(Source: China Higher Education Research,April 18, 2024)
Abstract:The rise of the University of California is a brilliant achievement in the history of global higher education development in the 20th century. Its Berkeley campus has been recognized as a top public university in the world for many years. The success of the University of California is due to the factors of "the right time, right place and right people", but the more important reason is its advocating the university spirit of pursuing science, being committed to innovation, and serving the society, and its excellent internal governance system. The characteristics of its governance system include improving university governance efficiency through professional administrative leadership and professional academic leadership; doing everything possible to raise funds through multiple channels to ensure high-quality educational resources; introducing outstanding teachers and empowering their innovative research and teaching work; closely integrating theory and practice to enrich students' study experience, and assuming the mission of cultivating future scientists and leaders; and continuously improving quality through the implementation of problem-oriented subject evaluation. Of course, factors such as the impact of federal government policies, changes in California's demographic structure and financial constraints, as well as intensifying international competition in higher education will continue to affect the long-term development of the University of California and its Berkeley campus.
Keywords:University of California; University of California, Berkeley; Higher Education; World-Class Universities
The University of California (The University of California) is a public university system with 10 campuses, mainly distributed in two areas of California: one is the San Francisco Bay Area, which is famous for its high technology, and the other is the Los Angeles area, which is famous for its entertainment industry. These two areas are also the core areas where the development of global higher education is relatively significant. The former is home to the two campuses of the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, and Stanford University; the latter is famous for the two campuses of the University of California, Los Angeles and Irvine, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California. Among the 10 campuses of the University of California, except for the San Francisco campus, which focuses on postgraduate training in medicine, the other 9 campuses award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. They are classified as research universities with high-intensive or very high-intensive scientific research activities in the Carnegie classification. The University of California system will have 294,000 students on campus in the fall of 2023, including 230,000 undergraduates and 64,000 graduate students. The proportion of graduate students in the university system is 22%; while the proportion of graduate students in the two "flagship" campuses of Berkeley and Los Angeles is slightly higher, at 28% and 30% respectively. Compared with some private universities, such as Harvard University at 67% and Stanford University at 55%, the proportion of the University of California system and its two "flagship" campuses is generally lower. Although a low proportion of postgraduate students may have a negative impact on the relative intensity of scientific research activity, it is not an inevitable factor in judging whether a university is excellent. It is worth noting that although the proportion of graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley and Los Angeles is relatively low, due to the large absolute size of the graduate students, their contribution to scientific research results cannot be underestimated. In addition, due to the impact of the state government's enrollment size requirements for California residents, the proportion of international students at the University of California is also relatively low. The proportion of international students among undergraduate and graduate students is 10% and 24% respectively. Among them, international students from mainland China account for the largest proportion, accounting for 60% of international undergraduate students and 43% of international graduate students.
Derek Bok, the former president of Harvard University, once pointed out that "the most glorious achievement of higher education in the 20th century was the rise of the University of California system." Among the 10 campuses of the University of California, 8 are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU), accounting for 11.2% of all university members. In addition, UC campuses have 6 or 7 among the top 100 universities in the U.S. News & World Report Global University Rankings, the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings; in the QS Ranking of Top Global Universities and Colleges, 3 campuses are also among the top 100 universities in the world. Although these rankings cannot fully reflect the quality of universities, they can also explain the academic and teaching quality of universities to a certain extent.
The development of the University of California system and Berkeley as a world-class university is affected by many factors, including the "right time, place, and people" factor, but more importantly, the university's unique internal and external governance factors that are adapted to the development of the University of California. "Tianshi" refers to when the first campus of the University of California, Berkeley, was established, most of the outstanding universities in the United States were private universities and were mainly located on the east coast of the United States, while there was almost no well-known university on the west coast. This provided necessary conditions for the establishment of the University of California and the development of Berkeley. Even in the subsequent development of the University of California, although private universities such as Stanford, Caltech, and Southern California were successively built in the surrounding areas of its campuses and became the world's top universities, the rise of these universities provided development opportunities for the University of California and Berkeley to become world-class universities. Of course, whether to cooperate or compete with these private universities still depends on the university's vision, goals and governance effectiveness. The "location" refers to California's comfortable climate, beautiful bay environment and the wealth brought by the gold rush. This created extremely favorable conditions for the establishment of the University of California, Berkeley. Later, the establishment of Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, and the development of Silicon Valley formed a "Talent Hub" with a radius of less than 50 kilometers, which integrated the dissemination and creation of advanced knowledge and high-end technological innovation and development, and acted like a "magnet" to attract outstanding scientific and engineering talents from around the world. These factors have brought a superior "geographical" advantage to Berkeley's development. "Harmony" refers to the "California Pioneering Idea" upheld by the people of California. This concept embodies the pursuit and desire for democracy, science, knowledge, and equality, and forms the cultural foundation for the establishment and development of the University of California. During the development of the University of California, the California people's awareness of diversity and the spirit of high-tech exploration and innovation have injected fresh blood into the excellent development of the University of California system and Berkeley's maintenance of its reputation.
