The UIIF program in higher education at Idaho Falls began evolving in the early 1950s in support of the atomic energy operation at the National Reactor Testing Station, now INEEL. The program is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. The University of Idaho Program along with those of other members of the Idaho Falls Center provides a means of delivering undergraduate and graduate education to INEEL employees as well as to others in the Eastern Idaho area.

      Instructors in the program are professors and affiliate faculty of the University of Idaho. Close academic supervision is maintained by the resident staff and through frequent visits by UI faculty members and other officials.

      The courses are generally taught in the evening at the ISU/UI Higher Education Facility at 1776 Science Center Drive. University of Idaho videotape courses are used when feasible to supplement the local instruction and to assist in providing consistency and quality of instruction between on and off-campus courses. Courses are also taught via a two-way interactive compressed video system.