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University of California,Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley,California, or simply Cal) is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The university occupies 1,232 acres (499 ha) on the eastern side of theSan Francisco Bay with the central campus resting on 178 acres (72 ha).[5] Berkeley is among the most selective public universities in the United States.[6] It offers approximately 350 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines.[7]
Established in 1868 as the result of merger of the private College of California and the public Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College in Oakland, Berkeley is the oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California (UC). Berkeley has been charged with providing both "classical" and "practical" education for the state's people and is the flagship institution in the University of California system.[8][9] Berkeley co-manages three United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory andLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Berkeley faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 71 Nobel Prizes (including 28 alumni Nobel laureates), 9 Wolf Prizes, 7 Fields Medals, 15 Turing Awards, 45 MacArthur Fellowships,[10] 20 Academy Awards, and 11 Pulitzer Prizes. To date, UC Berkeley and its researchers are associated with 6 chemical elements of the periodic table(Californium, Seaborgium, Berkelium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Lawrencium) and Berkeley Lab has discovered 16 chemical elements in total – more than any other university in the world.[11] Berkeley is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and continues to have very high research activity with $652.4 million in research and development expenditures in 2009.[12][13] Berkeley physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb in the world, which he personally headquartered at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II.
Known as the California Golden Bears (often shortened to "Cal Bears" or just "Cal"), the athletic teams are members of both the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in the NCAA. Cal athletes have won national titles in many sports, including football, men's and women's swimming, men's basketball, baseball, men's gymnastics, softball, water polo, rugby, and crew. The official colors of the university and its athletic teams are Yale Blue and California Gold.
Rankings
The 2012 Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Berkeley 4th in the world and the United States and 2nd in California. In terms of "fields", Berkeley is ranked 2nd in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 3rd in Engineering/Technology and Computer Science, 3rd in Social Sciences, 15th in Life and Agricultural Sciences, and 30th in Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy. In its "subject" ranking, Berkeley is ranked 2nd in Chemistry, 3rd in Mathematics, 3rd in Computer Science, 3rd in Physics, and 4th in Economics/Business.[39] According to the US News & World Report Subject Rankings, Berkeley is ranked 4th in Arts & Humanities, 3rd in Engineering & IT, 5th in Life Sciences and Biomedicine, 5th in Natural and Physical Sciences, and 5th in Social Sciences.
Berkeley is ranked 5th among 300 Best World Universities in 2012 compiled by Human Resources & Labor Review (HRLR) on Measurements of World's Top 300 Universities Graduates' Performance .[40]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| ARWU[41] | 4 |
| Forbes[42] | 50 |
| U.S. News & World Report[43] | 21 |
| Washington Monthly[44] | 5 |
| Global | |
| ARWU[45] | 4 |
| QS[46] | 21 |
| Times[47] | 9 |
In 2012, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings named Berkeley the world's 5th most prestigious university, and one of six globally recognized "super brands."[48] The 2012-2013 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Berkeley 9th in the world, 6th in the United States, and 3rd in California.[49] The QS World University Rankings placed Berkeley 21st in the world, 14th in the United States, and 3rd in California.[50] (In 2010, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings.) In 2009 the Center for Measuring University Performance placed Berkeley ninth among national research universities.[51]
In 2013 Kiplinger ranked Berkeley 8th out of the top 100 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and 2nd in California.[52]
Berkeley ranks 9th among universities that have produced the largest number of living billionaires.[53]
The Princeton Review ranks Berkeley as a "college with a conscience"[54] and the 5th best value in public colleges.[55]
The College Sustainability Report Card, published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, gave Berkeley a B in 2009 for its efforts in environmental sustainability.[56]
[edit]Undergraduate programs
Berkeley's undergraduate program was ranked the top public university among "National Universities" in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[57][when?] In 2009, UC Berkeley was ranked 3rd by Washington Monthly and in 2012, 21st among National Universities by U.S. News & World Report.[58][59] U.S. News ranked both the undergraduate programs in engineering and business tied for 3rd in the nation.[60][61]
The Wall Street Journal's Rankings by Major place Berkeley in 2nd place for Computer Science, 3rd for both Marketing/Advertising and Finance, 6th for Business/Economics, 8th for Accounting, and 12th for Engineering.[62]
Graduate programs
U.S. News & World Report ranks UC Berkeley's professional programs among the best in the country in 2012. The Haas School of Business and Boalt School of Law both come in at 7th, while the Goldman School of Public Policy is ranked 6th, and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health is ranked 8th. UC Berkeley's graduate sciences also receive high marks, ranking 1st in Chemistry and Computer Science; 2nd in Math, Statistics, and Biological Sciences; 3rd in Earth Sciences; and 5th in Physics. UC Berkeley's graduate Engineering program is 3rd in overall quality, with specialty rankings of 1st in Civil Engineering and Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering; 2nd in Chemical Engineering; and 3rd in Computer Engineering, Electrical/ Electronic/ Communications Engineering, Industrial/ Manufacturing Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The graduate social science programs at Berkeley score 1st in English, History, Psychology, and Sociology; and 6th in Economics and Political Science.[63]Faculty in the English Department have received 25 university Distinguished Teaching Awards—more than any other department.
