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{{Short description|Public university system in California}}
{{About|the university system|the first campus|University of California, Berkeley|other uses|California University (disambiguation){{!}}California University}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = University of California
 | image                  = The University of California 1868.svg
 | image_upright          = .7
 | motto                  = ''[[Fiat lux]]'' ([[Latin]])
 | mottoeng               = [[Let there be light]]
 | logo                   = University of California logo.svg
 | logo_upright           = .8
 | established            = {{start date and age|March 23, 1868}}
 | type                   = [[Public university|Public]] [[research university|research]] [[university system]]
 | endowment              = $29.5 billion (2024)<ref name="University of California">As of August 1, 2024 {{cite web |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/stocks-and-real-estate-power-ucs-investments-180-billion-fiscal-year-end |date=August 1, 2024 |title=Stocks and real estate power UC's investments to $180 billion at fiscal year end }}</ref>
 | budget                 = $53.6 billion (2024–2025)<ref name="At a glance">{{cite web |title=The University of California at a Glance {{!}} February 2025 |url=https://ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/uc-facts-at-a-glance.pdf |publisher=University of California |date=February 2025 |access-date=April 7, 2025 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406145823/https://ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/uc-facts-at-a-glance.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
 | president              = [[James Milliken (academic administrator)|James Milliken]]
 | city                   = [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] (Office of the President)
 | state                  = California
 | country                = United States
 | students               = 299,407 (February 2025)<ref name="At a glance" />
 | undergrad              = 236,070 (February 2025)<ref name="At a glance" />
 | postgrad               = 63,337 (February 2025)<ref name="At a glance" />
 | colors                 = Blue and gold {{color box|#1295D8}}{{color box|#FFB511}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://brand.universityofcalifornia.edu/guidelines/identity/color.html#! |title=The UC Brand &#124; Color |publisher=Brand.universityofcalifornia.edu |access-date=October 14, 2015 |archive-date=February 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202112622/https://brand.universityofcalifornia.edu/guidelines/identity/color.html#! |url-status=live }}</ref>
 | faculty                = 26,100 (February 2025)<ref name="At a glance" />
 | administrative_staff   = 192,400 (February 2025)<ref name="At a glance" />
 | campus                 = 10 campuses under direct control (9 with undergraduate and graduate schools, one professional/graduate only), one affiliated law school, and one national laboratory
 | coordinates            = {{Wikidatacoord|Q184478|region:US-CA_type:edu|display=inlinetitle}}
 | website                = {{Official URL}}
}}

The '''University of California''' ('''UC''') is a [[public university|public]] [[Land-grant university|land-grant]] [[research university|research]] [[university system]] in the U.S. state of [[California]].  Headquartered in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], the system is composed of its ten campuses at [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[University of California, Davis|Davis]], [[University of California, Irvine|Irvine]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles]], [[University of California, Merced|Merced]], [[University of California, Riverside|Riverside]], [[University of California, San Diego|San Diego]], [[University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco]], [[University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]], and [[University of California, Santa Cruz|Santa Cruz]], along with numerous research centers and academic centers abroad.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses-locations |title=Campuses & locations |date=January 15, 2020 |website=University of California |language=en |access-date=April 22, 2020 |archive-date=January 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109171703/https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/uc-system/parts-of-uc |url-status=live }}</ref> The system is the state's land-grant university.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/land-grant-university-website-directory?state=52 |title=Land-Grant Colleges and Universities |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture |date=2020 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210160612/https://nifa.usda.gov/land-grant-colleges-and-universities |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1900, UC was one of the founders of the [[Association of American Universities]] and since the 1970s seven of its campuses, in addition to Berkeley, have been admitted to the association. Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Riverside, and San Diego are considered [[Public Ivy|Public Ivies]], making California the state with the most universities in the nation to hold the title.<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.prepscholar.com/public-ivy-league-schools |title=Should You Go to a Public Ivy? 5 Factors to Consider |first=Laura |last=Staffaroni |website=blog.prepscholar.com |access-date=October 16, 2021 |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215110459/https://blog.prepscholar.com/public-ivy-league-schools |url-status=live }}</ref> UC campuses have large numbers of distinguished [[Faculty (academic staff)|faculty]] in almost every [[Discipline (academia)|academic discipline]], with UC faculty and researchers having won 75 [[Nobel Prize]]s as of 2025.<ref name="UC Regents">{{cite web |title=University of California Nobel Laureates |url=https://nobel.universityofcalifornia.edu/ |publisher=UC Regents |access-date=October 16, 2025 |archive-date=October 12, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251012032240/https://nobel.universityofcalifornia.edu/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The system's ten campuses have a combined student body of 299,407 students, 26,100 faculty members, 192,400 staff members and over 2.5 million [[Alumnus|alumni]].<ref name="At a glance" /> Its newest campus in Merced opened in fall 2005. Nine campuses enroll both [[Undergraduate education|undergraduate]] and [[graduate school|graduate]] students; one campus, UC San Francisco, enrolls only graduate and professional students in the medical and health sciences. In addition, the [[University of California College of the Law, San Francisco|University of California College of the Law]] located in San Francisco is legally affiliated with UC and shares its name but is otherwise autonomous. Under the [[California Master Plan for Higher Education]], the University of California is a part of the state's three-system public higher education plan, which also includes the [[California State University]] system and the [[California Community Colleges]] system. UC is governed by a [[University of California Regents|Board of Regents]] whose autonomy from the rest of the state government is protected by the state constitution.<ref name="Grodin_Page243" /> The University of California also manages or co-manages three national laboratories for the [[United States Department of Energy|U.S. Department of Energy]]: [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] (LBNL), [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] (LLNL), and [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] (LANL).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucop.edu/laboratory-management/index.html |title=UC National Laboratories {{!}} UCOP |website=www.ucop.edu |language=en |access-date=April 6, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626021534/https://www.ucop.edu/laboratory-management/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The University of California was founded on March 23, 1868, and operated in Oakland, where it absorbed the assets of the [[College of California]] before moving to [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] in 1873.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/programs-and-initiatives/faculty-resources-advancement/faculty-handbook-sections/brief-history.html |title=A brief history of the University of California {{!}} UCOP |website=www.ucop.edu |language=en |access-date=April 6, 2018 |archive-date=July 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726031252/https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/programs-and-initiatives/faculty-resources-advancement/faculty-handbook-sections/brief-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://150.universityofcalifornia.edu/ |title=UC 150th Anniversary Timeline |last=California |first=University of |website=UC 150th Anniversary Timeline |language=en |access-date=April 6, 2018 |archive-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109205120/https://150.universityofcalifornia.edu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It also affiliated itself with independent medical and law schools in San Francisco. Over the next eight decades, several branch locations and satellite programs were established across the state. In March 1951, the University of California began to reorganize itself into something distinct from its campus in Berkeley, with UC president [[Robert Gordon Sproul]] staying in place as chief executive of the UC system, while [[Clark Kerr]] became Berkeley's first chancellor<ref name="Stadtman2" /><ref name="MargaretLeslieDavis" /><ref name="ClarkKerr1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/chancellors |title=Past Chancellors |website=Office of the Chancellor Berkeley |language=en |access-date=April 6, 2018 |archive-date=April 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416192959/https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/chancellors |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Raymond B. Allen]] became the first chancellor of UCLA.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pastleaders.ucla.edu/allen.html |title=Raymond Allen |website=UCLA's Past Leaders |access-date=January 5, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308005741/http://www.pastleaders.ucla.edu/allen.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021 }}</ref> However, the 1951 reorganization was stalled by resistance from Sproul and his allies,<ref name="ClarkKerr2" /> and it was not until Kerr succeeded Sproul as UC president that UC was able to evolve into a university system from 1957 to 1960.<ref name="ClarkKerr3" /> At that time, chancellors were appointed for additional campuses and each was granted some degree of greater autonomy.<ref name="Trombley" />

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Bay Blue - Flickr - Joe Parks.jpg|thumb|In November 1857, the [[College of California]]'s trustees began to acquire various parcels of land facing the [[Golden Gate]] in what is now [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]].]]
In 1849, the state of California ratified its first constitution, which contained the express objective of creating a complete educational system including a state university.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HfIJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR10 Cal. Const. Art. IX, § 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406172357/https://books.google.com/books?id=HfIJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR10 |date=April 6, 2023 }} (1849).</ref> Taking advantage of the [[Morrill Land-Grant Acts]], the [[California State Legislature]] established an Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College in 1866.<ref name="Stadtman">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/7 7–34] }}</ref><ref name="Marsden">{{cite book |last1=Marsden |first1=George M. |title=The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195106503 |pages=134–140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9QOfEZrrLYC&pg=PA134 |access-date=July 16, 2016 |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308193405/https://books.google.com/books?id=E9QOfEZrrLYC&pg=PA134 |url-status=live }} Page 138 of this source incorrectly states that the date of the final negotiations in which Governor Low participated was October 8, 1869, but it is clear from the context and the endnotes to that page (which cite documents from 1867) that the reference to 1869 is a typo.</ref> However, it existed only on paper, as a placeholder to secure federal [[Land-grant university|land-grant funds]].<ref name="Marsden" />

Meanwhile, [[Congregational]] [[minister of religion|minister]] [[Henry Durant]], an alumnus of [[Yale]], had established the private Contra Costa Academy, on June 20, 1853, in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California.<ref name="Stadtman" /> The initial site was bounded by Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets and Harrison and Franklin Streets in [[downtown Oakland]]<ref name="Stadtman" /> (and is marked today by State Historical Plaque No. 45 at the northeast corner of Thirteenth and Franklin). In turn, the academy's trustees were granted a charter in 1855 for a [[College of California]], though the college continued to operate as a [[University-preparatory school|college preparatory school]] until it added college-level courses in 1860.<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /> The college's trustees, educators, and supporters believed in the importance of a [[liberal arts education]] (especially the study of the Greek and Roman [[classics]]), but ran into a lack of interest in [[liberal arts college]]s on the [[American frontier]] (for [[tertiary education|post-secondary]] degrees, the college was graduating only three or four students per year).<ref name="Marsden" />
[[File:South Hall UC Berkeley.jpg|thumb|right|[[South Hall (UC Berkeley)|South Hall]], built in 1873, is the oldest building on the [[UC Berkeley|Berkeley]] campus.]]
In November 1857, the college's trustees began to acquire various parcels of land facing the [[Golden Gate]] in what is now [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] for a future planned campus to the north of Oakland.<ref name="Stadtman" /> But first, they needed to secure the college's water rights by buying a large farm to the east.<ref name="Stadtman" /> In 1864, they organized the College Homestead Association, which borrowed $35,000 to purchase the land, plus another $33,000 to purchase 160 acres (650,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of [[Southside, Berkeley, California|land to the south of the future campus]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Helfand |first1=Harvey |title=University of California, Berkeley: An Architectural Tour |date=2002 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |location=New York |isbn=9781568982939 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41A6PwEj4QgC&pg=PA4 }}</ref> The association subdivided the latter parcel and started selling lots with the hope it could raise enough money to repay its lenders and also create a new [[college town]].<ref name="Stadtman" /> But sales of new homesteads fell short.<ref name="Stadtman" />

Governor [[Frederick Low]] favored the establishment of a state university based upon the [[University of Michigan]] plan, and thus in one sense may be regarded as the founder of the University of California.<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /> At the College of California's 1867 [[Graduation|commencement exercises]], where Low was present, [[Yale University]] professor [[Benjamin Silliman Jr.]] criticized Californians for establishing a [[Institute of technology|polytechnic school]], instead of a real university.<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /> That same day, Low reportedly first suggested a merger of the already-functional College of California (which had a liberal arts focus, land, buildings, faculty, and students, but not enough money) with the nonfunctional state college (which had a polytechnical focus, money and nothing else), and went on to participate in the ensuing negotiations.<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /> 
[[File:UCSF 1908 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[University of California, San Francisco|UC San Francisco]] campus in 1908.]]
On October 9, 1867, the college's trustees reluctantly agreed to join forces with the state college to their mutual advantage, but under one condition—that there not be simply an "Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College", but a complete university, within which the assets of the College of California would be used to create a College of Letters (now known as the [[UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science|College of Letters and Science]]).<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /><ref>This agreement is evident in section 7 of the Organic Act, in which the state agreed to establish the College of Letters in consideration of the College of California's gift. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=srpAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA250 Cal. Stats., 17th sess., 1867–1868, ch. 244, § 7].</ref> Accordingly, the Organic Act, establishing the University of California, was introduced as a bill by [[California State Assembly|Assemblyman]] [[John W. Dwinelle]] on March 5, 1868, and after it was duly passed by both houses of the state legislature, it was signed into [[Law of California|state law]] by Governor [[Henry H. Haight]] (Low's successor) on March 23, 1868.<ref name="Stadtman" /><ref name="Marsden" /><ref>Harvey Helfand, ''University of California, Berkeley: An Architectural Tour and Photographs,'' (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 6.</ref>

