ROPS 2011

The one-university idea—that the University of California is a single institution whose campuses are united in the pursuit of a common mission and common standards of quality—has been a guiding organizational principle since UC President Robert Gordon Sproul first articulated it in the 1930s. This paper examines the origins of the one-university idea in the Sproul era, the role it has played in UC’s institutional development through waves of decentralization and campus expansion, and whether it remains relevant today.

Within a quarter century after the end of World War II (1945-1970), largely because of the support and investment it received from the State, the University of California had changed from two modest-size general campuses (Berkeley and Los Angeles) and the medical campus in San Francisco (UCSF), to a system of eight general campuses. California was at the pinnacle of its success-its economy strong and growing.

From 2012 English universities and colleges will be operating in a more demanding market environment. There will be competition on tuition fees for undergraduate (Baccalaureate) programs for the first time. New private, including “for profit”, providers will be entering the market. There will be much more information about what institutions will be offering to existing and potential students. The Government believes that this will raise quality as well as providing a sustainable basis for the future.

It is estimated that approximately 3 million students are enrolled as international students, and it is possible to project that this number may reach more than 7 million by 2025. As global demand exceeds the supply, competition is building for the best of these students. Some countries (or regions) clearly envisage the opportunity this represents and have been strongly stimulating student mobility.

In  this  era of  massive  budget  cuts,  the  survival  of  the  University  of  California  as  a  greatinstitution  of  learninghas  become  the  subject  of increasingly urgent debate.  Twenty-two of the twenty-nine living former UC chancellors met in San Francisco on June 26-28, 2011 to discuss the current threats facing the University and all of California public higher education.  Although the chancellors were not unanimously agreed on every  point,  there  was  general  consensus  regarding  the  principal  recommendations  onfunding  the  University  and  protecting  its  quality.O

There is strong interest in broadening engineering education, bringing in more liberal arts content as well as additional subjects such  as  economics,  business  and  law,  with  which  engineers  now  haveto  be  familiar.    There  are  also  cogent  arguments  for balancing against what is now the almost exclusively quantitative  nature of the curriculum, adding more elements that relate to the actual practice of engineering, and structuring engineering education so as to provide multiple and later entry points, which should enable more informed career choices and make engineering attra

The  state  of  California  currently  has  a  monopoly  on  the  provision  of  higher  education  that is  directly  subsidized  by  state taxpayers.  This proposal suggests that California abandon the single provider approach and offers a choice or voucher program as  a  substitute.   The  purpose  of  proposing  such  a  dramatic  change  is  not  necessarily  intended  to  bring  about  a  shift  in  policy.The paper, instead, uses the voucher proposal as a vehicle to ask:  what is the state’s interest in supporting  higher education with taxpayer dollars and how can it most efficientl

During the 2009-10 academic year international students generated more than $18.8 billion in net income into the US economy. California alone had nearly 100,000 international students with an economic impact of nearly $3.0 billion. In this paper, we outline a strategy for the San Francisco/Bay Area to double the number of international students enrolled in local colleges and universities in ten years or less, generating a total direct economic impact of an additional $1 billion a year into the regional economy. The US retains a huge market advantage for attracting foreign students.