URBANA — Pension uncertainties, a state budget crisis and minimal raises in recent years have made the University of Illinois a popular recruiting ground for colleges hoping to hire top faculty.

Now the UI is committing millions to do the same, in reverse.

UI President Tim Killeen plans to announce a new initiative today pledging $60 million over three years for startup packages to recruit "star" faculty to the UI.

The goal is to attract "tenured, high-achieving faculty of national and international distinction" in a range of academic disciplines, officials said.

The President's Distinguished Faculty Recruitment Program would commit $10 million from the UI system to recruitment efforts each year, matched by the three campuses. The goal is to hire 10 to 15 new faculty members each year, or 45 over three years.

In a prepared statement, Killeen said the investment would pay dividends over time by building up the UI's ranks of "world-class scholars."

"We must — and shall — remain a magnet for stellar academic talent, and this new effort reconfirms our long-standing commitment to continued excellence for the University of Illinois System," he said.

Killeen had briefed faculty leaders on the idea in March, though he didn't share details at the time.

UI spokesman Tom Hardy said the initiative is meant to keep the UI competitive and counter efforts by other universities to lure top UI faculty to their campuses.

"He wanted to send signals that we're open for business, we're looking for excellence in faculty, those that we have and those we can hire away from other places," Hardy said.

The program is contingent on full state funding for the UI system in fiscal 2018, UI officials said. The university has received only partial state funding each of the last two years.

It's not dependent, however, on legislators approving Killeen's proposed five-year funding compact with the state.

The $10 million would include $8.5 million from Killeen's office — money slated for maintenance of the university's aging Banner administrative computer system — and $1.5 million in "institutional funds" from the vice president for academic affairs office. Institutional funds include overhead from external grants, royalties on UI innovations and other income. The campuses would likely match that money using institutional funds or money set aside for faculty recruiting, Hardy said.

The money would go toward recruiting packages for professors, not for their salaries but to equip research labs, pay for office space or hire graduate students.

Departments and colleges already offer startup packages to prized recruits, ranging from $400,000 up to $3 million for top professors in the sciences.

The campuses will be able to apply for matching funds to support those efforts for professors who are engaged in "cutting-edge" research, work in areas of high student demand and can provide "transformative excellence" to the UI, Killeen said. Diversity will also be a factor, the UI said.

The president's office will issue a call for proposals later this spring.

The UI has lost some high-profile faculty to other universities over the past two years because of the budget and pension uncertainties.

As of last August, faculty departures were up 59 percent over the previous year, and the number of professors seeking retention packages to stay was up 41 percent. Meanwhile, the number of new faculty dropped by half.