However, as legally constituted, the new university was ''not'' an actual merger of the two colleges, but was an entirely new institution which merely inherited certain objectives and assets from each of them.<ref name="Stadtman_Page_34">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/34 34] }}</ref> Governor Haight saw no need to honor any tacit understandings reached with his predecessor about institutional continuity.<ref name="Marsden" /> Only two college trustees became regents and a single faculty member ([[Martin Kellogg]]) was hired by the new university.<ref name="Marsden" /> By April 1869, the trustees had second thoughts about their agreement to donate the college's assets and disincorporate. To get them to proceed, regent [[John B. Felton]] helped them bring a "friendly suit" against the university to test the agreement's legality—which they promptly lost.<ref name="Stadtman_Page_39">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/39 39] }}</ref>

The University of California's second president, [[Daniel Coit Gilman]], opened [[Campus of the University of California, Berkeley|its new campus]] in Berkeley in September 1873.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.library.ucsf.edu/daniel_gilman.html |title=Daniel Coit Gilman and the Early Years of UC – Special Topics – A History of UCSF |website=history.library.ucsf.edu |access-date=October 24, 2016 |archive-date=December 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228134040/http://history.library.ucsf.edu/daniel_gilman.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===UC affiliates===
[[File:A Gary Anderson Hall, UCR (cropped2).JPG|thumb|right|The [[University of California Citrus Experiment Station|Citrus Experiment Station]], built in 1917, is the oldest building on the [[UC Riverside]] campus.]]
Section 8 of the Organic Act authorized the Board of Regents to affiliate the University of California with independent self-sustaining professional colleges.<ref name="Stadtman4">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/125 125–141] }}</ref><ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=srpAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA250 Cal. Stats., 17th sess., 1867–1868, ch. 244, § 8].</ref> "Affiliation" meant UC and its affiliates would "share the risk in launching new endeavors in education".<ref name="Stadtman4" /> The affiliates shared the prestige of the state university's brand, and UC agreed to award degrees in its own name to their graduates on the recommendation of their respective faculties, but the affiliates were otherwise managed independently by their own boards of trustees, charged their own tuition and fees, and maintained their own budgets separate from the UC budget.<ref name="Stadtman4" /> It was through the process of affiliation that UC was able to claim it had medical and law schools in San Francisco within a decade of its founding.<ref name="Stadtman4" />

In 1879, California adopted its second and [[California Constitution|current constitution]], which included unusually strong language to ensure UC's independence from the rest of the [[Government of California|state government]].<ref name="Grodin_Page243">{{cite book |last1=Grodin |first1=Joseph R. |last2=Shanske |first2=Darien |last3=Salerno |first3=Michael B. |author-link1=Joseph Grodin |title=The California State Constitution |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199988648 |page=243 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yx2CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415171641/https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yx2CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9">[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CONS&sectionNum=SEC.%209.&article=IX Cal. Const. Art. IX, § 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720172737/https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CONS&sectionNum=SEC.%209.&article=IX |date=July 20, 2020 }}.</ref> This had lasting consequences for the [[University of California College of the Law, San Francisco|Hastings College of the Law]], which had been separately chartered and affiliated in 1878 by an act of the state legislature at the behest of founder [[Serranus Clinton Hastings]].<ref name="BarnesPages447172">{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Thomas Garden |title=Hastings College of the Law: The First Century |date=1978 |publisher=University of California Hastings College of the Law Press |location=San Francisco |pages=44, 71–72 }}</ref> After a falling out with his own handpicked board of directors, the founder persuaded the state legislature in 1883 and 1885 to pass new laws to place his law school under the direct control of the Board of Regents.<ref name="BarnesPage7882">{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Thomas Garden |title=Hastings College of the Law: The First Century |date=1978 |publisher=University of California Hastings College of the Law Press |location=San Francisco |pages=78–82 }}</ref> In 1886, the [[Supreme Court of California]] declared those newer acts to be unconstitutional because the clause protecting UC's independence in the 1879 state constitution had stripped the state legislature of the ability to amend the 1878 act.<ref name="BarnesPage8485">{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Thomas Garden |title=Hastings College of the Law: The First Century |date=1978 |publisher=University of California Hastings College of the Law Press |location=San Francisco |pages=84–85 }}</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3HwWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA215 People v. Kewen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905061007/https://books.google.com/books?id=3HwWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA215#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=September 5, 2024 }}'', 69 Cal. 215, 10 P. 393 (1886).</ref> To this day, the College of the Law (which dropped Hastings from its name in 2023) remains a UC affiliate, maintains its own board of directors, and is not governed by the regents.<ref name="Stadtman4" /><ref name="BarnesPage8485" />
[[File:Animal Science Building, UC Davis (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[George Hart Hall|Hart Hall]] at [[UC Davis]], built in 1928, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.]]
In contrast, [[Toland Medical College]] (founded in 1864 and affiliated in 1873) and later, the dental, pharmacy, and nursing schools in San Francisco were affiliated with UC through written agreements, and not statutes invested with constitutional importance by court decisions.<ref name="Stadtman4" /> In the early 20th century, the Affiliated Colleges (as they came to be called) began to agree to submit to the regents' governance during the term of President [[Benjamin Ide Wheeler]], as the Board of Regents had come to recognize the problems inherent in the existence of independent entities that shared the UC brand but over which UC had no real control.<ref name="Stadtman4" /> While Hastings remained independent, the Affiliated Colleges were able to increasingly coordinate their operations with one another under the supervision of the UC president and regents, and evolved into the health sciences campus known today as the University of California, San Francisco.<ref name="Stadtman4" />

===Becoming a research university===

Section 1 of the Organic Act authorized the university to "provide instruction and complete education" in many different fields and professions,<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=srpAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA248 Cal. Stats., 17th sess., 1867–1868, ch. 244, § 1, p. 248].</ref> but the text of the Organic Act is notably silent about [[research]].<ref name="Stadtman_Page_509">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/508 508-509] }}</ref>  It was not until the 1930s, during the administration of President Sproul, that UC's mission drifted away from its traditional focus on instruction—which became the province of the California State University—and towards research.<ref name="Stadtman_Page_509" />  Sproul started to speak of UC's missions as "teaching, research, and public service",<ref name="Stadtman_Page_509" /> which remains true today.<ref name="UC Mission">{{cite web |title=About UCOP |url=https://www.ucop.edu/about/index.html |website=University of California Office of the President |publisher=Regents of the University of California}}</ref> Thus, UC evolved into a research university whose faculty and staff would perform research to contribute directly to society, as opposed to indirect contributions by instructing students to equip them with the skills needed to later perform research in their own careers.<ref name="Stadtman_Page_509" /> The Master Plan for Higher Education, as enacted into state law in 1960, provides that UC "shall be the primary state-supported academic agency for research".<ref name="section66010.4">[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&sectionNum=66010.4. California Education Code Section 66010.4].</ref>

===North-south tensions===
[[File:Powell Library (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|[[Powell Library]], built in 1929, is one of the four oldest buildings on the [[UCLA]] campus.]]
In August 1882, the [[California State Normal School]] (whose original [[normal school]] in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] is now [[San Jose State University]]) opened a second school in Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/history/timeline/1880/ |title=San José State University: About SJSU: 1880–1899 |publisher=San José State University |access-date=May 3, 2013 |archive-date=July 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130712123706/http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/history/timeline/1880/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1887, the Los Angeles school was granted its own board of trustees independent of the San Jose school.<ref name="Gerth_Page_26">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=26–30}}</ref> The state constitution prohibited the legislature from directly commanding the Board of Regents to create a southern campus, but it did not prohibit the state legislature from passing legislation to create additional state universities, and the supporters of the Los Angeles State Normal School used the possibility of that scenario to pressure the Board of Regents to voluntarily accept the normal school as UC's southern campus.<ref name="Dundjerski_Page_15">{{cite book |last1=Dundjerski |first1=Marina |title=UCLA: The First Century |date=2011 |publisher=Third Millennium Publishing |location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781906507374 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WbLr-4QteEYC&pg=PA15}}</ref> In 1919, the state legislature transferred the normal school to UC control and renamed it the Southern Branch of the University of California.<ref name="Dundjerski_Page_21">{{cite book |last1=Dundjerski |first1=Marina |title=UCLA: The First Century |date=2011 |publisher=Third Millennium Publishing |location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781906507374 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WbLr-4QteEYC&pg=PA21}}</ref> In 1927, it became the [[University of California, Los Angeles|University of California at Los Angeles]]; the "at" would be replaced with a comma in 1958.<ref name="Dundjerski_Page_46">{{cite book |last1=Dundjerski |first1=Marina |title=UCLA: The First Century |date=2011 |publisher=Third Millennium Publishing |location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781906507374 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WbLr-4QteEYC&pg=PA46 |access-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-date=September 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927174250/https://books.google.com/books?id=WbLr-4QteEYC&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Los Angeles surpassed San Francisco in the [[1920 United States census|1920 census]] to become the most populous metropolis in California. Because Los Angeles had become the state government's single largest source of both tax revenue and votes, its residents felt entitled to demand more prestige and autonomy for their campus. Their efforts bore fruit in March 1951, when UCLA became the first UC site outside of Berkeley to achieve ''de jure'' coequal status with the Berkeley campus. That month, the regents approved a reorganization plan under which both the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses would be supervised by chancellors reporting to the UC president.<ref name="Stadtman2">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/355 355–358] }}</ref><ref name="MargaretLeslieDavis">{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Margaret Leslie |title=The Culture Broker: Franklin D. Murphy and the Transformation of Los Angeles |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520925557 |page=[https://archive.org/details/culturebrokerfra00davi/page/28 28] |url=https://archive.org/details/culturebrokerfra00davi |url-access=registration |access-date=August 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref name="ClarkKerr1">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |pages=458–462 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA458 |access-date=August 30, 2016 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060934/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA458#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ChancellorBylaw">[https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/bylaws/bl31.html Bylaw 31, Chancellors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518203900/http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/bylaws/bl31.html |date=May 18, 2018 }}, Bylaws of the Regents of the University of California.</ref> However, the 1951 plan was severely flawed; it was overly vague about how the chancellors were to become the "executive heads" of their campuses. Due to stubborn resistance from President Sproul and several vice presidents and deans—who simply carried on as before—the chancellors ended up as glorified [[Provost (education)|provosts]] with limited control over academic affairs and long-range planning while the president and the regents retained ''de facto'' control over everything else.<ref name="ClarkKerr2">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |pages=39–55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA39 |access-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060934/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Transformation and decentralization===

