Best of Both Worlds
As someone who came to Berkeley 30 years ago as an international student, I was pleased to see that international enrollments are up significantly for the first time since the post-September 11 backlash cast a chill over immigrant-friendly policies at U.S. colleges and universities.
Open Doors 2007, the annual study from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, reports that international enrollments nationwide are up by three percent, with California the top host state for these students, and engineering their second most popular field of study after business and management.
Another recent study by the Kauffman Foundation validates the importance of this trend for Berkeley Engineering. Education, Entrepreneurship and Immigration reports that immigrants who come to the United States to study engineering and technology are a driving economic force for U.S. industry, responsible in 2005 for generating $52 billion in startup income and creating nearly 450,000 jobs.
The undergraduate population at Berkeley remains primarily U.S. citizens, but a stroll on the north side—or any side—of campus quickly demonstrates that our campus is indeed a melting pot of young talents both native- and foreign-born. Our multicultural student body provides a colorful blend of intellectual contributions, diverse cultural backgrounds, languages and personal perspectives that enrich our campus life and do more to promote international relations than any academic class could ever hope to accomplish.
From all of us at Berkeley Engineering, we wish you peace and happiness for the holiday season and new year.
S. Shankar Sastry
Dean, College of Engineering
NEC Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering
Email Dean Sastry
Upcoming Events
Want to enhance your career potential as a design engineer? The College of Engineering is offering a series of premier digital format and online certificate courses in integrated circuit design and computer architecture. These full semester and short courses feature our world-renowned EECS faculty. Space is limited so enroll now. Classes begin January 22, 2008.
January 31, 2008 Regents’ Lecture: Fran Allen, IBM Fellow Emerita and the first female recipient of the Turing Award, will speak on “The Challenge of the Multi Cores: Think Sequential, Run Parallel.”
February 21, 2008 Berkeley EECS Annual Research Symposium: EECS faculty answer your questions about the future of technology.
