UC Berkeley actually stands for University of California, Berkley; UC Berkeley is basically a research university and is also University of California’s flagship campus. The university is very much popular all over the world, and is top ranked in many global listings, just for a reference the university was placed at number three in global university rankings in the year 2015; the ranking was conducted in the United States of America.
The university has been ranked as number one public university by the academic ranking of world universities. One of major reasons why this university has gained lot of world reputation is that apart from producing hardworking individuals the university has also given a lot of entrepreneurs.
Historical records tell us that the university was established in the year 1868; the university came into being due to the agreed merger between two well-known colleges of United States of America. One of the colleges was the private college of California and other college was the agricultural, mining and mechanical arts college of Oakland. The UC Berkeley offers different undergraduate programs, the exact amount of these programs is 230, apart from these undergraduate programs, graduate degree programs in various subjects are also being offered. One unique thing about UC Berkeley is that the university offers both practical education as well as the classical education; both these types of educations are given to state’s people.
The university is being funded by a variety of sources, however due to some circumstance the state based funding declined, when this situation was faced by UC Berkeley, the management decided to turn towards the private donors. Some of these donations and their amounts are listed below
1. In a period spanning over 10 years BP donated $400 million, this amount was invested in the development of Bio fuels
2. Hewlett foundation donated $113 million
3. $10 million was given by Dow chemical, this amount was invested to sustain research
4. Similarly in the year 2008 till 2013 UC Berkeley raised around $3.13 billion from different donors whose exact amount is 281,855.
The majority of people who take admission in the UC Berkeley are people who want to peruse undergraduate studies; however, this surely doesn’t mean that people don’t get admitted in post graduate programs. The university has divided its calendar year semester wise. The various degrees and their numbers offered by the university are given below
1. Bachelor degrees: 106
2. Master degrees: 88
3. PHD or doctorate programs:97
4. Graduate degrees(professionally focused): 31
The statistics of the year 2013-14 tell us that 7565 bachelor degrees were awarded, 2610 professional or master degree were awarded and about 930 doctorate degrees were awarded. The university is composed of 14 colleges and schools, the university has no college related to medical education however UCSF joint medical program is offered, the names of these schools and colleges are given below
1. College of Chemistry
2. College of Engineering
3. College of Natural Resources
4. College of Letters and Science
5. College of Environmental Design
6. Graduate School of Education
7. Graduate School of Journalism
8. Haas School of Business
9. Goldman School of Public Policy
10. School of Information
11. School of Law
12. School of Optometry
13. School of Public Health
14. School of Social Welfare
The duration of the undergraduate program is 4 years; the primary focus of these undergraduate programs is on science and arts. The major subjects which are most popular in the university are related to technical subjects such as computer science, cell and molecular biology, economics, electrical engineering and environmental sciences as well. The admission requirements or the eligibility criteria of the university is as follows
1. entry level writing ( Before enrollment)
2. course work on American history and institutions should be completed either after or before the enrollment
3. The final examination is of three consecutive hours, the final exams are conducted just after the week of the final lecture
4. The grading is done on the basis of five-letter scale, the scale consists of A,B,C,D,F grades
5. The prizes of scholarly nature are given by different departments
The graduate program of the university consists of the following disciplines
1. Graduate degrees are offered in master of arts
2. Graduate degrees are being offered in masters of science
3. Graduate degrees are being offered in masters of fine art
4. Other professional degrees such as master of business administration and PHD’s are also being offered.
The applicants have the liability to either apply to the degree program or also to the department directly. The graduate students are in most of the cases being supported by teach assistantship or different fellow ships.
As mentioned earlier UC Berkeley is basically a research university, according to the statistics taken in the year 2013, the university actually invested or spent $727 million solely on development and research, which shows that constant research is the part and parcel of UC Berkeley.
UC Berkeley consists of the 4th largest library in the United States of America, the university overall has 32 libraries spread across different departments of the university. As per the records of the year 2006 UC Berkeley library system maintains above 70,000 serial titles and consists of 11 million volumes. 12 acres of land is together covered by all the libraries spread across different departments.
The main campus of the university is very beautiful, the campus itself is built around natural environment, and once you enter the main campus strawberry creek’s two branches actually welcome you. apart from these trees there are many other trees in the university as well which actually enhance the overall beauty of the campus as well, of course in order to study, students not only need good teachers, rather a good environment of the university also has a considerable effect on the education level of the students.
The trees which are seen in the university are very old, in fact some of the trees date back to the year1870. There are many wooded areas as well around the campus; some of these areas are as follows
1. Founder’s rock
2. Grinnell natural area
3. Eucalyptus grove
4. Faculty glade
The management of the university try to purchase technology which is energy efficient, some of these technologies are economizers and stream trap systems etc., the university has actually implemented the policy of green building. The two major buildings in the campus are certified with LED. The waste which gets accumulated due to different construction projects are cleaned by diverting it through landfills.
Similarly for all over care of the environment, technologies related to water conservation also have been applied across the campus, similarly storm water is also being tackled by the university via different techniques, the lab equipment of the university is being powered via natural gas plant installed in the campus itself
The governance of the university is actually done by a board of regents basically comprising of 26 members, out of these 26 members, 18 members have been appointed by the governor of California. The term of each member is 12 years, similarly in the year 1952 the designation of the chancellor was also introduced, according to the organizational hierarchy is such that the main chancellor is actually managing 12 vice chancellors.
Different types of housing facilities are being offered to the students who get admission in the university, a tow year housing of guaranteed nature is offered to freshmen and one year housing is offered to students who want to get transferred.
To summarize the university is an excellent place for your child to get educated; the university is equipped with fantastic facilities which make education easy for your child. The university staff is equipped with professors and teachers which are well qualified in their respective fields and who are true professionals. If your child is looking for a university in California to further study, then UC Berkeley is the perfect place for him to get admission in.
The administration of the university is very friendly and they are people who are professionals in their field. You can ask all the necessary information from them and if you can’t come into university physically then you can always mail them as well so that they may reply you via mail with all the necessary information.
If you are a resident of California, then you as a parent along with your child can visit the university campus yourself and see the fantastic facilities that are being actually offered. Similarly all the other information related to finances, entry test and other such stuff can also be gained by you in the university. The administration of the university is very friendly and they welcome queries. You can also visit the website of the university as a lot of information is also available there as well. the website of the university is equipped with all the necessary information and the interface is perfect, the website is designed in such a way that it is very much user friendly.