[[File:Campus of the University of California, Irvine (aerial view, circa 2006).jpg|thumb|[[UC Irvine]] was founded and had its campus built out in the 1960s.]]
Upon becoming president in October 1957, Clark Kerr supervised UC's rapid transformation into a true public university system through a series of proposals adopted unanimously by the regents from 1957 to 1960.<ref name="ClarkKerr3">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |pages=191–205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA191 |access-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060936/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA191#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Trombley">{{cite news |last1=Trombley |first1=William |title=Chancellors Emerge as Powerful Force in University: New Role of UC Campus Chiefs Seen as One of Most Significant Developments of Past Five Years |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 27, 1965 |page=A1}} Available through [[ProQuest]] Historical Newspapers.</ref> Kerr's reforms included expressly granting all campus chancellors the full range of executive powers, privileges, and responsibilities which Sproul had denied to Kerr himself, as well as the radical decentralization of a tightly knit bureaucracy in which all lines of authority had always run directly to the president at Berkeley or to the regents themselves.<ref name="ClarkKerr3" /><ref name="Trombley" /><ref name="ChancellorBylaw" /> In 1965, UCLA Chancellor [[Franklin David Murphy|Franklin D. Murphy]] tried to push this to what he saw as its logical conclusion: he advocated for authorizing all chancellors to report directly to the Board of Regents, thereby rendering the UC president redundant.<ref name="ClarkKerr6">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |pages=206–218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA206 |access-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905061016/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA206#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Murphy wanted to transform UC from one federated university into a confederation of independent universities, similar to [[Kansas Board of Regents|the situation in Kansas]] (from where he was recruited).<ref name="ClarkKerr6" /> Murphy was unable to develop any support for his proposal, Kerr quickly put down what he thought of as "Murphy's rebellion", and therefore Kerr's vision of UC as a university system prevailed: "one university with pluralistic decision-making".<ref name="ClarkKerr6" />
[[File:Geisel Library, UCSD.jpg|thumb|right|[[Geisel Library]], at [[UC San Diego]], was built in 1970.]]
During the 20th century, UC acquired additional satellite locations which, like Los Angeles, were all subordinate to administrators at the Berkeley campus.  California farmers lobbied for UC to perform [[applied research]] responsive to their immediate needs; in 1905, the Legislature established a "University Farm School" at [[Davis, California|Davis]] and in 1907 a "Citrus Experiment Station" at [[Riverside, California|Riverside]] as adjuncts to the College of Agriculture at Berkeley. In 1912, UC acquired a [[Scripps Institution of Oceanography|private oceanography laboratory]] in San Diego, which had been founded nine years earlier by local business promoters working with a Berkeley professor. In 1944, UC acquired Santa Barbara State College from the California State Colleges, the descendants of the State Normal Schools.<ref name="Gerth">{{cite book |last1=Gerth |first1=Donald R. |title=The People's University: A History of the California State University |date=2010 |publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780877724353 |page=39 }}</ref> In 1958, the regents began promoting these locations to general campuses, thereby creating [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UCSB]] (1958), [[University of California, Davis|UC Davis]] (1959), [[University of California, Riverside|UC Riverside]] (1959), [[University of California, San Diego|UC San Diego]] (1960), and [[University of California, San Francisco|UCSF]] (1964).<ref name="Stadtman3">{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Verne A. |title=The University of California, 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/400 400–420] }}</ref><ref name="ClarkKerr4">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA221 |access-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060937/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA221#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Each campus was also granted the right to have its own chancellor upon promotion. In response to California's continued population growth, UC opened two additional general campuses in 1965, with [[University of California, Irvine|UC Irvine]] opening in [[Irvine, California|Irvine]] and [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UC Santa Cruz]] opening in [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]].<ref name="Stadtman3" /> The youngest campus, [[University of California, Merced|UC Merced]] opened in fall 2005 to serve the [[San Joaquin Valley]].
[[File:UCSC Science Hill 2017-05-05.jpg|thumb|[[UC Santa Cruz]], founded in 1965.]]
After losing campuses in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara to the University of California system, supporters of the California State College system arranged for the state constitution to be amended in 1946 to prevent similar losses from happening again in the future.<ref name="Gerth" />

With decentralization complete, it was decided in 1986 that the UC president should no longer be based at the Berkeley campus, and the UC Office of the President moved to [[Kaiser Center]] in Oakland in 1989.<ref name="Johnson_Page_84">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Dean C. |title=The University of California: History and Achievements |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPueAAAAMAAJ&q=%22kaiser%20center%22 |access-date=September 27, 2023 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060938/https://books.google.com/books?id=NPueAAAAMAAJ&q=%22kaiser%20center%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> That lakefront location was subject to widespread criticism as "too elegant and too corporate for a public university".<ref name="Pelfrey_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=Pelfrey |first1=Patricia A. |title=Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995–2003 |date=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520952218 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j3yqEtmUPXsC&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406145824/https://books.google.com/books?id=j3yqEtmUPXsC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1998, the Office of the President moved again, to a newly constructed but much more modest building near the former site of the College of California in Oakland.<ref name="Pelfrey_Page_180">{{cite book |last1=Pelfrey |first1=Patricia A. |title=Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995–2003 |date=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520952218 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j3yqEtmUPXsC&pg=PA180 |access-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406172401/https://books.google.com/books?id=j3yqEtmUPXsC&pg=PA180 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Modern history===
[[File:UCMSciEng (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|[[UC Merced]], founded in 2005.]]
The Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 established that UC must admit undergraduates from the top 12.5% (one-eighth) of graduating high school seniors in California. Prior to the promulgation of the Master Plan, UC was to admit undergraduates from the top 15%. UC does not currently adhere to all tenets of the original Master Plan, such as the directives that no campus was to exceed total enrollment of 27,500 students (in order to ensure quality) and that public higher education should be [[College tuition in the United States|tuition-free]] for California residents. Five campuses, Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, and San Diego, each have current total enrollment at over 30,000, and of these five, all but Irvine have undergraduate enrollments over 30,000.<ref name=Enrollment>{{cite web |title=Fall Enrollment At A Glance |date=January 19, 2024 |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance |publisher=University of California |access-date=March 17, 2024 |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506160714/https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the state electorate severely limited long-term [[property tax]] revenue by enacting [[California Proposition 13 (1978)|Proposition 13]] in 1978, UC was forced to make up for the resulting collapse in state financial support by imposing a variety of fees which were tuition in all but name.<ref name="Lindsay">{{cite news |last1=Lindsay |first1=Leon |title=Will California's tuition-free colleges become history? |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/1217/121742.html |access-date=August 29, 2016 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |publisher=The First Church of Christ, Scientist |date=December 17, 1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927010001/https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/1217/121742.html |archive-date=September 27, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Lindsey">{{cite news |last1=Lindsey |first1=Robert |title=California Weighs End of Free College Education |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/science/california-weighs-end-of-free-college-education.html |access-date=August 29, 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=December 28, 1982 |archive-date=August 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815151030/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/science/california-weighs-end-of-free-college-education.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gordon">{{cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=Larry |title=California universities consider adopting the T-word: tuition |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-14-la-me-tuition-20100614-story.html |access-date=August 29, 2016 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417230527/https://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/14/local/la-me-tuition-20100614 |archive-date=April 17, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> On November 18, 2010, the regents finally gave up on the longstanding [[legal fiction]] that UC does not charge tuition by renaming the Educational Fee to "Tuition".<ref>Regents of the University of California, [http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/3101.html Regents Policy 3101: The University of California Student Tuition and Fee Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160523015848/http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/3101.html |date=May 23, 2016 }}, UC Office of the President (as approved on January 21, 1994, and with amendments through November 18, 2010).</ref> As part of its search for funds during the 2000s and 2010s, UC quietly began to admit higher percentages of highly accomplished (and more lucrative) students from other states and countries,<ref name="Warren">{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Jeffrey E. |title=UC, where are your native sons and daughters? |url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/UC-where-are-your-native-sons-and-daughters-2354592.php |work=SFGate |publisher=Hearst Communications |date=July 14, 2011 |access-date=March 6, 2021 |archive-date=January 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123022137/https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/UC-where-are-your-native-sons-and-daughters-2354592.php |url-status=live }}</ref> but was forced to reverse course in 2015 in response to the inevitable public outcry and start admitting more California residents.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Miriam |last2=Belkin |first2=Douglas |title=Foreign Students Pinch University of California Home-State Admissions |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-students-pinch-university-of-california-home-state-admissions-1447650060 |access-date=August 30, 2016 |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company, Inc. |date=November 16, 2015 |archive-date=August 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827214714/http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-students-pinch-university-of-california-home-state-admissions-1447650060 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Saul |first1=Stephanie |title=Public Colleges Chase Out-of-State Students, and Tuition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/public-colleges-chase-out-of-state-students-and-tuition.html |access-date=August 26, 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=July 7, 2016 |archive-date=August 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828053751/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/public-colleges-chase-out-of-state-students-and-tuition.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On November 14, 2022, about 48,000 academic workers at all ten UC campuses, as well as the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], went on [[2022 University of California academic workers' strike|strike for higher pay and benefits]] as authorized by the [[United Auto Workers]] (UAW) union.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Toohey |first1=Grace |last2=Lin |first2=Summer |last3=San Román |first3=Gabriel |title=UC officials call for mediator as strike by 48,000 academic workers causes systemwide disruptions |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-14/university-of-california-strike-academic-workers-graduate-students |date=November 14, 2022 |access-date=November 23, 2022 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115000725/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-14/university-of-california-strike-academic-workers-graduate-students |url-status=live }}</ref> UAW alleged more than 20 [[unfair labor practice]] charges against UC, including unilateral changes in policy and obstructing worker negotiation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://ucsdguardian.org/2022/11/03/breaking-uaw-academic-union-workers-across-uc-campuses-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-strike/ |title=BREAKING: Thousands of UAW Academic Union Workers Across UC Campuses Vote to Authorize Strike |first=Niloufar |last=Shahbandi |website=[[UCSD Guardian|The Guardian]] |publisher=University of California, San Diego |date=November 3, 2022 |access-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115002141/https://ucsdguardian.org/2022/11/03/breaking-uaw-academic-union-workers-across-uc-campuses-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-strike/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The strike lasted almost six weeks, officially ending on December 23.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hubler |first=Shawn |date=December 24, 2022 |title=University of California Academic Workers End Strike |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/us/university-california-workers-strike.html |access-date=January 4, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224030049/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/us/university-california-workers-strike.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Governance==
[[File:UC Office of the President.jpg|thumb|Office of the President of the University of California, in [[Oakland]]]]
All University of California campuses except the College of the Law in San Francisco are governed by the [[Regents of the University of California]] as required by the [[California Constitution|Constitution of the State of California]].<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" /> Eighteen regents are appointed by the [[Governor of California|governor]] for 12-year terms.<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" /> [[University of California Student Regent|One member]] is a student appointed for a one-year term.<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" /> There are also seven ''[[List of Latin phrases: E|ex officio]]'' members—the governor, [[Lieutenant Governor of California|lieutenant governor]], speaker of the [[California State Assembly|State Assembly]], [[California State Superintendent of Public Instruction|State Superintendent of Public Instruction]], president and vice president of the UC alumni associations, and the UC president.<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" /> The Academic Senate, made up of faculty members, is empowered by the regents to set academic policies.<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" /> In addition, the system-wide faculty chair and vice-chair sit on the Board of Regents as non-voting members.<ref name="CalConsArt9Sec9" />

===President of the University of California===
[[File:Blake House (University of California Presidential Residence) 2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Blake Garden (Kensington, California)|Blake House and Gardens]], built by architect [[Walter Danforth Bliss]] in 1924, served as the official residence of the UC President, from 1967 until 2008, when it was opened to the public.]]
Originally, the president was the chief executive of the first campus, Berkeley. In turn, other UC locations (with the exception of the Hastings College of the Law) were treated as off-site departments of the Berkeley campus, and were headed by [[provost (education)|provosts]] who were subordinate to the president. In March 1951, the regents reorganized the university's governing structure. Starting with the 1952–53 academic year, day-to-day "chief executive officer" functions for the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses were transferred to [[Chancellor (education)|chancellors]] who were vested with a high degree of autonomy, and reported as equals to UC's president.<ref name="Stadtman2" /><ref name="MargaretLeslieDavis" /><ref name="ClarkKerr1" /> As noted above, the regents promoted five additional UC locations to campuses and allowed them to have chancellors of their own in a series of decisions from 1958 to 1964,<ref name="Stadtman3" /> and the three campuses added since then have also been run by chancellors. In turn, all chancellors (again, with the exception of Hastings) report as equals to the University of California President. Today, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) and the Office of the Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Regents of the University of California share an office building in downtown Oakland that serves as the UC system's headquarters.<ref name="UCOPWelcomeGuide">{{cite book |last1=University of California Office of the President |title=UCOP Franklin-Broadway Campus Welcome Guide |date=2022 |publisher=Regents of the University of California |location=Oakland |page=9 |url=https://www.ucop.edu/future-of-work/_files/ucop_franklin_welcome_guide_f2_web.pdf |access-date=November 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613053613/https://www.ucop.edu/future-of-work/_files/ucop_franklin_welcome_guide_f2_web.pdf |archive-date=June 13, 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kerr's vision for UC governance was "one university with pluralistic decision-making".<ref name="ClarkKerr7">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA218 |access-date=August 29, 2020 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905060941/https://books.google.co.id/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA218&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> In other words, the internal delegation of operational authority to chancellors at the campus level and allowing nine other campuses to become separate centers of academic life independent of Berkeley did not change the fact that all campuses remain part of one legal entity. As a 1968 UC centennial [[coffee table book]] explained: "Yet for all its campuses, colleges, schools, institutes, and research stations, it remains one University, under one Board of Regents and one president—the University of California."<ref name="Pickerell_Page11">{{cite book |last1=Pickerell |first1=Albert G. |last2=Dornin |first2=May |title=The University of California: A Pictorial History |date=1968 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520010109 |page=11 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=puujD9UcXXkC&pg=PA11 |access-date=August 29, 2020 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406145826/https://books.google.com/books?id=puujD9UcXXkC&pg=PA11 |url-status=live }}</ref> UC continues to take a "united approach" as one university in matters in which it inures to UC's advantage to do so, such as when negotiating with the legislature and governor in Sacramento.<ref name="ClarkKerr7" /> The University of California continues to manage certain matters at the systemwide level in order to maintain common standards across all campuses, such as student admissions, appointment and promotion of faculty, and approval of academic programs.<ref name="Pelfrey_Page47">{{cite book |last1=Pelfrey |first1=Patricia A. |last2=Cheney |first2=Margaret|author2-link=Margaret Cheney (author) |title=A Brief History of the University of California |date=2004 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520243903 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbEwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |access-date=October 14, 2020 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415171646/https://books.google.com/books?id=qbEwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT56 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====List of presidents====
{{see also|List of chancellors of the University of California, Berkeley#Presidents}}

