About the University

The University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley and UCB) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States of America. In 1853, Durant established the Contra Costa Academy, a private boys' school. In 1855, the school was chartered as the College of California, which later merged with the state of California’s Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Arts College to create the University of California in 1868. When it opened, the new university only had 10 faculty members and 40 students. The university is also affiliated with the Association of American Universities, International Alliance of Research Universities, Universities Research Association, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Association of Pacific Rim Universities and Space grant. Furthermore, UC Berkeley has been fully accredited since 1949 and had its accreditation reaffirmed most recently in 2015 under the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC) pilot institutional review process. UCB has been ranked #32 in the QS World University Rankings 2022, #8 in THE World University Rankings 2022 and #4 in the U.S. News Best Global Universities Rankings 2022, making it a part of the top 4 Universities in the United States.

The Berkeley campus spans 1,232 acres in the Los Angeles Bay area, with many of its Beaux-Arts-style structures designated as California Historical Landmarks. On-campus, there is a Botanic Garden that was established in 1890, as well as the 60,000-seat California Memorial Stadium, which is home to the university's athletic teams. Berkeley has 14 colleges and schools, including several graduate and professional schools such as the School of Optometry and the Graduate School of Journalism. Graduate programmes in the renowned Haas School of Business, Graduate School of Education, College of Engineering, and School of Law are also available. Berkeley offers over 350-degree programs through its academic departments.

There are 99 Nobel laureates among Berkeley's alumni, faculty, and researchers, as well as 23 Turing Award winners and 14 Pulitzer Prize winners. J. R. Oppenheimer, a Berkeley professor, led the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb, while Ernest Lawrence, a Nobel Laureate, invented the cyclotron, which UC Berkeley scientists and researchers used to discover 16 chemical elements of the periodic table. The university has 23% Freshmen who are first-generation college students. There are over 5,300 UC Berkeley undergraduates who engage in off-campus public service projects and programs annually. The university's list of achievements, awards and contributions is unending. Not only that, across 22 subject ratings as per US News Rankings, UC Berkeley ranked 1st in Chemistry and in Environment/Ecology; 3rd in Physics and in Space Science; 4th in Economics and Business, Biology, Biochemistry and Plant and Animal Science; 5th in Mathematics; and 7th in Engineering and in Arts and Humanities. Novelist and journalist Jack London, Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck, author Joan Didion, and Women's World Cup-winning US footballer Alex Morgan are among the notable alumni.

The university has a total enrollment of 45,057 students. Students from all over the world are welcome at the university. The university currently has 7,892 international students enrolled. There are 23,538 females and 21,083 males in the student body as a whole. More than 1,200 student clubs and organizations are available on campus, ranging from student government to advocacy groups, traditional Greek life to the Peace Corps. Students can participate in any of these organizations as their interests, schedules, and academic pursuits allow. Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft are among the top employers for university graduates.