while Peoria has long been a proverbial social and cultural bellwether.

The population of Illinois is 12.9 million. This makes it on the small side in EU terms, slightly bigger than Portugal, Hungary and Greece but noticeably smaller than the Netherlands - though also slightly bigger than Belgium if that is considered as a unitary state. Approximately 66% of the population of Illinois resides in the northeastern corner of the state, primarily within the city of Chicago and the surrounding area.

The capital of Illinois is Springfield but the largest city is Chicago.

With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and western Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is an important transportation hub; the Port of Chicago connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River via the Illinois River.

For more details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois.

Education

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois)

The Illinois State Board of Education or ISBE, autonomous of the governor and the state legislature, administers public education in the state. Local municipalities and their respective school districts operate individual public schools but the ISBE audits performance of public schools with the Illinois School Report Card. The ISBE also makes recommendations to state leaders concerning education spending and policies.

Education is compulsory from kindergarten through the twelfth grade, commonly but not exclusively divided into three tiers of primary and secondary education: elementary school, middle school or junior high school, and high school. District territories are often complex in structure. In some cases, elementary, middle and junior high schools of a single district feed into high schools in another district.

Using the criterion established by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, there are eleven "National Universities" in the state. Three of these rank among the top 100 National Universities in the United States, as determined by the U.S. News & World Report rankings: the University of Chicago (8), Northwestern University (12) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (40). The other eight National Universities, including two more that rank in the top 120 are: Illinois Institute of Technology (102), Loyola University Chicago (116), DePaul University, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Illinois University and Trinity International University.

Besides the "National Universities", Illinois has several other major universities and colleges, both public and private, including: Eastern Illinois University, Northeastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, Columbia College Chicago, Bradley University, Roosevelt University, Chicago State University and Robert Morris University Illinois. There are also dozens of small liberal arts colleges across the state.

Additionally, Illinois supports 49 public community colleges in the Illinois Community College System via the Illinois Community College Board.

For a more comprehensive list see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Illinois.

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