It needs to be emphasized that the “right time, right place and right people” only created external conditions for the rise and long-term survival and development of the University of California system and Berkeley. It is an important factor that cannot be ignored in their outstanding achievements. However, in order to become an outstanding university with a long-lasting reputation, and even become a world-class university, the University of California system and its Berkeley campus still need to seize the opportunity to shape the university governance culture and university spirit, as well as efficient operating mechanisms.
1. Create and practice the development path of California’s pioneering ideas, scientific exploration spirit and comprehensive discipline vision
The establishment of the University of California benefited from the Land Grant Act promulgated by the U.S. federal government. In 1866, the private College of California in Oakland acquired 124 acres of land from the federal government through the Land Grant Act to expand its size. At the time, the land had not yet been named, and members of the California Institute of Trustees unanimously decided to name it Berkeley in honor of the philosopher George Berkeley. There were two main reasons behind this decision. First of all, "The Country Goes West" written by George Berkeley reflects the pursuit of democratic freedom and the indomitable spirit of exploration. The Board of Trustees expects that future universities will continue to carry this spirit forward. Secondly, as a philosopher, George Berkeley once dreamed of establishing his own university in the United States, but was unable to realize his wish due to funding problems. In view of this history, the University of California set its motto as "Fiat Lux" in Latin or "Let There Be Light" in English (let the light shine on the earth). This founding philosophy, as well as the reasons for the establishment of the university's name and motto, have pointed out the direction of vision development for the University of California to further carry forward the spirit of exploring science and pursuing democracy.
The determination of the development philosophy of the University of California and the shaping of the university spirit were also influenced by the gold rush culture of California in the 1850s. The gold rush not only stemmed from the pursuit of material, but also reflected the cultural characteristics of the first industrial revolution from the 1860s to the 1840s, that is, the bottom workers were eager to get rid of the difficult life and disadvantaged working environment brought by the industrial revolution and pursue the ideal life of fairness, equality, democracy and freedom. The immigrants brought by the gold rush became the early residents of California. They held optimistic beliefs, pursued a peaceful life, and actively built new homes. This belief infuses California with a passionate, vibrant and distinctive cultural atmosphere. In this context, California has formed an educational philosophy that transcends the times, that is, "education is a driving force for social reshaping and prosperity, and it also creates opportunities for individuals to change their social status." Therefore, in people's minds, universities are not only a base for skills training and talent cultivation, but also a symbol of "in a society without prerequisite advantages of status, universities are the path to personal success." The University of California has always adhered to this concept, creating opportunities for California residents from all walks of life and helping them realize their dreams of changing social status.
In addition, the University of California’s original w88 casino building plan was to establish the California College of Agriculture, Mining and Mechanics in accordance with the provisions of the Land Grant Act to cultivate professional talents needed for local industry and economic development that meet the requirements of the Act. However, this proposal was fiercely opposed by Benjamin Silliman, a professor of chemistry at Yale University. He strongly advocated the establishment of a full university in California, which could not only provide education in agricultural and other professional fields to meet the w88 casino establishment requirements of the Land Grant Act, but also integrate the comprehensive subject knowledge dissemination and innovative educational functions of eastern private universities. This suggestion was supported by the governor of California at the time. As a result, the California College expansion plan merged with the newly proposed land-grant college plan to form the University of California, now the University of California, Berkeley. This founding decision laid a solid foundation for the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California system, and the vision of pursuing multidisciplinary, comprehensive and large-scale development began from this point on. Of course, since 1960, the development of the University of California campuses as comprehensive research universities has been strongly supported by the California Higher Education Master Plan, and has received strong support from the state government and the people of California in terms of funding and enrollment. Therefore, as early as 1964, Berkeley was known as "the most balanced famous university in the United States", covering disciplines in various fields such as humanities, science and engineering. It is worth noting that while UC Berkeley is unique in its size and comprehensiveness, not all world-class universities are large, comprehensive universities. Private universities that are relatively small and have relatively single subjects, such as the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have also achieved world-class achievements. However, as a public university, Berkeley's mission is to support local economic development and provide first-class undergraduate education to California residents. It can only survive by cultivating as many outstanding students as possible and providing various services for local economic development through research in its comprehensive disciplines.
It also needs to be emphasized that the University of California is committed to shaping the university spirit and profound wisdom, and actively uses all possible opportunities to spread it further and where it is needed more. This is also the reason why the University of California has always adhered to the "Wisconsin" concept of "the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state" and has made higher education serve the socio-economic development of California. On the other hand, the University of California directly serves the local economy and high-tech development by strengthening the integration of science and education and cooperation between schools, enterprises and campuses, such as the rise of Silicon Valley and the rise of California Community Colleges. This close cooperation allows the scientific research results of the University of California to directly promote the economic growth and scientific and technological progress of the region.