The following persons have led the University of California as president since 1869:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucop.edu/president/about/past-uc-presidents.html |title=Previous UC presidents |publisher=University of California}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! {{Abbr|No.|Number}} !! Image !! Name !! Term start !! Term end !! {{abbr|Refs.|References}}
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|acting
|[[File:Professor John Le Conte.jpg|70px]]
|[[John LeConte]]
|June 15, 1869
|August 16, 1870
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://sfexaminer.newspapers.com/newspage/457280689/ |title=MEETING OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS |date=June 15, 1869 |page=3 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Professor Le Conte Elected Temporary President of the University--Communication from the Trustees of the California College-Etc.}}</ref>
|-
|1
|[[File:Henry Durant.jpg|70px]]
|[[Henry Durant]]
|August 17, 1870
|November 6, 1872
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18700817.2.3&srpos=1&e=01-01-1870-31-12-1870--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Durant------- |title=State University. |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=22 |number=7453 |page=1 |date=August 17, 1870 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote= Mr. Durant was declared elected President of the University; and, on motion of Mr. Hagar, the Governor was requested to notify Mr. Durant, and request his acceptance of the position.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://sfexaminer.newspapers.com/newspage/461067855/ |title=THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA |date=August 17, 1870 |page=3 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]] |url-access=subscription |quote=}}</ref>
|-
|2
|[[File:Daniel Coit Gilman1.jpg|70px]]
|[[Daniel Coit Gilman]]
|November 7, 1872
|March 23, 1875
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18720801.2.9&srpos=11&e=01-01-1871-31-12-1872--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Gilman+elected------- |title=NEWS OF THE MORNING. |newspaper=Sacramento Daily Union |volume=43 |number=6655 |page=3 |date=August 1, 1872 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=On the 30th instant the Board of Regents elected Professor D. C. Gilman, late of Yale College, President of the University of California, Tompkins having declined.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18721107.2.20&srpos=1&e=01-01-1871-31-12-1872--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Gilman+installed------- |title=President Gilman. |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=24 |number=8260 |page=5 |date=November 7, 1872 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Tomorrow (Thursday) Professor Oilman will be Installed as President of the State University.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18750318.2.22&srpos=9&e=01-01-1874-31-12-1875--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+gilman------- |title=A Short Course of Instruction. |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Herald]] |volume=3 |number=145 |page=3 |date=March 18, 1875 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref>
|-
|3
|[[File:Professor John Le Conte.jpg|70px]]
|[[John LeConte]]
|March 24, 1875
|August 22, 1881
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT18750325.1.4&srpos=15&e=01-01-1874-31-12-1875--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Le+Conte------- |title=EXIT GILMAN. |newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]] |volume=5 |number=324 |page=3 |date=March 25, 1875 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Yesterday was a gala day at Berkeley, the occasion being the retiracy of President Gilman and the inauguration of Prof. John Le Conte to that important office.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PH18810611.2.37&srpos=3&e=01-01-1880-31-12-1881--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Le+Conte+resignation------- |title=THE UNIVERSITY MUDDLE. |newspaper=Placer Herald |volume=29 |number=45 |page=4 |date=June 11, 1881 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Since our article was written on the University muddle the Regents have carried out the recommendations of their Advisory Committee, by accepting President LeConte's resignation and removing Prof. Welcker.}}</ref>
|-
|4
|[[File:William Thomas Reid (1843–1922) c. 1908.png|70px]]
|[[W.T. Reid]]
|August 23, 1881
|July 31, 1885
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SD18810702.2.16&srpos=1&e=01-01-1880-31-12-1881--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Reid------- |title=THE STATE UNIVERSITY. |newspaper=Sonoma Democrat |volume=24 |number=37 |page=2 |date=July 2, 1881 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDDU18810824.2.8&srpos=5&e=01-01-1880-31-12-1881--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Reid------- |title=The State University Inauguration of the New President. |newspaper=San Diego Union and Daily Bee |volume=21 |number=3357 |page=1 |date=August 24, 1881 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18850304.2.16&srpos=1&e=01-01-1884-31-12-1885--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Reid+resigns------- |title=UNIVERSITY REGENTS. |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=38 |number=12743 |page=1 |date=March 4, 1885 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=PRESIDENT REID RESIGNS... I therefore at this time submit my resignation, to take effect at the close of the academic year, August 1, 1885.}}</ref>
|-
|5
|[[File:Edward Singleton Holden 03688r.jpg|70px]]
|[[Edward S. Holden]]
|1885
|March 22, 1888
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18851021.2.73&srpos=2&e=01-01-1884-31-12-1885--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Edward+Holden------- |title=BOARD OF REGENTS. |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=39 |number=13004 |page=5 |date=October 21, 1885 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Professor Edward S. Holden, of the University of Wisconsin, had been elected President of the University of California and Director of the Lick Observatory, there being no other candidate.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18851222.2.26&srpos=1&e=01-01-1884-31-12-1885--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Holden+inauguration------- |title=PRESIDENT E. S. HOLDEN, Of the State University, to be Inaugurated January 6th. |volume=39 |number=13066 |page=2 |date=December 6, 1885 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18880111.2.41&srpos=1&e=01-01-1887-31-12-1888--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Edward+Holden------- |title=UNIVERSITY REGENTS. |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=42 |number=14012 |page=2 |date=January 11, 1888 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=The Special Committee appointed to consider the resolution accepting the resignation of Edward S. Holden as the President of the University and resolutions appointing the Director of and the Astronomers in the Lick Observatory, and resolutions appointing a secretary and librarian, and also a machinist, a laborer and a janitor, reported through A. L. Rhodes.}}</ref>
|-
|6
|[[File:HoraceDavis.jpg|70px]]
|[[Horace Davis]]
|March 23, 1888
|September 15, 1890
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJH18880208.2.43&srpos=2&e=01-01-1887-31-12-1888--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Horace+Davis------- |title=Horace Davis |newspaper=San Jose herald |volume=44 |number=33 |page=5 |date=February 8, 1888 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Horace Davis, one of the best known citizens of California, was yesterday elected President of the State University at Berkeley at a special meeting of the Regents of the University of California held in the Patent Room of the Mechanics Institute.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJMN18880324.2.47&srpos=44&e=01-01-1887-31-12-1888--en--20--41--txt-txIN-university+president+Horace+Davis------- |title=PRESIDENT DAVIS. |newspaper=San Jose herald |volume=33 |number=84 |page=4 |date=March 24, 1888 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Horace Davis was inaugurated President of the University of California this afternoon. The ceremonies, which were held at Berkeley in the Harmon Gymnasium and in connection with the Charter-day celebration, attracted a tremendous crowd.}}</ref><ref name="Davis retires">{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18900916.2.59&srpos=9&e=01-01-1890-31-12-1890--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Martin+Kellogg------- |title=Berkeley |newspaper=[[The Daily Alta California]] |volume=83 |number=78 |page=5 |date=September 16, 1890 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Yesterday Horace Davis retired as President of the State University. Professor Martin S. Kellogg will serve as Provisional President.}}</ref>
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|acting
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ffffff"|
|rowspan="2" bgcolor="#ffffff"|[[Martin Kellogg]]
|September 16, 1890
|January 24, 1893
|<ref name="Davis retires"/>
|-
|7
|January 24, 1893
|July 1899
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJMN18930125.2.12&srpos=2&e=01-01-1893-31-12-1893--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Martin+Kellogg------- |title=THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENCY |newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury-News]] |volume=43 |number=25 |page=1 |date=January 25, 1893 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=The University Regents to-day elected Acting President Martin Kellogg permanent President of the State University.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJMN18980914.2.88&srpos=1&e=01-01-1898-31-12-1899--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Martin+Kellogg+resigns------- |title=PROF. KELLOGG RESIGNS. |newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury-News]] |volume=54 |number=76 |page=1 |date=September 14, 1898 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref>
|-
|8
|[[File:Benjamin Ide Wheeler cph.3b35782.jpg|70px]]
|[[Benjamin Ide Wheeler]]
|October 1, 1899
|July 15, 1919
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18990719.2.52&srpos=4&e=01-01-1898-31-12-1899--en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+Benjamin+Wheeler------- |title=WHEELER IS NOW PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Call]] |volume=86 |number=49 |page=7 |date=July 19, 1899 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Professor Wheeler will not assume the duties of his new office until October 1.}}</ref><ref name="Wheeler retires">{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MU19190717.2.13&srpos=6&e=01-01-1918-31-12-1920--en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+Benjamin+Wheeler+retires------- |title=DR. WHEELER IS NO LONGER HEAD OF UNIVERSITY |newspaper=Morning Union |page=1 |date=July 17, 1919 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler retired Tuesday evening as president of the University of California after having completed a service as head of the institution just three days less than twenty years... The affairs of the University of California will be governed by the committee of deans until a new president is named by the Board of Regents. Dean William Carey Jones will head the governing body, assisted by Dean [[Charles Mills Gayley]] and Comptroller Ralph Merritt.}}</ref>
|-
|colspan="6" bgcolor="#eeeeee" align="center" style="font-weight:bold"|University led by a committee of deans, July–December 1919<ref name="Wheeler retires"/>
|-
|9
|[[File:David P. Barrows LCCN2014714775 (cropped).jpg|70px]]
|[[David Prescott Barrows]]
|December 20, 1919
|June 30, 1923
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OLSF19191220.2.9&srpos=1&e=01-01-1918-31-12-1919--en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+David+Barrows------- |title=DR. DAVID PRESCOTT BARROWS IS APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA |newspaper=Organized Labor |volume=20 |number=51 |page=1 |date=December 20, 1919 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref>
|-
|10
|[[File:Campbell William Wallace.jpg|70px]]
|[[William Wallace Campbell]]
|July 1, 1923
|June 30, 1930
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MM19230105.2.13&srpos=3&e=01-01-1922-31-12-1923--en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+William+Campbell------- |title=DR. CAMPBELL NEW HEAD OF UC. |newspaper=[[Madera Mercury]] |volume=136 |number=1 |page=1 |date=January 5, 1923 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=He will take office July 1. when Dr. Barrows will become a professor of political science.}}</ref>
|-
|11
|[[File:Robert Gordon Sproul, 1936.jpg|70px]]
|[[Robert Gordon Sproul]]{{efn|Direct control of Berkeley and other campuses were transferred to respective campus chancellors, such as Clark Kerr for Berkeley campus, on July 1, 1952.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19520208.1.17&srpos=17&e=01-01-1952-31-12-1952--en--20--1--txt-txIN-chancellor+kerr------- |title=Dr. Clark Kerr to Take Over As U.C Chancellor in July |newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]] |volume=156 |number=39 |page=6 |date=February 8, 1952 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Dr. Clark Kerr, director of the Institute of Industrial Relations, is expected to step into his role as first chancellor on the Berkeley campus of the University of California on July 1.}}</ref> Retired as president of UC system<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCR19580320.2.16&srpos=1&e=01-01-1957-31-12-1958--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Sproul+retires------- |title=PRESIDENT SPROUL RETIRES IN JUNE |newspaper=Highlander |volume=5 |number=20 |page=1 |date=March 20, 1958 |first=Vince |last=Lawton |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=One of the most distinguished careers in American education will officially end next June 30 with the retirement of Robert Gordon Sproul from the presidency of the University of California.}}</ref>}}
|July 1, 1930
|June 30, 1958
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19290819.2.2&srpos=19&e=01-01-1929-31-12-1930--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Sproul------- |title=ROBT. SPROUL NEW U. C. HEAD; DR. W.W.CAMPBELL TO RESIGN |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=18 |number=1 |page=1 |date=August 19, 1929 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Robert G. Sproul, vice-president and comptroller of the University of California, has been named to succeed President Campbell, who plans to retire on July 1, 1930.}}</ref>
|-
|12
|[[File:Clark Kerr, 1964.jpg|70px]]
|[[Clark Kerr]]
|July 1, 1958
|January 20, 1967
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCR19571029.2.3&srpos=6&e=01-01-1957-31-12-1958--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Kerr------- |title=Kerr to Replace Sproul |newspaper=Highlander |volume=5 |number=7 |page=1 |date=October 29, 1957 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=He said Kerr’s appointment will take effect on the previously announced retirement of Robert Gordon Sproul July 1, 1958.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19670123.2.3&e=01-01-1966-31-12-1967--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Wellman+acting------- |title=14-8 vote Regents dismiss Kerr |first=Ceci |last=Little |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=69 |number=45 |page=1 |date=January 23, 1967 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19670121.1.1&e=01-01-1966-31-12-1967--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Kerr+fired------- |title=Kerr Denies Demand for Showdown |newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]] |volume=94 |number=21 |page=1 |date=January 21, 1967 |first1=Gerald |last1=Sturges |first2=Gene |last2=Ayres |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb896nb4tk;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00013&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=oac4 |title=The Firing of Clark Kerr |publisher=[[Online Archive of California]]}}</ref>
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|acting
|
|[[Harry R. Wellman]]
|January 20, 1967
|December 31, 1967
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19670123.2.10&srpos=4&e=01-01-1966-31-12-1967--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Wellman+acting------- |title=Wellman is acting pres. |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=69 |number=45 |page=2 |date=January 23, 1967 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref>
|-
|13
|
|[[Charles J. Hitch]]
|January 1, 1968
|June 30, 1975
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19671002.2.18&srpos=1&e=01-01-1967-31-12-1968--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Hitch------- |title=REGENTS SELECT CHARLES J. HITCH FOR PRESIDENCY |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=70 |number=1 |page=3 |date=October 2, 1967 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=ucsf19741024-01.2.4&srpos=2&e=01-01-1974-31-12-1975--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Hitch+resigns------- |title=Hitch Resigns |newspaper=Synapse |volume=19 |number=7 |page=1 |date=October 24, 1974 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=Asking to be included in presenting announcements at the Friday morning meeting, Hitch read a prepared statement which began, "I have decided to retire as President of the University of California and Professor of Economics at Berkeley effective June 30. 1975."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb238nb0fs&chunk.id=div00036&brand=oac4&doc.view=entire_text |title=Charles Johnston Hitch, Economics: Berkeley |publisher=[[Online Archive of California]]}}</ref>
|-
|14
|
|[[David S. Saxon]]
|July 1, 1975
|June 30, 1983
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19750303.2.4&srpos=17&e=01-01-1974-31-12-1975--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+saxon------- |title=Regents Name Saxon as 14th UC President |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=87 |number=40 |page=1 |date=March 3, 1975 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=David S. Saxon, 55, was named fourteenth president of the University of California at a special meeting of the Regents here today (March 1). He will take office July 1, when Charles J. Hitch will retire.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=TULAR19820907.1.1&srpos=2&e=01-01-1982-31-09-1983--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Saxon+resigns------- |title=Saxon resigns as president of UC |newspaper=Tulare Advance Register |volume=100 |number=221 |page=1 |date=September 7, 1982 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/22/us/budget-cuts-may-force-university-of-california-to-reduce-its-size-and-scope.html |title=Budget cuts may force University of California to reduce its size and scope |first=Robert |last=Lindsey |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 22, 1983}}</ref>
|-
|15
|
|[[David P. Gardner]]
|August 1, 1983
|nowrap|September 30, 1992
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19830810.2.25&srpos=5&e=01-01-1983-31-12-1983--en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+Gardner------- |title=Gardner Officially Assumes Position |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=102 |number=5 |page=3 |date=August 10, 1983 |first=Andrew |last=Smith |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=David Gardner, who succeeded David Saxon as president of the University of California, officially assumed his new position on Monday, Aug. 1.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19920505.2.2&srpos=2&e=01-01-1991-31-12-1992--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Gardner+retires------- |title=Gardner defends retirement deal |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=111 |number=72 |page= |date=May 5, 1992 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=}}</ref>
|-
|16
|[[File:Jack Peltason.jpg|70px]]
|[[Jack W. Peltason]]
|October 1, 1992
|September 30, 1995
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19920406.2.5&srpos=1&e=01-01-1991-31-12-1992--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Peltason------- |title=Peltason named new UC president |newspaper=[[The California Aggie]] |volume=111 |number=50 |page=1 |date=April 6, 1992 |first=Vanessa |last=Lee |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=UC Irvine Chancellor Jack Peltason was introduced Friday as the University of California’s 16th president. The UC regents unanimously selected Peltason to succeed outgoing UC President David Gardner, who will step down Oct. 1. Gardner announced his resignation last November, citing his inability to continue with the presidency following the death of his wife.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-04-mn-245-story.html |title=Peltason Named as President of UC System |first=Larry |last=Gordon |date=April 4, 1992 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-14-mn-20018-story.html |title=UC Chief Expected to Announce Retirement : Education: Jack W. Peltason, former chancellor of UC Irvine, will resign effective Oct. 1, a source says. |first=Amy |last=Wallace |date=January 14, 1995 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
|-
|17
|[[File:RCARobes.jpg|70px]]
|[[Richard C. Atkinson]]
|October 1, 1995
|October 1, 2003
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=ucsf19950914-01.2.9&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-president+Atkinson------- |title=Atkinson named UC President; UCSA disappointed |newspaper=Synapse |volume=40 |number=2 |page=3 |date=September 14, 1995 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://currents.ucsc.edu/02-03/11-18/atkinson.html |title=UC President Richard Atkinson to retire |date=November 18, 2002 |work=UC Santa Cruz Currents Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rca.ucsd.edu/docs/AtkinsonPresidencyTimeline.pdf |title=Atkinson Presidency Timeline |date=August 2003 |work=UCSD}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCR20031007.2.2&srpos=3&e=01-01-2002-31-12-2003--en--20--1--txt-txIN-university+president+Dynes------- |title=Atkinson steps down, Dynes steps up |newspaper=Highlander |volume=51 |number=2 |page=1 |date=October 7, 2003 |first=Katherine |last=Steelman |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]] |quote=On Friday, Oct. 2, Richard Atkinson stepped down as president of the University of California, to be replaced by Robert C. Dynes, physicist and ex-chancellor of UC San Diego.}}</ref>
|-
|18
|
|[[Robert C. Dynes]]
|October 2, 2003
|June 15, 2008
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://adminrecords.ucsd.edu/Notices/2003/2003-6-11-3.html |title=UCSD Chancellor Dynes Named New UC President |publisher=The Regents of the University of California |via=UCSD |quote=I am very pleased to inform you that the Board of Regents today appointed Robert C. Dynes, a distinguished physicist, dedicated teacher, and highly skilled chancellor of UC San Diego, as the 18th president of the University of California system, effective Oct. 2, 2003.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://dailynexus.com/2007-06-27/university-of-california-president-to-resign/ |title=University of California President To Resign |date=June 27, 2007 |first=Aria |last=Miran |newspaper=[[Daily Nexus]]}}</ref>
|-
|19
|[[File:Mark Yudof official UC photo.jpg|70px]]
|[[Mark Yudof]]
|June 16, 2008
|August 31, 2013
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2008/03/103009/university-california-appoints-new-president-mark-g-yudof |title=University of California Appoints New President Mark G. Yudof |date=March 28, 2008 |work=UCSF}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-15-me-yudof15-story.html |title=New UC chief is ready for action |date=June 15, 2008 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |first=Larry |last=Gordon |url-access=subscription |quote=And on Monday, the distinctly nonathletic attorney who has led the University of Texas for six years heads to Arnold-land at a time when Schwarzenegger is advocating a state budget that would lead to big spending cuts for UC.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/01/104472/mark-yudof-step-down-uc-president |title=Mark Yudof to Step Down as UC President |date=January 18, 2013 |work=UCSF}}</ref>
|-
|20
|[[File:Janet Napolitano by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg|70px]]
|[[Janet Napolitano]]
|nowrap|September 30, 2013
|July 31, 2020
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/university-california-welcomes-president-napolitano |title=University of California welcomes President Napolitano |date=September 30, 2013 |work=University of California}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://triton.news/2019/09/uc-president-janet-napolitano-announces-resignation-at-regents-meeting/ |title=Announces Resignation at Regents Meeting |first1=Ella |last1=Chen |first2=Orianna |last2=Borrelli |date=March 4, 2023 |newspaper=The Triton}}</ref>
|-
|21
|[[File:Michael V Drake.jpg|70px]]
|[[Michael V. Drake]]
|August 1, 2020
|July 31, 2025
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-president-michael-drake-visits-uc-riverside |title=UC President Michael Drake visits UC Riverside |publisher=University of California}}</ref>
|-
|22
|[[File:James Milliken 2024 (54088413593) (cropped).jpg|70px]]
|[[James Milliken (academic administrator)|James Milliken]]
|August 1, 2025
|present
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/james-b-milliken-named-22nd-president-university-of-california |date=May 2, 2025 |title=James B. Milliken named 22nd president of the University of California |publisher=University of California}}</ref>
|-
|}

