The certificate program in Dairy Science includes a series of structured courses delivered via the Internet and using an interactive course-delivery system. A certificate will be awarded to students who successfully complete the series of online credit courses. This unique program offers undergraduate and graduate credit, continuing credit for veterinarians, professional in-service training for feed industry representatives, and cutting-edge information for dairy farm managers on the University of Illinois campus, in the State of Illinois, in the United States, and countries outside the United States. University of Illinois dairy science faculty members teach the courses each fall and spring semester.

These courses fill a unique and emerging need in the Department of Animal Sciences, as the department reaches out to non-traditional students with diverse backgrounds, knowledge, experience, and focus. Course material focuses on applied research and knowledge while reviewing basic concepts, which allows all students to reach similar levels of understanding. Weekly assignments include a case-study problem and 2–4 specific CD-ROM-based questions. The case-study problem allows the instructor to determine if students can apply principles learned in class; answers to the questions reveal whether or not the materials have been studied and reviewed. Once per week, students interact via the Internet with others in the course and with the instructor. There are 5 courses in the standard rotation, but other courses may be offered and substituted in the 5-course rotation as approved by the department (such as Forage Crops and Grasslands as offered by the Dept. of Crop Sciences at UIUC)