George Breslauer, former provost of the University of California, Berkeley, once emphasized: "California's pioneering philosophy created a culture of fair competition and inspired the motivation to build the University of California into a world-class university." It can be said that the fair and equal development opportunities provided by the University of California to students, teachers, staff, and California residents reflect its core value of high-quality and connotative development. In a century and a half of development, the University of California has become a world-recognized outstanding public university system, and Berkeley has long been among the world's top universities.
2. The path of exploration to build a “co-governance” model, strengthen academic leadership, and improve governance efficiency
Higher education governance refers to the organizational structure and operation management system of a university. The governance structure of American universities usually consists of internal and external governance systems. The internal governance system consists of the board of directors, administrative agencies and academic committees. The influence of the external governance system usually comes from the state government, state legislative bodies, alumni, donors, student parents, communities, etc.
Similar to the internal governance model of other universities in the United States, the internal governance structure of the University of California includes the University Board of Trustees, academic committees and administrative agencies. Board members are selected and appointed by the governor, and the vast majority are members of the community. Due to historical reasons, UC faculty refuse to serve as board members, but the chair and vice chair of the Academic Committee attend all meetings and speak on behalf of the faculty, playing a pivotal role in the formulation of major academic policies. The Board of Trustees is the highest authority of the university, but it only participates in the formulation of university development goals and major decisions.
The administrative management system led by the president and the academic committee composed of teachers are responsible for the main tasks of university policy formulation and operation, and share the internal governance responsibilities of the university with the board of directors, which is called "Shared Governance" (hereinafter referred to as "co-governance"). The Academic Committee is composed of teacher representatives and is responsible for policy formulation in the academic field, such as policy formulation in teaching, scientific research, academic planning, academic budget, teacher evaluation, teacher promotion, etc. Administrators participate in the academic policy-making process of the Academic Council as advisors, but do not have voting rights.
In the "co-governance" model, a very important issue is the division of responsibilities and working relationship between administrative agencies and academic committees, that is, how to maximize the synergy formed by the academic professional leadership of teachers and the administrative leadership of administrators. The author has 20 years of working experience at the University of California and is deeply aware of the existence of this synergy. Moreover, this resultant force is not a simple addition, but is far greater than the sum of the two components of academic and administrative leadership. There is a process and result similar to a chemical reaction between the two.
There are five main reasons why the "co-governance" model of the University of California can form a synergy. First, the decentralized collective decision-making model highlights the decision-making characteristics of brainstorming. Participants in "co-governance" include all stakeholders of the w88 casino, including faculty, staff, students and members of the public (board members). This decentralized governance model is more conducive for participants to find their own position and devote themselves to collective affairs by realizing personal value. Similarly, different entities in the university have the opportunity to speak out, and the close cooperation and coordination between departments are closer and more orderly. Such a brainstorming process can easily achieve the "convention" of governance rather than the requirements and requirements of regulations and systems. Second, "co-governance" is a model that combines the professional management experience of administrative staff with the academic professional expertise of academic staff. The governance synergy generated by this combination is very powerful. Third, the decision-making in the "co-governance" model includes rich and rigorous data demonstration and result evaluation. In fact, the decision-making process between the academic committee and the administrative department is also a "game" process in many cases. Differences of opinions and even confrontations are inevitable based on different backgrounds and interests. In this case, scientific argumentation is particularly important. Fourth, the decision-making process is highly transparent, which is conducive to improving the knowledge of the university community and society about the university's operations, performance, and even problems. Decisions of the Board of Directors and Academic Committees are made by voting, while decisions by the administrative department are made by discussion and collective decision-making. But no matter which system is adopted, the process will be transparent. Fifth, the decision-making execution ability is strong and the supervision is strong. The Academic Committee is both the maker of academic policies and the supervisor of policy implementation effects. Moreover, for most academic policies, teachers formulate rules and regulations for their own academic behavior, so it is easier for them to be widely accepted by teachers when implemented. This is also key for academic leadership to play an effective role in university governance.
Martin Trow summarized the connotative meaning of the University of California’s “co-governance” model into two aspects: “maximization of university autonomy” and “pursuit of excellence.” The author explains its "maximization" and "pursuit of excellence" into three aspects. One is the “Shared Ownership” of the university’s subjects. Personnel from all walks of life in the university must serve as the masters of running the university and make decisions for the governance and development of the university. This is a necessary condition for universities to achieve "maximized autonomy." The second is the "Shared Responsibilities" of university subjects. Personnel from all walks of life in the university must jointly perform their respective responsibilities and find their own place in university governance. This position is not only a "physical" position, but more importantly, a "heart" position. The third is the "Shared Accountability" of the university's subjects. University governance is not only the responsibility of the leadership. People from all walks of life should have the obligation and confidence to assume the responsibility of running the university and take practical actions. Of course, universities must build and maintain a cultural atmosphere conducive to everyone's participation in governance. Only when people from all walks of life in the university have the opportunity to participate in governance, from a legal perspective, will they also be obliged to take responsibility for governance.