Table notes:
{{notelist}}

All UC presidents had been white men until 2013, when former [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Homeland Security]] [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Secretary]], and [[Governor of Arizona]], [[Janet Napolitano]] became the first woman to hold the office of UC President.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Larry |title=Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-president-20130712,0,83979.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=July 12, 2013 |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140216160855/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-president-20130712,0,83979.story |url-status=live }}</ref> On July 7, 2020, Dr. [[Michael V. Drake]], a former UC chancellor and medical research professor, was selected as the 21st president of the University of California system, making him the first black president to hold the office in UC's 152-year history. He took office on August 1, 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Teresa |date=July 7, 2020 |title=Michael V. Drake named new UC president, first Black leader in system's 152-year history |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-07/michael-v-drake-is-expected-to-be-named-uc-president-first-black-leader-in-systems-152-year-history |access-date=July 7, 2020 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US |archive-date=July 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713080103/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-07/michael-v-drake-is-expected-to-be-named-uc-president-first-black-leader-in-systems-152-year-history |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Official residences====
[[File:University House UC Berkeley.jpg|thumb|right|[[University House, Berkeley]] served as the official residence of the UC President from 1911 until 1958. Today it serves Berkeley's Chancellor.]]
Besides substantial six-figure incomes, the UC president and all UC chancellors enjoy controversial perks such as free housing in the form of university-maintained mansions.<ref name="sfgate_free_mansions">{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/14/MNGDFFO0JJ1.DTL |title=Free mansions for people of means: UC system spends about $1 million yearly on upkeep |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=November 14, 2005 |page=A9 |author=Tanya Schevitz & Todd Wallack |access-date=July 10, 2006 |archive-date=March 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310203540/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/14/MNGDFFO0JJ1.DTL |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1962, Anson Blake's will donated his {{convert|10|acre|m2|adj=on}} estate ([[Blake Garden, Kensington|Blake Garden]]) and mansion (Blake House) in [[Kensington, California|Kensington]] to the University of California's Department of Landscape Architecture. In 1968, the regents decided to make Blake House the official residence of the UC president. As of 2005, it cost around $300,000 per year to maintain Blake Garden and Blake House; the latter, built in 1926, is a {{convert|13239|sqft|m2|adj=on}} mansion with a view of San Francisco Bay.<ref name="sfgate_free_mansions"/>

