Editorial-24 November 2005

 

 


 

 Would the Real University of California, Berkeley Please Put Its Hand Up

 

 

Just in case anyone's interested the picture which appears being put about regarding US public universities in general and the University of California, Berkeley in particular lacks some verisimilitude.

 

Is UC, Berkeley a near graduate only university?

    The 2004 student body comprised 9,300 graduate students and 22,800 undergraduate students, i.e. 71% of Cals students are undergraduates.

 

What does it cost to go to UC, Berkeley?

    If you qualify as a citizen of California as an undergraduate you're up for US$7,434 (A$10,073) per annum. If you're from out of the state it'll cost you 3.5 times as much. Overall prices for graduate students are little different.

 

It is also noteworthy that its endowment at US$2,037M is hardly astronomical compared to Harvard's, Stanford's or Princeton's.

 

In May 2004 TFW wrote:

The University of California (UC) consists of nine campuses servicing over 200,000 students. In addition the California State University (CSU) maintains 23 campuses and currently enrols some 410,000 students. The University of California’s missions are designated to be teaching, research and public service, while the primary function of California State University is the provision of undergraduate instruction, applied research and community service. The legislation proclaiming the two systems also stipulates that UC is to provide space for the top 12.5 percent of graduating high school seniors wishing to attend while CSU provides space for the top one-third of graduating high school seniors wishing to attend.

    The third segment of the Californian higher education system consists of the 109 two-year California Community Colleges (overseen by the Colleges' Chancellor) which service some 2.9 million students. They are somewhat similar to Australia's TAFEs; they offer academic and vocational education at the lower division level for both recent high school graduates and those returning to school. They are required to admit any California resident with a high school diploma or the equivalent. On completing the two year course students wishing to attend either UC or CSU who are judged to be of sufficient standard will be accepted to complete a bachelor's degree.

 

It is noteworthy that of the 9 University of California campuses 7 are ranked in the world's top fifty research universities (Berkeley, 4; San Francisco, 13; San Diego, 14; UCLA, 15; Santa Barbara, 26; Davis, 36, and Irvine, 44) as determined in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University evaluation of the world's top 500 research universities. That alone ought to give pause to those in Australia's government, academe and media who claim that the US lead in university research is based on those private universities sporting large endowments. ANU (49) is Australia's highest placed university with The University of Melbourne coming second (92).

In the latest rankings of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's evaluation the figures have altered somewhat, but not much (Berkeley, 4; San Francisco, 18; San Diego, 13; UCLA, 14; Santa Barbara, 34; Davis, 41, and Irvine, 47) while ANU is ranked 56 and The University of Melbourne, 82.

 

The table below is taken from the 2004 annual report of The University of Melbourne.

 

 

2004 shows total students 33,612 of which 25,129 were undergraduates and 8,484 were doing graduate studies (one student seems to have fallen into a crack -- rounding error no doubt) but the data show that The University of Melbourne had just under 75% undergraduates compared to the University of California, Berkeley's 71%.

 

The University of California states that those eligible to attend the university and demonstrate a need for financial assistance, receive it.

 

And then there is the matter of research mentoring for undergraduates at UC, Berkeley.

 

The following it taken from a Berkeley publication:

Students typically follow a natural progression from apprenticing on faculty-initiated research projects to developing independent student-initiated research projects to seeking opportunities for publication and presentation of their research results. Within this sequence, Berkeley offers multiple opportunities for students to forge their own unique paths. In 1997, as a counterbalance to its decentralized culture, Berkeley created the Office of Undergraduate Research, as a virtual and physical gateway to the rich array of opportunities on campus. The office was conceptualized as a student services clearinghouse to help undergraduates access research opportunities, rather than as an administrative unit to centralize programs under one roof. The office sponsors a Web site [http://research.berkeley.edu] that links to campus undergraduate research programs and opportunities, offers ongoing workshops and downloadable documents for students on how to get involved in research, and provides individual and electronic advising and related services. With the advent of this office, students can now navigate more easily towards the many opportunities described below.

 

Apprenticeships: Learning the Ropes on Faculty-Initiated Research Projects:

Recently celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) [http://research.berkeley.edu/urap] offers students opportunities to apprentice on cutting edge faculty research projects across all disciplines, majors, departments, colleges and professional schools. With over 400 students annually, the program has played a pivotal role in fostering undergraduate research on campus, providing faculty a small stipend to cover incidental expenses and a large alleviation of administrative hassle. A select group of students receive summer support to continue their apprentice work.

    In addition to these formal programs, many students find opportunities through their major departments, serendipitous encounters, or their own persistent legwork. This is especially true in the sciences and engineering where virtually every lab involves undergraduates and many faculty find students outside of formal structures. As one former physics major counseled peers aspiring to be undergraduate researchers "seek and ye shall find."

 

The Next Step: Student-Initiated Research Projects

Once students have gained necessary foundational skills both in and outside the classroom, many go on to initiate independent research under faculty sponsorship, through independent studies with faculty for course credit or in more formal senior thesis courses. In many departments, senior thesis opportunities are limited to Honors students; however, Berkeley is committed to increasing capstone experiences for all students, despite the challenges this will present given our size and student to faculty ratio. A significant number of departments, such as History and Environmental Science to name just two, already offer all majors a capstone research experience.

Now with all the hand waving about what to do for and with Australian tertiary education it might be appropriate to tell it more closely like it is -- Californiawise.

 

Rearranging the chairs around the academic table isn't going to meet the requirements to significantly upgrade Australia's higher education sector and does someone as canny as Glyn Davis really believe that he will be able to squeeze enough revenue out of student fee increases to get The University to Melbourne's staff and infrastructure to mix it with -- well with the University of California, Davis just for starters.

 

Alex Reisner

The Funneled Web