The University of California’s “co-governance” model is the result of the collective efforts of generations of leaders and faculty. In the history of its development, the phenomenon of administrative power also appeared. At the same time, the co-governance of the University of California is not perfect, and there are still problems of one kind or another, and as the times change, some problems will inevitably become prominent. However, in general, the governance practices of the University of California contain and reflect advanced values and normative principles. Such values and normative principles further highlight its "natural" and "inaction" style.
3. Commitment to raising funds through multiple channels and the difficult road of ensuring sufficient resources
Higher education is a very expensive system, and it is also a very fragile system. Expensive consumption means that it requires a lot of financial investment; and even so, it may not be effective in the short term. Fragility means that from the perspective of funding input and output, universities only invest and receive little or no direct economic returns. Once funding inputs are cut, the quality is immediately affected, and there are basically no alternatives. For this reason, one of the important responsibilities of American university presidents is to raise funds to ensure that there are sufficient funds for the operation of the university.
In the early development of the University of California, state government education funding and federal government research funding were the main sources of funding, playing a decisive role in the excellent development of Berkeley. By the 1980s, state government funding still accounted for about 25% of the total funding for the University of California (see Figure 1) and accounted for about 80% of teaching funding (teaching-related expenses). With the expansion of the university's scale and the impact of the U.S. economic recession, the state government's share of education funding has continued to decline, and its share of the total funding for the University of California has dropped to 10% by 2021. Obviously, state government funding is far from meeting the development needs of universities. For Berkeley, in order to maintain its global excellent quality development status, it needs to invest more additional expenses in areas such as teaching and scientific research, which means it must exceed the average investment of the University of California in this area, and government funding is even more stretched.
However, it is precisely because of the University of California’s efforts to raise funds through multiple channels that the university’s funding investment over the past 30 years still shows certain advantages even as the proportion of state government funding continues to shrink. If calculated based on the currency value in 2021 and the exchange rate between the US dollar and the RMB that year, the total funding investment of the University of California in the early 1990s was close to 100 billion yuan. At that time, the University of California had nine campuses. By simple calculation, the average w88 casino funding exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the total funding per student was as high as 200,000 yuan. The total funding of the University of California system in 2021 is 300 billion yuan, the average w88 casino funding is 30 billion yuan, and the per-student total funding is as high as 1 million yuan.
Teaching funds in American universities usually include expenditures for teaching facilities construction, teacher salaries, administrative services and related educational activities. Over the past 40 years, the proportion of this part of the University of California's total funding has not changed much. The proportion of teaching funding sources (state government funding, university self-financing, tuition and miscellaneous fees, and other four funding sources marked with teaching funding in Figure 1) has fluctuated around 25% from 1983 to 2021. But it needs to be pointed out that the shares of the four funding sources have changed dramatically. Forty years ago, state government funding accounted for more than 80% of all teaching funding. By 2021, this proportion had dropped to 44%. On the contrary, 40 years ago, funding from tuition and fees accounted for only 8% of teaching funding. By 2021, this proportion has risen to 34%. There are two important reasons for this change: first, the tuition fees for California resident students have increased; second, more non-California students will be recruited and charged high tuition fees to make up for the lack of education expenditures, or provide "extra" investment in teaching and increase high-quality teaching resources. No matter what measures are taken, the average teaching funding investment for California college students has increased from 55,000 yuan in 1983 to 223,000 yuan in 2021. It must be mentioned that in addition to the increase in the proportion of tuition revenue, the proportion of self-raised teaching funds by the University of California has also increased from 7% in 1983 to 16% in 2021; the total funding of this part is equivalent to 10.6 billion yuan, and the average w88 casino average is more than 1 billion yuan. This is strong evidence that the University of California is self-funded to maintain and enhance educational quality and excellence. In fact, the University of California can rely solely on the income from the state government and tuition and fees to run education. However, in order to maintain and continuously improve the excellence of its educational quality, raising teaching funds through multiple channels, investing in teaching activities beyond the "budget", and hiring famous teachers with high salaries are the only way to develop an excellent university, and it is also another important reason for Berkeley's long-standing reputation.
As a research university, one of the important tasks of the University of California is to carry out scientific research activities. Over the past 40 years, although the proportion of scientific research funding received by the University of California from the government has been declining, actual funding expenditures have continued to increase, from 11 billion yuan in 1983 (calculated in 2021 currency) to 32.3 billion yuan in 2021. Over the past 20 years, the University of California’s scientific research expenditures have accounted for more than 8% of the scientific research expenditures of all universities in the United States.