Blake House has sat vacant since President Dynes departed in 2008, due to the high cost of needed seismic strengthening and renovating its dilapidated interior (estimated at $3.5 million in 2013).<ref name="Dinkelspiel">{{cite news |last1=Dinkelspiel |first1=Frances |author-link=Frances Dinkelspiel |title=University of California buys $6.5M Berkeley home for its president |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/04/12/uc-buys-6-5-million-berkeley-mansion-president |access-date=September 30, 2022 |work=Berkeleyside |date=April 12, 2022 |archive-date=September 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930052759/https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/04/12/uc-buys-6-5-million-berkeley-mansion-president |url-status=live }}</ref> From 2008 to 2022, all three UC presidents during that timeframe (i.e., Yudof, Napolitano, and Drake) lived in rented homes.<ref name="Dinkelspiel" /> In 2022, UC finally purchased the [[Selden Williams House]], a {{convert|6400|sqft|m2|adj=on}} house in Berkeley, for $6.5 million to serve as the UC president's official residence.<ref name="Dinkelspiel" /> UC had previously owned the same home from 1971 to 1991, when it served as the official residence of the UC vice president.<ref name="Dinkelspiel" /> (UC no longer has a single "vice president"; the president's direct reports now have titles like "executive vice president", "senior vice president", or "vice president".<ref name="UCOPOrgChart">{{cite web |title=University of California Office of the President Organizational Chart |url=https://www.ucop.edu/president/_files/ucop-org-chart.pdf |website=University of California Office of the President |publisher=Regents of the University of California |access-date=November 17, 2022 |date=July 29, 2022 |archive-date=November 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117144624/https://www.ucop.edu/president/_files/ucop-org-chart.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>) 
[[File:2821 Claremont Boulevard.jpg|thumb|[[Selden Williams House]], built in 1928 and designed by architect [[Julia Morgan]], serves as the official residence of the UC President, since 2022.]]
All UC chancellors traditionally live for free in a mansion on or near campus that is usually known as ''University House'', where they host social functions attended by guests and donors.<ref>See University of California Regents Policy 7708, [https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/7708.html "University-Provided Housing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240817140659/https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/7708.html |date=August 17, 2024 }}, as amended through February 27, 2024, and University of California Policy BFB-G-45, [https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3420356/BFB-G-45 "Implementing Requirements on Expenses Incurred in Support of Official Responsibilities of the President and Chancellors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008231400/https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3420356/BFB-G-45 |date=October 8, 2022 }}, as amended through November 1, 2016, p. 2.</ref> Berkeley's [[University House, Berkeley|University House]] formerly served as the official residence of the UC president, but is now the official residence of Berkeley's chancellor. UCSD's [[Audrey Geisel University House|University House]] was closed from 2004 to 2014 for $10.5 million in renovations paid for by private donors, which were so expensive because the 12,000-square-foot structure sits on top of a sacred Native American cemetery and next to an unstable coastal bluff.<ref name="Kucher">{{cite news |last1=Kucher |first1=Karen |title=Chancellor's home gets $10M rehab |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2013/dec/19/university-house-ucsd-chancellor-khosla-geisel/ |access-date=January 14, 2016 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=December 19, 2013 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064306/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2013/dec/19/university-house-ucsd-chancellor-khosla-geisel/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Schwab">{{cite news |last1=Schwab |first1=Dave |title=10 years later, Chancellor's house finally becomes a home |url=http://sdnews.com/bookmark/24447797-10-years-later-Chancellor-s-house-finally-becomes-a-home |access-date=January 14, 2016 |work=SDNews.com |publisher=San Diego Community News Group |date=January 24, 2014 |archive-date=August 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820014705/http://sdnews.com/bookmark/24447797-10-years-later-Chancellor-s-house-finally-becomes-a-home |url-status=dead }}</ref> Not all chancellors prefer to live on campus; at Santa Barbara, Chancellor [[Robert Huttenback]] found that campus's University House to be unsatisfactory, then was convicted in 1988 of embezzlement for his unauthorized use of university funds to improve his off-campus residence.<ref name="Ebenstein">{{cite journal |last1=Ebenstein |first1=Lanny |title=The Rise of UCSB |journal=Noticias: Journal of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum |date=2013 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=117–183 |url=https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/132309_noticias_web |access-date=August 18, 2020 |author-link1=Alan O. Ebenstein |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905061544/https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/132309_noticias_web |url-status=live }} (At pp. 160-163.)</ref>

===Finances===
{{main|University of California finances}}

The State of California currently (2021–2022) spends $3.467 billion on the UC system, out of total UC operating revenues of $41.6 billion. The "UC Budget for Current Operations" lists the medical centers as the largest revenue source, contributing 39% of the budget, the federal government 11%, Core Funds (State General Funds, UC General Funds, student tuition) 21%, private support (gifts, grants, endowments) 7%, and Sales and Services at 21%. In 1980, the state funded 86.8% of the UC budget.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |url=http://www.webbcanyonchronicle.com/#!Part-One-State-reduces-UC-funding-causing-tuition-increases/cjds/563ede730cf2833083323cfb |title=Part One: State reduces UC funding causing tuition increases |last=Reznik |first=Ethan |date=November 19, 2015 |newspaper=Webb Canyon Chronicle |issue=One |volume=VIII |access-date=July 21, 2016 |archive-date=July 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702052304/http://www.webbcanyonchronicle.com/#!Part-One-State-reduces-UC-funding-causing-tuition-increases/cjds/563ede730cf2833083323cfb |url-status=live }}</ref> While state funding has somewhat recovered, as of 2019 state support still lags behind even recent historic levels (e.g. 2001) when adjusted for inflation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/_files/rbudget/2019-20-budget-summary.pdf |title=Budget for Current Operations 2019–20: Summary of the Budget Request as Presented to the Regents for Approval |publisher=University of California |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-date=July 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727023043/https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/_files/rbudget/2019-20-budget-summary.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the California Public Policy Institute, California spends 12% of its General Fund on higher education, but that percentage is divided between the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges. Over the past forty years, state funding of higher education has dropped from 18% to 12%, resulting in a drop in UC's per student funding from $23,000 in 2016 to a current $8,000 per year per student.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ppic.org/publication/higher-education-funding-in-california/ |title=Higher Education Funding in California |website=Public Policy Institute of California |access-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230142944/https://www.ppic.org/publication/higher-education-funding-in-california/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:University of California Office of the President.jpg|thumb|right|View of the UC Office of the President.]]
In May 2004, UC President [[Robert C. Dynes]] and CSU Chancellor [[Charles B. Reed]] struck a private deal, called the "Higher Education Compact", with Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Schwarzenegger]]. They agreed to slash spending by about a billion dollars (about a third of the university's core budget for academic operations) in exchange for a funding formula lasting until 2011. The agreement calls for modest annual increases in state funds (but not enough to replace the loss in state funds Dynes and Schwarzenegger agreed to), private fundraising to help pay for basic programs, and large student fee hikes, especially for graduate and professional students. A detailed analysis of the Compact by the Academic Senate "Futures Report" indicated, despite the large fee increases, the university core budget did not recover to 2000 levels.<ref>{{cite web |author=Committee on Planning and Budget |title=Current Budget Trends and The Future of the University of California |publisher=University of California |url=http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/committees/ucpb/futures.report0506.pdf |date=May 2006 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226210332/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/committees/ucpb/futures.report0506.pdf |archive-date=February 26, 2008 }}</ref> Undergraduate student fees have risen 90% from 2003 to 2007.<ref>{{cite news |last=Paddock |first=Richard C. |title=Less to bank on at state universities |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-compact7oct07,0,5052218,full.story?coll=la-home-center |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 6, 2007 |access-date=October 6, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606013321/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-compact7oct07%2C0%2C5052218%2Cfull.story?coll=la-home-center |archive-date=June 6, 2010 }}</ref> In 2011, for the first time in UC's history, student fees exceeded contributions from the State of California.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/ |title=Budget Analysis and Planning &#124; UCOP |website=www.ucop.edu |access-date=April 2, 2019 |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411151909/https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[California courts of appeal|First District Court of Appeal]] in San Francisco ruled in 2007 that the University of California owed nearly $40 million in refunds to about 40,000 students who were promised that their tuition fees would remain steady, but were hit with increases when the state ran short of money in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |last=Egelko |first=Bob |title=UC owes millions in refunds to students, appeals court rules |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/03/BAAOT5MKR.DTL |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 3, 2007 |access-date=November 3, 2007 |archive-date=November 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104140817/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/03/BAAOT5MKR.DTL |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 2019, the University of California announced it will [[Fossil fuel divestment|divest]] its $83 billion in endowment and pension funds from the fossil fuel industry, ostensibly to avoid the "financial risk" inherent in that industry because of [[climate change]], but also in response to pleas to stop investing in fossil fuel.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2019/09/uc-divests-fossil-fuels-citing-finance-renewable-energy-climate-change/ |title=Citing 'financial risk,' UC pledges to divest from fossil fuels |last=Mello |first=Felicia |date=September 18, 2019 |website=CalMatters |language=en-US |access-date=June 1, 2022 |archive-date=October 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015171802/https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2019/09/uc-divests-fossil-fuels-citing-finance-renewable-energy-climate-change/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Criticism===
In 2008, the [[Western Association of Schools and Colleges]], the regional accreditor of the UC schools, criticized the UC system for "significant problems in governance, leadership and decision making" and "confusion about the roles and responsibilities of the university president, the regents and the 10 campus chancellors with no clear lines of authority and boundaries".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/12/BAPOV0C6G.DTL |title=UC criticized for poor governance, controls |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=February 12, 2008 |last=Schevitz |first=Tanya |date=February 12, 2008 |archive-date=January 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116011215/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/12/BAPOV0C6G.DTL |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, university system officials admitted that they monitored all e-mails sent to and from their servers.<ref name="uofbigbrother">{{cite news |last1=Jaschik |first1=Scott |title=U of Big Brother? |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/01/u-california-faculty-members-object-new-email-monitoring |access-date=February 1, 2016 |work=Inside Higher Ed |date=February 1, 2016 |archive-date=February 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202114252/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/01/u-california-faculty-members-object-new-email-monitoring |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Campuses and rankings==
{{Location map+| California|width=400|float=right|caption=The ten UC campuses|alt=A topographic map of California with the UC campuses marked|relief=yes|places={{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]]}}}} | lat_deg = 37.87 | lon_deg = -122.259 | position = right| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, San Diego|San Diego]]}}}} | lat_deg = 32.881 | lon_deg = -117.238 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles]]}}}} | lat_deg = 34.072222 | lon_deg = -118.444097 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]]}}}} | lat_deg = 34.416667 | lon_deg = -119.7 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco]]}}}} | lat_deg = 37.7627 | lon_deg = -122.4581 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Irvine|Irvine]]}}}} | lat_deg = 33.645556 | lon_deg = -117.8425 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Davis|Davis]]}}}} | lat_deg = 38.54 | lon_deg = -121.75 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Santa Cruz|Santa Cruz]]}}}} | lat_deg = 37 | lon_deg = -122.06 | position = left| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Riverside|Riverside]]}}}} | lat_deg = 33.975556 | lon_deg = -117.331111 | position = right| mark = }} {{Location map~ | California | label = {{Raise|0.1em|{{Nowrap|[[University of California, Merced|Merced]]}}}} | lat_deg = 37.366 | lon_deg = -120.4235 | position = right| mark = }}}}

At present, the UC system officially describes itself as a system of "10 campuses" consisting of the campuses listed below.<ref>{{cite web |title=UC Campuses |url=http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/welcome.html |publisher=University of California |date=August 13, 2006 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |archive-date=January 30, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140130210852/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu//campuses/welcome.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These campuses are under the direct control of the regents and president.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/uc-system/leadership |title=Leadership |date=September 25, 2017 |work=University of California |access-date=January 17, 2018 |language=en |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118011025/https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/uc-system/leadership |url-status=live }}</ref> Only ten campuses are listed on the official UC letterhead.<ref>University of California Office of the President, [http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3000126/LetterheadBusinessCards Policy on Representation of the University on Letterhead and Business Cards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525161628/http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3000126/LetterheadBusinessCards |date=May 25, 2017 }}, September 28, 1999.</ref>

