Preparation is provided in all of the major areas of professional education. To this end, the college provides statewide access to high quality educational programs leading to baccalaureate and advanced degrees in engineering and computer science. The Graduate College encompasses all divisions of the university, but does not supervise programs in the College of Law. This coverage of all regular disciplines and professional fields provides a wide variety of academic programs. Enrollments are large enough to make possible the vital interchange of ideas among students and between students and faculty that is necessary for graduate programs, and yet enrollments are sufficiently small to permit close faculty-student relationships.
Interdepartmental cooperation is an important factor on the Idaho campus.
The University is the chief research center of the state and as such operates active graduate programs in most areas providing a broad research base upon which graduate programs have been built. The objectives of the college are to provide a liberal and professional education in the arts and sciences, to advance knowledge through research and scholoarship, and to perform service to the university at large, the state, and the nation. The School of Mines was established at the University of Idaho in 1917 to serve the needs of the Gem State's important mining industry. A separate state agency, the Idaho Geological Survey, is an affiliated program.