Five campuses including the University of California, Los Angeles, have medical schools. Typically, medical schools receive significant funding from affiliated hospitals and other activities. And this trend has changed dramatically in the past 40 years. For example, in the early 1980s, the funding obtained by the University of California through medical service activities accounted for 12% of the total funding. By 2021, this proportion had increased to 38%. On the one hand, this change is related to the new medical w88 casino of the University of California, and on the other hand, it is also directly related to the United States’ increased investment in biomedical research. In order to understand the difference in funding investment between universities with medical schools and universities without medical schools, the author chose to compare the funding of two campuses, Berkeley and Los Angeles. In addition, because the data of each branch in the 1990s is incomplete, the analysis of this study is based on the data of 2003 and 2021. Calculated based on the currency value in 2021 and the exchange rate of the US dollar and RMB at that time, Berkeley's funding in 2003 was 20.4 billion yuan, and its funding in 2021 was 21.5 billion yuan. The total per-student funding was 620,000 yuan and 480,000 yuan respectively. Although Berkeley's total funding has not changed in 20 years, Berkeley's funding investment is actually declining due to the expansion of student scale. This is one of the reasons why around 2018, Berkeley encountered unprecedented funding difficulties. Of course, with Berkeley's long-standing prestige and the support of the University of California system, Berkeley has overcome its funding difficulties and has regained its footing and embarked on a path of sustained and outstanding development.
Finally, it is important to emphasize the importance of private donations in the development of excellence in American colleges and universities. It is well known that the share of private donations in the funding sources of private universities is usually very high. For example, philanthropic funding accounts for 45% of Harvard University's funding sources in 2022; Stanford University's fundraising funds account for 28% of all funding sources. Although the personal fundraising funds of public universities are much lower than those of private universities, due to the relative flexibility in the use of funds, they also play a major role in the w88 casino's infrastructure construction and discipline development. It is no exaggeration to say that if the University of California, Berkeley did not have such sustained fundraising funds, it would be difficult to become a top public university.
4. The road to introducing and cultivating outstanding scholars and strengthening scientific research and innovation capabilities
Judson King once emphasized: "Hiring the best and strongest teachers and empowering them to carry out innovative research and teaching work" is one of the main factors that make the University of California outstanding and prestigious. The University of California Academic Personnel Manual clearly stipulates: “The University of California must review and evaluate the work objectives of each candidate for hiring or promotion of teachers through a committee composed of outstanding teachers to ensure the excellent quality of the faculty.”
In the more than 150 years of development of the University of California, there have been numerous successful cases of talent introduction and training. The introduction of Ernest Orlando Lawrence was one of the early representative success stories. Lawrence won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939. He was the first scholar at Berkeley and the first scholar at an American public university to win this honor; later, nine physics professors and physics graduates won this honor. After Lawrence's death in 1959, the board of directors renamed the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory respectively in commemoration of his outstanding contributions to the establishment and development of the Berkeley and Livermore National Laboratory. Currently, these two laboratories are affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy, with total annual expenditures exceeding US$1 billion each, and are managed and operated by the University of California. What is certain is that Lawrence Laboratory and Berkeley have explored a new path for cooperation between universities and national laboratories in the fields of innovative talent training and scientific research development. The two have grown up with each other, achieved excellence in each other, and achieved remarkable achievements that are praised by the world!
In fact, after World War I, the United States was optimistic about the importance of talents, and began to introduce a large number of top European scholars in the field of engineering education and to adopt Europe's excellent scientific research and teaching models; it provided scholars with a free academic atmosphere that could display their professional expertise, and at the same time granted them authority in team building and management. Obviously, the cases at the University of California and other universities have two common characteristics: first, hiring experts in the subject area to establish and develop the discipline, and second, granting personnel power to the expert management team. To a large extent, these characteristics also reflect the important role of academic leadership in the construction of disciplines and academic human resources. In fact, the UC Academic Council's evaluation in faculty hiring and promotion is an important measure for the UC system to maintain its excellent faculty. This is not only the result of the academic professionalization of leadership at the University of California, but also the result of the effective integration of academic leadership and administrative leadership achieved by the University of California through "co-governance."
Berkeley’s teacher teaching evaluation criteria include: mastery of subject knowledge; continuous development of subject areas; the ability to effectively organize and present materials; the ability to help students build connections between the subject they are studying and knowledge in other fields; the ability to motivate students to reason and independent learning; Stimulate the spirit and enthusiasm of new teachers in learning and teaching activities; stimulate students' curiosity, desire for self-challenge and innovative learning, and spirit of exploration; have a positive impact on high-quality teaching and student personality development; the desire and ability to participate in guiding students' extracurricular learning and activities; the ability to create an open, inclusive and encouraging academic environment, etc.