The most recent (2010) United States National Research Council Rankings, widely considered the ranking authority on US doctoral programs, identified UC Berkeley as having the highest number of top-ranked doctoral programs in the nation. Of all US research universities, UC Berkeley has the most graduate programs that extend into the top ten, with 48 out of 52 programs that were ranked, as well as the most programs with ranks that extend into the top 5, with 43 out of 52 ranked programs. UC Berkeley has the second highest number of graduate programs with a ranking of #1, with 16 out of 52 reaching top status—for comparison, Harvard achieved this level in 19 of its 52 ranked programs, while Stanford achieved it in 11 of its 47 ranked programs.[64] UC Berkeley doctoral programs that received a #1 ranking include Agricultural and Resource Economics, Astrophysics, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, English, Epidemiology, German, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, MCB: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, MCB: Genetics, Genomics, and Development, Physics, Plant Biology, and Political Science.
UC Berkeley was also the #1 recipient of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships between 2001 and 2010, with 1,333 awards. The next closest were MIT at 1,242 and Stanford at 1,070.[65]
Organization and administration
Berkeley is the oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California. The University of California is governed by a 26-member Board of Regents, 18 of which are appointed by the Governor of California to 12-year terms, 7 serving as ex officiomembers, and a single student regent.[76] The position of Chancellor was created in 1952 to lead individual campuses. The Board appointed Robert J. Birgeneau the 9th Chancellor of the university in 2004.[77] 12 vice chancellors report directly to the Chancellor. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost serves as the chief academic officer and is the office to which the deans of the 14 colleges and schools report.[78]
Berkeley's 130-plus academic departments and programs are organized into 14 colleges and schools in addition to UC Berkeley Extension.[79] "Colleges" are both undergraduate and graduate, while "Schools" are generally graduate only, though some offer undergraduate
University finances
UC Berkeley receives funding from a variety of sources, including federal and state authorities, and private donors. With the exception of government contracts, public money is proportioned to UC Berkeley and the other 9 universities of the University of California system through the UC Office of the President.
Due in part to the 2008–11 California budget crisis, the state of California has reduced its educational appropriations to the University of California.[84] State educational appropriations such as general support given in the state's annual budget, and appropriations given to the state through the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) dropped $37M in 2010-11 from the previous calendar year. The university projects that state general support will drop from 15% to 11% of the university's total revenues in 2011-12. State budget shortfalls as well as rising costs in pensions have been cited by the university as two of the leading reasons for its current financial woes. During the formulation of the 2011-12 UC Berkeley budget, the university projected that it will have a $200M funding gap in the 5 years after that year's budget. In response to revenue shortfalls, the UC Regents have raised tuition, and the university is trying to increase the number of non-resident undergraduates, who will pay the more costly out-of-state tuition. Nearly 1/3rd of revenues from tuition and other student fees are returned to students as scholarships and fellowships.[85]
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