Although it shares the name and public status of the UC system, the [[University of California College of the Law, San Francisco|College of the Law, San Francisco]] (formerly Hastings College of the Law) is not controlled by the regents or president; it has a separate board of directors and must seek funding directly from the Legislature. However, under the California Education Code, Hastings degrees are awarded in the name of the regents and bear the signature of the UC president.<ref>{{cite web |author=State of California |title=California Education Code Section 92203 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/edc/92200-92215.html |work=California Education Code |publisher=FindLaw |year=2008 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |archive-date=October 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031012859/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/edc/92200%2D92215.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, Education Code section 92201 states that Hastings "is affiliated with the University of California, and is the law department thereof".<ref>{{cite web |author=State of California |title=Education Code section 92201 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/edc/92200-92215.html |work=California Education Code |publisher=FindLaw |year=2008 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |archive-date=October 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031012859/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/edc/92200%2D92215.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== University rankings ===
Annually, UC campuses are ranked highly by various publications. Six UC campuses rank in the top 50 U.S. National Universities of 2026 by ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'': [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]], [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UC Santa Barbara]], [[University of California, San Diego|UC San Diego]], [[University of California, Irvine|UC Irvine]], and [[University of California, Davis|UC Davis]]. Four UC campuses also ranked in the top 50 in the ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Global Universities Rankings in 2026, namely Berkeley, UCLA, [[University of California, San Francisco|UCSF]], and UC San Diego.{{Update inline|date=October 2025}} UCSF is ranked as one of the top universities in [[biomedicine]] in the world<ref>{{cite web |title=UCSF Schools Earn Top Rankings in 2017 US News Survey |url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/03/402161/ucsf-schools-earn-top-rankings-2017-us-news-survey |website=UC San Francisco |date=March 16, 2016 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427100624/https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/03/402161/ucsf-schools-earn-top-rankings-2017-us-news-survey |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=University of California—San Francisco |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/university-of-california-san-francisco-110699 |journal=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=July 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728022922/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/university-of-california-san-francisco-110699 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 16, 2015 |title=University of California, San Francisco |url=https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-california-san-francisco |website=Top Universities |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920085100/https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-california-san-francisco |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=March 28, 2011 |title=UCSF Leads in Academic Rankings, NIH Funding |url=https://califesciences.org/ucsf-leads-in-academic-rankings-nih-funding/ |access-date=July 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920044004/https://califesciences.org/ucsf-leads-in-academic-rankings-nih-funding/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Rauber |first=Chris |date=August 2, 2016 |title=UCSF, Stanford Health Care rank high on best U.S. hospitals list |newspaper=San Francisco Business Times |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2016/08/02/ucsf-stanford-health-care-rank-high-on-best-u-s.html |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=May 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524195320/http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2016/08/02/ucsf-stanford-health-care-rank-high-on-best-u-s.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Schmitt |first=Kiana |date=July 30, 2015 |title=UC Berkeley, UCSF Ranked Top Public Universities In U.S. |url=http://www.thesfnews.com/uc-berkeley-ucsf-ranked-top-public-universities-in-u-s/21075 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=May 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519212429/http://www.thesfnews.com/uc-berkeley-ucsf-ranked-top-public-universities-in-u-s/21075 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[UCSF School of Medicine]] is ranked 3rd in the United States among research-oriented medical schools and for [[primary care]] by ''U.S. News & World Report''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=UCSF &#124; Best Medical School |url=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/university-of-california-san-francisco-04012 |journal=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=June 21, 2016 |archive-date=October 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025135455/http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/university-of-california-san-francisco-04012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Three UC campuses: Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego all ranked in the top 15 universities in the US according to the 2020 ''[[Academic Ranking of World Universities|Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)]]'' US National University Rankings and also in the top 20 in World University Rankings. The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' also ranked UCSF, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara in the top 50 US National Universities and in the top 100 World Universities in 2020.{{Update inline|date=August 2024}}

Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego all ranked in the top 50 universities in the world according to both the ''[[Times Higher Education World University Rankings]]'' for 2021 and the ''Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)'' for 2020, while UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis ranked in the top 100 universities in the world.{{Update inline|date=August 2024}} ''[[Forbes]]'' also ranked the six UC campuses mentioned above as being in the top 50 universities in America in 2021.<ref name=":14">{{cite web |date=2021 |title=Forbes America's Top Colleges List 2021 |url=https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/ |website=Forbes |language=English |access-date=March 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028172147/http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Forbes also named the top three public universities in America as all being UC campuses, namely, Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD, and ranked three more campuses, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine as being among the top 20 public universities in America in 2021.<ref name=":15">{{cite web |last1=Schelenz |first1=Robyn |date=September 9, 2021 |title=UC is the top college in America, according to new Forbes rankings |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-top-college-america-according-new-forbes-rankings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911021306/https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-top-college-america-according-new-forbes-rankings |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |access-date=September 11, 2021 |website=University of California |language=en}}</ref> The six aforementioned campuses are all considered [[Public Ivy|Public Ivies]].<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Howard |title=The public ivies : America's flagship public universities |date=2001 |publisher=Cliff Street Books |others=Greene, Matthew W., 1968– |isbn=006093459X |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=46683792 }}</ref> The ''[[QS World University Rankings]]'' for 2021 ranked three UC campuses: Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego as being in the top 100 universities in the world.{{Update inline|date=August 2024}}

Individual academic departments also rank highly among the UC campuses. The 2021 ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Graduate Schools report ranked Berkeley as being among the top 5 universities in the nation in the departments of Psychology, Economics, Political Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Physics, Sociology, History, and English, and ranked UCLA in the top 20 in the same departments.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |title="University of California—Berkeley – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings". |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-berkeley-110635/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report |archive-date=April 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421051757/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-berkeley-110635/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite web |title="University of California—Los Angeles – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings". |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-los-angeles-110662/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report |archive-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429233405/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-los-angeles-110662/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref> ''U.S. News & World Report'' also ranked the same departments at UC San Diego among the top 20 in the nation, with the exception of the departments of Sociology, History, and English.<ref name=":7">{{cite web |title="University of California—San Diego – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings" |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-san-diego-110680/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129175822/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-san-diego-110680/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref> UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara ranked in the top 50 in the departments of Psychology, Economics, Political Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Physics, Sociology, History, and English, with the exception of UC Santa Barbara's Psychology and Political Science departments, according to ''U.S. News & World Report''. [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UC Santa Cruz]] and [[University of California, Riverside|UC Riverside]] ranked in the top 100 in the nation in the same departments, along with [[University of California, Merced|UC Merced's]] Psychology and Political Science departments.<ref name=":8">{{cite web |title="University of California—Santa Cruz – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings". |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-santa-cruz-110714/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report. |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423063948/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-santa-cruz-110714/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":9">{{cite web |title="University of California Riverside – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings". |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-riverside-110671/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report. |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423063952/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-riverside-110671/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite web |title="University of California—Merced – Graduate School Rankings". |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-merced-445188/overall-rankings |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=U.S. News & World Report |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423063945/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/university-of-california-merced-445188/overall-rankings |url-status=live }}</ref>

<div style="width:auto; overflow:scroll">
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" |Campus
! rowspan="2" |Founded
! rowspan="2" |Enrollment
{{small|(Fall{{nbsp}}2024)}}<ref name="FallEnrollment">{{cite web |date=January 7, 2025 |title=Fall enrollment at a glance |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/fall-enrollment-glance |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128133342/https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/fall-enrollment-glance |archive-date=January 28, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |website=University of California}}</ref>
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="number" |Endowment{{efn|group=universities|Assets managed by campus foundations including investment allocations to the General Endowment Pool (GEP) and Short Term Investment Pool (STIP).}}
{{small|(FY2024)}}<ref name="UCEndowment">{{cite web |date=November 2024 |title=University of California Annual Endowment Report Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024 |url=https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/investment-reports/annual-reports/annual-endwoment-report-fy-2023-2024.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601015907/https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/investment-reports/annual-reports/annual-endwoment-report-fy-2023-2024.pdf |archive-date=June 1, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |website=Office of the President |publisher=University of California}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |Athletics
! colspan="8" |Rankings
|-
! style="width:12em;" |Affiliation
! style="width:7em;" |Nickname
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |[[U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking|''USNWR'' National]]
{{small|(2026)}}<ref name="USNWRNational">{{cite web |date= |title=2026 Best National University Rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/ca?schoolType=national-universities&myCollege=national-universities&_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc&userLocationOfStudy=california |access-date=September 25, 2025 |website=[[U.S. News & World Report]]}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |[[U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking|''USNWR'' Global]]
{{small|(2025)}}<ref name="USNWRGlobal">{{cite web |date= |title=2025 Best Global Universities |url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/search?name=University+of+California |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250619173808/https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/search?name=University+of+California |archive-date=June 19, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |website=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''[[Academic Ranking of World Universities|ARWU]]'' National
{{small|(2024)}}<ref name="ARWU">{{cite web |date=August 15, 2024 |title=2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities |url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831124700/http://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024 |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |access-date=September 8, 2024 |publisher=ShanghaiRanking Consultancy}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''ARWU'' World
{{small|(2024)}}<ref name="ARWU"/>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''[[Center for World University Rankings|CWUR]]'' World
{{small|(2025)}}<ref name="CWUR">{{cite web |date= |title=World University Rankings 2025 {{!}} Global 2000 List |url=https://cwur.org/2025.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250611052204/https://cwur.org/2025.php |archive-date=June 11, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |website=Center for World University Rankings}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''[[America's Top Colleges|Forbes]]'' National
{{small|(2026)}}<ref name="Forbes">{{cite web |date=September 25, 2025 |title=America's Top Colleges 2025-2026 |url=https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/ |access-date=September 25, 2025 |website=[[Forbes]]}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''[[Times Higher Education World University Rankings|THE]]'' World
{{small|(2025)}}<ref name="THE">{{cite web |date= |title=World University Rankings 2025 |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/latest/world-ranking |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250617142302/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/latest/world-ranking |archive-date=June 17, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |website=[[Times Higher Education]]}}</ref>
! style="width:7.5em;" data-sort-type="number" |''[[QS World University Rankings|QS]]'' World
{{small|(2026)}}<ref name="QS">{{cite web |date= |title=QS World University Rankings 2026 |url=https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250619062850/https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings |archive-date=June 19, 2025 |access-date=June 19, 2025 |publisher=[[Quacquarelli Symonds]]}}</ref>
|-
|[[File:Berkeley glade afternoon.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]]'''
|1868
|45,882
| data-sort-value="2910" | $3.11 billion
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]]</small>
|[[California Golden Bears|Golden Bears]]
|15<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|6
|4
|5
|12
|5
|8
|17<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|-
|[[File:UC Davis Mondavi Center.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Davis|Davis]]'''
|1905
|40,065
| data-sort-value="678" | $770.4 million
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big West Conference|Big West]]</small>
|[[UC Davis Aggies|Aggies]]
|32<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|96<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|39–50
|101–150
|60
|44
|62<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|114<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|-
|[[File:UCILibrary.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Irvine|Irvine]]'''
|1965
|37,297
| data-sort-value="795" | $894.2 million
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big West Conference|Big West]]</small>
|[[UC Irvine Anteaters|Anteaters]]
|32<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|96<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|34
|76
|89
|31
|90<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|293
|-
|[[File:2019 UCLA Royce Hall 1.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles]]'''
|1919
|47,335
| data-sort-value="3870" | $4.30 billion
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]]</small>
|[[UCLA Bruins|Bruins]]
|17<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|13
|12
|15
|17
|15
|18<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|46
|-
|[[File:Ucmlibrarymay.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Merced|Merced]]'''
|2005
|9,110
| data-sort-value="29" | $32.9 million
|NCAA Div II<br /><small>[[California Collegiate Athletic Association|CCAA]]</small>
|[[UC Merced Golden Bobcats|Golden Bobcats]]
|57<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|763<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|115-142
|501-600
|835
|190
|401-500
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[File:Webber Hall, UCR.JPG|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Riverside|Riverside]]'''
|1954
|26,384
| data-sort-value="249" | $274.6 million
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big West Conference|Big West]]</small>
|[[UC Riverside Highlanders|Highlanders]]
|75<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|242<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|60-78
|201-300
|268
|77
|251-300
|458<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|-
|[[File:Geisel Library 01.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, San Diego|San Diego]]'''
|1960
|44,256
| data-sort-value="1360" | $1.59 billion
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big West Conference|Big West]]</small>
|[[UC San Diego Tritons|Tritons]]
|29
|21<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|14-15
|18
|33
|20
|34
|66
|-
|[[File:UCSF Mission Hall (cropped).jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco]]'''
|1864
|3,007<br /><small>(Graduate only)</small>
| data-sort-value="2720" | $3.09 billion
|{{N/A}}
|{{N/A}}
|{{N/A}}
|16<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|16
|20
|39
|{{N/A}}
|{{N/A}}
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[File:UCSB University Center and Storke Tower (cropped).jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]]'''
|1909
|26,133
| data-sort-value="578" | $428.4 million
|NCAA Div I<br /><small>[[Big West Conference|Big West]]</small>
|[[UC Santa Barbara Gauchos|Gauchos]]
|40
|91<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|31
|64
|112
|42
|67<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|179
|-
|[[File:Porter College Courtyard.jpg|130px]]<br>'''[[University of California, Santa Cruz|Santa Cruz]]'''
|1965
|19,938
| data-sort-value="153" | $165.4 million
|{{nowrap|NCAA Div III}}<br /><small>[[Coast to Coast Athletic Conference|C2C]]</small>
|[[UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs|Banana Slugs]]
|88<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|133<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|51-59
|151–200
|335
|63
|196<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|440<br /><small>(tie)</small>
|}
</div>
{{notelist|group=universities}}