The evaluation of scientific research and innovation work includes: proving the scientific research and innovation capabilities of newly hired or promoted candidates through published scientific research results and works of art, engineering design, etc. Such evidence must effectively reflect the quality, not just the quantity, of scientific research and innovation results. In addition, there must be sufficient evidence to prove that the candidate can continue to effectively participate in high-quality and valuable innovative activities. For the results of the candidate's collaboration with other scholars, the review committee must be responsible for determining the content and extent of the candidate's contribution. For teaching positions in vocational colleges such as architecture, business administration, dentistry, engineering, law, medicine, etc., special abilities consistent with professional characteristics and participation in professional activities are also important criteria for recruitment and promotion evaluation. In the evaluation of scientific research by teachers at the University of California, the quality of scientific research results is always more important than the quantity; originality and innovation are the core elements of evaluation quality.
Because of such strict evaluation standards and rigorous review process, by the late 1950s, Berkeley attracted outstanding talents in almost every subject area, including many academicians of the National Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Engineering.
5. The path to explore the talent training model based on the combination of theory and practice
Enriching students’ college experience is the core path for talent training at the University of California, and it is also the connotation of its educational quality. The study experience includes very rich learning and life elements, such as general knowledge learning, professional skill development, course learning, interdisciplinary knowledge expansion, extracurricular activity participation, scientific research work, community service, innovative practical ability, etc. The integration of these elements forms the talent training model of the University of California that combines theory and practice.
The curriculum at all UC campuses is very rich. Taking Berkeley as an example, 6,208 courses will be offered in the fall of 2023, with an average of 0.16 courses per student. What's more important is that students can register freely, arrange their own course learning progress according to their own interests and learning goals, and expand their knowledge in different subject areas. Among the courses completed by Berkeley undergraduate graduates, non-major required courses account for 54%. Of course, in addition to the w88 casino offering enough courses for students to take, usually the requirements for course composition for each major are also flexible, consisting of general education, professional core courses, professional elective courses and non-professional elective courses. The curriculum composition in these three areas is also flexible, providing the possibility for personalized learning.
The University of California, Berkeley, has always adhered to the interdisciplinary research and interdisciplinary talent cultivation concepts pioneered by Lawrence. In addition to providing students with self-interdisciplinary learning opportunities, it also provides interdisciplinary research and learning opportunities for teachers and students through the establishment of interdisciplinary disciplines. In the 1970s, when computers were at their peak development stage, Berkeley was far-sighted and recognized the importance of the intersection of electrical engineering and computer discipline knowledge, and established the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in 1973. Although the two disciplines themselves have many similar areas of knowledge, their merger to form a new department can be regarded as a pioneer in the development of interdisciplinary disciplines. EECS has lived up to expectations and has trained a large number of outstanding scientists and practitioners in the field of computing, including two Turing Award winners.
Advancing with the times, timely adjusting the direction of disciplines and establishing new disciplines are important prerequisites for universities to cultivate top innovative talents. Berkeley’s success stories are numerous. In addition to bringing in Lawrence to lead the establishment of the Department of Physics when the world was vigorously developing physics, and establishing the EECS Interdisciplinary Department at the peak of the development of computer science, the College of Computing, Data Science and Society will be established in 2023. This is another feat of Berkeley's interdisciplinary construction in the digital age, and another case of Berkeley's discipline construction keeping pace with the times. It fully demonstrates Berkeley's responsibility for developing cutting-edge technologies and solving social problems, as well as cultivating talents in related fields.
It is very important for universities to provide students with theoretical learning and practical opportunities, which is a prerequisite for ensuring the quality of education. Of course, the more important thing is: can students effectively use these opportunities to enrich their schooling experience? To this end, the University of California began to conduct a systematic survey and research on the study experience of all undergraduate students in 2002. Taking the time students spend on classroom learning and extracurricular practical activities per week as an example (see Figure 2), the survey results show that 77% of students spend between 6 and 20 hours per week on classroom learning (professor lectures, discussion classes, and experimental classes), 19% of students spend more than 20 hours, and the other 4% spend less than 6 hours. About 65% of students spend more than 10 hours per week on practical learning (extracurricular practical activities and other academic activities). The author had the opportunity to participate in the research activities of the "International Alliance for Research University Research" implemented by the Higher Education Research Center of the University of California, Berkeley. Nanjing University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Hunan University, and Tongji University have participated in the research activities. Data collected using the same questionnaire shows that more than 65% of Chinese students spend more than 20 hours a week on classroom learning (teaching lectures, discussion classes, experimental classes); nearly 40% of students spend more than 30 hours in class; the other 7% spend less than 6 hours; only about 25% of students spend more than 10 hours a week on practical learning activities. The purpose of this comparison is to show the differences in learning behavior among Chinese and American college students. But it is worth thinking about: the best way to improve students' practical ability is to let them participate in real educational activities. Only in this way can they combine the theoretical knowledge they have learned with practice and improve their innovation and practical abilities. Perhaps another indicator can illustrate this problem better. More than 50% of undergraduate graduates from the University of California, Berkeley, have participated in teachers' scientific research projects or innovative projects. Perhaps this is one reason why American students spend more time each week engaging in hands-on learning. Among the scientific research funds of the University of California in 2022, 48% will be used for personnel salaries; among the personnel expenses, 12% will be used to pay the salary of student research assistants, with a total cost of up to 2.85 billion yuan. Of course, these fees are mainly used for labor subsidies for graduate assistants, with undergraduates accounting for a minority.
6. Create and implement problem-oriented discipline quality assessment
The U.S. higher education quality assurance and evaluation system has a history of more than 100 years and has formed an integrated and normalized system that integrates the establishment of quality standards, certification, subject evaluation, and student learning outcome evaluation. The contribution of the University of California in this regard and its own actions are worthy of study, and are also one of the important paths for the excellent development of the University of California that cannot be ignored.
At the end of the 19th century, American higher education had a very low status in the world, and was even regarded as a "degree factory" (Diploma Mills). To this end, the Association of American Universities (AAU) was established in 1900 with the initiative of Benjamin Wheeler, then president of the University of California, and the response of Harvard, Stanford and other universities. AAU was established to promote the construction and improvement of university education standards. After the establishment of AAU, the first was to improve the quality by strengthening and unifying the quality standards of American doctoral education, which was actually the later subject evaluation of American doctoral education. The second was to develop undergraduate education accreditation standards and began to certify the undergraduate education of AAU members and some other universities in 1914. Universities in Germany use AAU's accreditation results to determine the quality of U.S. undergraduate graduates applying to graduate schools at German universities. Around 1920, regional accreditation agencies were established one after another, and the AAU also withdrew from accreditation work in 1949. However, the accreditation of the Association of American Universities played a huge role in the rapid development and transformation of American universities in the early 20th century. It not only established the international status of American universities, but also improved the quality of university education by standardizing university education standards, pioneered the accreditation and evaluation of higher education in the United States, and provided American experience for the construction of the world's higher education quality assurance system.
With the transformation of American higher education from elite education to mass education in the mid-20th century, university accreditation can no longer meet the needs of discipline construction. The United States has successively launched program accreditation implemented by third-party institutions such as accreditation agencies and professional associations. However, since both university accreditation and subject accreditation are quality assurance systems based on industry standards, that is to say, as long as the university and subject meet the basic industry standards, they can obtain certification qualifications and run schools and award degrees with peace of mind. In essence, such a quality assurance system cannot help universities improve the quality of their education, so it has been criticized and questioned by society and scholars. In addition, the quality decline caused by the popularization of higher education and the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 had a heavy blow to the development of American education, making the U.S. federal government and universities realize the urgency of revitalizing higher education. In the 1970s, the University of California, Berkeley, took the lead in carrying out discipline evaluation within the w88 casino, aiming to essentially analyze discipline quality and development issues and improve the quality of education. Judson King once emphasized that the main mechanism for the University of California to evaluate the quality of disciplines, discover existing problems, and discuss discipline development visions is regular discipline evaluation (program review). This initiative later became one of the most important ways for American colleges and universities to ensure and improve the quality of education today.
Berkeley's discipline evaluation is an evaluation of the teaching, research and service quality of disciplines and research institutions jointly carried out by the Academic Council and the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs. Since the 1970s, comprehensive evaluations of all disciplines, departments (institutes) have been carried out every 8 to 10 years. The assessment content includes 5 aspects. The first is the assessment of discipline development strategies. Including the long-term development plan of the discipline, the degree of interdisciplinary cooperation, challenges and opportunities faced, etc. The second is teachers and teaching evaluation. This includes mechanisms to motivate teachers to effectively carry out teaching, research and service work, whether additional resources are invested in teaching, whether teaching innovation has been achieved, whether teachers' workload is reasonable, what measures are taken to retain young teachers, how to help teachers with poor performance, what conditions are provided for interdisciplinary and inter-college cooperation, etc. The third is scientific research evaluation. Including the scientific research advantages of the discipline, new research fields, funding, and the intensity of using scientific research advantages to support course teaching and development. The fourth is the evaluation of undergraduate teaching quality in the subject. It involves how to publicize and interpret training objectives to students, how to define undergraduate learning outcomes, how the subject's educational philosophy, model, curriculum settings, requirements, etc. are different compared to world-class majors, and how rich the curriculum is; what measures are taken to ensure that students successfully complete their studies, what shortcomings and limitations exist in undergraduate training, and how to use existing resources to improve undergraduate teaching. The fifth is the quality evaluation of postgraduate education in the discipline. Including goals, admissions policies, student financial aid, academic and research guidance, qualification examination policies and procedures, teachers and graduate students’ participation in scientific research and extracurricular activities, employment of graduates, etc.
The subject evaluation characteristics of the University of California, Berkeley can be summarized into 9 aspects. First, subject evaluation is an evaluation driven by internal quality improvement and is a quality improvement evaluation organized within the w88 casino. Second, subject assessment is an assessment jointly led by administrative and academic institutions, and the assessment standards are set by the academic committee, demonstrating the important role that academic leadership plays in subject development and quality assurance. Third, teachers participate in assessment to a high degree, with almost all members participating. Teacher participation in assessment is a key factor for assessment results to have an impact in the classroom, and is the "gold standard" to ensure assessment effects and teaching quality. Fourth, subject evaluation is a combination of norm-referenced and criteria-referenced assessments. The former evaluates the current status and existing problems of subject development by comparing it with the development status of the same subject in similar universities, while the latter emphasizes comparing with the development strategic goals of the subject to judge the achievements and challenges faced by the subject. Fifth, the subject evaluation is a "closed-loop" evaluation. It evaluates the improvement status of the problems discovered in the previous round of evaluation. At the same time, multiple re-evaluations are conducted during the 8 to 10-year evaluation cycle, especially the existing problems, improvement strategies, and actual progress are re-evaluated to complete the "closed loop" of evaluation. Sixth, subject evaluation attaches great importance to the formation process of quality, that is, to evaluate the "input" conditions and the environment in which quality is generated, so as to find the essence of the problem and propose targeted solution strategies. Seventh, discipline evaluation is based on a problem-oriented evaluation. Its purpose is to solve problems existing in the development of the discipline and to formulate improvement plans from aspects such as management, professional adjustment, scientific research direction, and resource allocation. Eighth, subject evaluation attaches great importance to the evaluation of opportunities and resources provided by disciplines, majors, departments (institutes) for student learning and teacher development, as well as high-quality experiences, so that evaluation follows the quality generation path of "opportunities (resources) - participation (experience) - results (effects)". Ninth, subject evaluation pays great attention to teachers’ teaching, scientific research innovation and future development.
To sum up, the University of California is a miracle in the history of global higher education development in the 20th century. The University of California, Berkeley is recognized as the strongest public university in the world and is a public university comparable to the top private universities in the United States. The success and long-standing reputation of the University of California system and the University of California, Berkeley are due to the "right time, place and people" factors, but the more important reason is their excellent internal "co-governance" system. The University of California advocates the educational philosophy and university spirit of pursuing scientific democracy, courage to explore, and serving society; it makes maximum use of professional administrative leadership and professional academic leadership to improve university governance efficiency; it does its best to raise funds through multiple channels to ensure high-quality educational resources; and it introduces talents. It goes hand-in-hand with training to create masters and achieve world-class scientific research results; it closely integrates theory and practice to enrich students' study experience, and undertakes the mission of cultivating future scientists and leaders; through problem-oriented subject evaluation and accountability mechanisms, it reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of w88 casino running and continuously improves quality. In addition, factors that have an important impact on the development of the University of California include: California's "Higher Education Master Plan" determines the development direction of California's three public higher education systems to avoid disorderly competition for the state's scarce resources; each branch's academic strategic planning and implementation evaluation are regularly carried out by the academic committee and administrative departments, fully considering market demand, laying a foundation for the university to keep pace with the times and grasp the cutting-edge development of educational science; the university system administrative office is responsible for the overall resource allocation and operation of the university, especially the centralized resources Coordination and support in terms of investment, key development priority projects, etc.; effective cooperation with California State University and community colleges provides favorable conditions for the university to complete its teaching tasks; the university's performance evaluation and professional leadership improvement training based on the development of administrative staff are of great significance to improving the decision-making execution efficiency of administrative staff and the quality and effect of services; through in-depth analysis of itself through institutional research and public sharing of research results, it improves the transparency of university decision-making and performance accountability, and opens a window to accept the supervision of university interests and society.
Of course, there have been many challenges during the development of the University of California system and Berkeley. Changes in California's demographic structure pose new challenges to college admissions and talent selection. With the deepening of the popularization of higher education, the contradiction between the expansion of the student scale and quality improvement of the university system and Berkeley has become increasingly prominent. Although universities strive to solve funding problems through multiple channels of fundraising, cuts in state education funding and federal government research investment funds have had a significant negative impact on maintaining and further improving the quality of teaching and research. To this end, the university has to spend more time and energy raising funds. However, due to factors such as the epidemic and the economic recession, it has become difficult to raise additional funds. The competition for talent caused by the rapid development of international higher education has weakened Berkeley's past advantages in talent competition. The increase in consumption levels and the deterioration of the living environment in the San Francisco Bay Area have had a huge negative impact on attracting and retaining outstanding talents at Berkeley and the entire university. A series of national security policies introduced by the federal government may have a lasting impact on Berkeley, which is known for its engineering and science disciplines, in maintaining the quality of scientific research and teaching as a world-class university. Whether the University of California can overcome these challenges and create another miracle in the 21st century requires solutions from internal and external governance and university operations.
[Chang Tongshan, Distinguished Professor, Institute of Educational Innovation, Xi'an Eurasian University; Director of Institutional Research and Academic Planning, Office of the President, University of California]