==Academics==
[[File:Doe Library north side.JPG|thumb|right|[[Doe Memorial Library]], main facility of the [[University of California, Berkeley Libraries|UC Berkeley Libraries]].]]
[[File:UC Irvine, Langson Library (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|[[Campus of the University of California, Irvine#Libraries and study centers|Langson Library]] at UC Irvine.]]
As of the end of fiscal year 2023, UC controls 13,810 active patents. UC researchers and faculty were responsible for 1,440 new inventions that same year.<ref name="At a glance" /> On average, UC researchers create four new inventions per day.<ref name="At a glance" />

Eight of UC's ten campuses ([[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[University of California, Davis|UC Davis]], [[University of California, Irvine|UCI]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]], [[University of California, Riverside|UC Riverside]], [[University of California, San Diego|UCSD]], [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UC Santa Barbara]], and [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UC Santa Cruz]]) are members of the [[Association of American Universities]] (AAU),<ref name="At a glance" /> an alliance of elite American research universities<ref name="Rosenzweig">{{cite book |last1=Rosenzweig |first1=Robert M. |title=The Political University: Policy, Politics, and Presidential Leadership in the American Research University |date=2001 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=9780801868191 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJyd1msp3nwC&pg=PA20 |access-date=August 4, 2020 |archive-date=July 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713080101/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Political_University/xJyd1msp3nwC?gbpv=1&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> founded in 1900 at UC's suggestion.<ref name="AAU_Founding_Letter">{{cite journal |title=Editorial: Association of American Universities |journal=Educational Review |date=April 1900 |volume=19 |pages=404–405 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrPNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA404 |access-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-date=May 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511174814/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Educational_Review/DrPNAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA404&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Collectively, the system counts among its faculty (as of 2002):
* 389 members of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences|Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
* 5 [[Fields Medal]] recipients
* 19 [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright]] Scholars
* 25 [[MacArthur Fellows]]
* 254 members of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]
* 91 members of the [[National Academy of Engineering]]
* 13 [[National Medal of Science]] laureates
* 61 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureates]]<ref name="UC Regents"/>
* 106 members of the [[Institute of Medicine]]

===Nobel Prize winners===
[[File:UCLA Library (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|[[Powell Library]], main facility of the [[UCLA Library]].]]
[[File:UCM library.jpg|thumb|right|[[Kolligian Library]] at UC Merced.]]

Of the twelve Nobel laureates named in 2024, five have prior UC affiliations as alumni ([[Gary Ruvkun]] and [[David Baker (biochemist)|David Baker]]), faculty ([[John Hopfield]], [[Geoffrey Hinton]], and [[James A. Robinson]]), and postdocs (Baker and Hinton).<ref name="2024_UC_Nobels">{{cite news |title=Five UC-affiliated scientists win 2024 Nobel Prizes |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/five-uc-affiliated-scientists-win-2024-nobel-prizes |work=University of California News |publisher=Regents of the University of California |date=October 16, 2024}}</ref>

As of October 2021, the following data are taken from [[List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation]], which counts university alumni and staff, and are not the official count from the University of California. 
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Campus
!No. of winners 
!Founded
!No. of Winners/
10 years of age
|-
|[[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]]
|110
|1868
|7.2
|-
|[[University of California, San Diego|San Diego]]
|28
|1960
|4.6
|-
|[[University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles]]
|27
|1919
|2.6
|-
|[[University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]]
|14
|1909
|1.8
|-
|[[University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco]]
|10
|1864
|0.7
|-
|[[University of California, Irvine|Irvine]]
|7
|1965
|1.3
|-
|[[University of California, Davis|Davis]]
|4
|1905
|0.3
|-
|[[University of California, Riverside|Riverside]]
|3
|1954
|0.4
|-
|[[University of California, Santa Cruz|Santa Cruz]]
|1
|1965
|0.2
|-
|[[University of California, Merced|Merced]]
|0
|2005
|0
|}

===UC Libraries===
{{Main|University of California Libraries}}
[[File:UC Santa Barbara Library (35399729253).jpg|thumb|Davidson Library, the main facility of the [[University of California, Santa Barbara Library|UC Santa Barbara Library]].]]
At 40.8 million print volumes,<ref>[https://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/facts-and-figures Facts and Figures: UC Libraries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727100724/https://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/facts-and-figures |date=July 27, 2020 }} Accessed July 27, 2020.</ref> the University of California library system is home to one of the largest collections of printed materials in the world. On July 27, 2021, all ten campuses went live with a unified online library catalog, UC Library Search. Besides on-campus libraries, the UC system also maintains two regional library facilities (one each for Northern and Southern California), which each accept older items from all UC campus libraries in their respective region. As of 2019, Northern Regional Library Facility is home to 7.4 million items, while Southern Regional Library Facility is home to 6.5 million items.

===Academic calendar===

In 1966, UC switched its [[Academic term|academic calendar]] from the semester system to the quarter system. This was "part of a national trend to join state campuses across the U.S. that were aligning with private universities, including [[Stanford University|Stanford]], that had operated on quarters since World War I to accommodate students in [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|military training programs]]".<ref name="Kaleem">{{cite news |last1=Kaleem |first1=Jaweed |title=UC considers adopting semester system at all schools |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-01/uc-csu-semester-quarter-calendar |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 1, 2025}}</ref>

Berkeley returned to the semester system in 1983, and Merced has operated on the semester system since its 2005 opening.  However, all five law schools operate on the semester system, as does the [[David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA]].

In fall 2024, with the quarter system in decline nationwide (down to about 50 institutions and falling), UC initiated a systemwide study of switching all campuses back to the semester system.<ref name="Kaleem" />

===Academic organization===
[[File:McHenry Library UCSC.jpg|thumb|right|McHenry Library at UC Santa Cruz.]]
Davis, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Santa Barbara all followed Berkeley's example by aggregating the majority of [[College of Arts and Sciences|arts, humanities, and science departments]] into a relatively large College of Letters and Science. Therefore, at [[UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science|Berkeley]], [[UC Davis College of Letters and Science|Davis]], [[UCLA College of Letters and Science|Los Angeles]], and [[UCSB College of Letters and Science|Santa Barbara]], their respective College of Letters and Science is by far the single largest academic unit on each campus. The College of Letters and Science at Los Angeles is the largest academic unit in the entire UC system.<ref name="UCLAGeneralCatalog">{{cite book |last1=UCLA Registrar's Office Academic Publications |title=UCLA General Catalog 2021–22 |date=2021 |publisher=Regents of the University of California |location=Los Angeles |url=https://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/browse/College%20and%20Schools/CollegeofLettersandScience/Overview |access-date=September 24, 2021 |chapter=College of Letters and Science |archive-date=May 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519034458/https://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/browse/College%20and%20Schools/CollegeofLettersandScience/Overview |url-status=live }}</ref> Riverside later [[UCR College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences|separated the natural sciences]] and kept only [[UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences|social sciences grouped with arts and humanities]], an example followed by Merced at its founding (although Merced organizes its departments into schools and not colleges).

Due to President Kerr's interest in not reproducing the impersonal undergraduate experience often seen in such gigantic academic units, San Diego and Santa Cruz both implemented [[residential college]] systems inspired by British models (in which each college has distinctive general education requirements reflecting its chosen theme)<ref name="ClarkKerr5">{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Clark |title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1 |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520223677 |pages=273–280 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA273 |access-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905061444/https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA273#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and grouped most academic departments into a small number of broadly defined divisions which are all independent of the colleges. In February 2022, San Diego turned its divisions into schools.

Irvine is organized into 13 schools and San Francisco is organized into four schools, all of which are relatively narrow in scope. Originally, Irvine was also going to have a College of Letters and Science, like Berkeley. But the original UCI plan, written by [[Ivan Hinderaker]], granted the college's five divisions so much autonomy from one another that by 1967, the UCI Academic Senate voted to transform the divisions into "schools" whose deans would report directly to the vice chancellor for academic affairs.<ref name="Stadtman_Page_419">{{cite book|last1=Stadtman|first1=Verne A.|title=The University of California, 1868–1968|url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad|url-access=registration|date=1970|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/419 419]}}</ref>

==Admissions==
[[File:Kerckhoff Hall (cropped).JPG|thumb|Kerckhoff Hall is home of the [[ASUCLA|Associated Students of the University of California, Los Angeles]].]]
Each UC campus handles admissions separately, but a student wishing to apply for an undergraduate or transfer admission uses one application for all UC campuses. Graduate and professional school admissions are handled directly and separately by each department or program to which one applies.

In May 2020, UC approved plans to suspend standardized testing score requirements in admissions until 2024.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hoover |first1=Eric |title=Golden State Blockbuster: U. of California Will Replace ACT and SAT With New Test — or None at All |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/Golden-State-Blockbuster-U/248832?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_1b |access-date=May 23, 2020 |work=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |date=May 21, 2020 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308144332/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Golden-State-Blockbuster-U/248832?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_1b |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2021, after a student lawsuit, the University of California announced that it would no longer consider SAT and ACT scores in admissions and scholarship decisions.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 15, 2021 |title=University of California drops SAT scores for admission |url=https://apnews.com/article/university-of-california-california-education-8c7c069867e82757ab2cca7152d9197e |access-date=May 16, 2021 |website=AP NEWS }}</ref>

The [[EAOP|Early Academic Outreach Program]] (EAOP) was established in 1976 by University of California (UC) in response to the [[California State Legislature|State Legislature's]] recommendation to expand post-secondary opportunities to all of California's students including those who are first-generation, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English-language learners.<ref>University of California EAOP, 2003 in Review. University of California, 2009–10 Budget for Current Operations Budget Detail, as Presented to the Regents for Approval.</ref> As UC's largest academic preparation program, EAOP assists middle and high school students with academic preparation, admissions requirements, and financial aid requirements for higher education.<ref>University of California, 2009–10 Budget for Current Operations Budget Detail, as Presented to the Regents for Approval. University of California Office of the President, A Report to the Governor and Legislature on Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships for the 2006–07 Academic Year (April 2008).</ref> The program designs and provides services to foster students' academic development, and delivers those services in partnership with other academic preparation programs, schools, other higher education institutions and community/industry partners.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eaop.org/ |title=Early Academic Outreach Program |publisher=University of California |access-date=June 29, 2015 |archive-date=August 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801094116/http://eaop.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Haas School of Business west entrance.JPG|thumb|right|[[Haas School of Business]] at Berkeley is ranked among the best business schools in the world.]]
The University of California admits a significant number of transfer students primarily from the [[California Community Colleges]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/ |title=Transfer {{!}} UC Admissions |website=admission.universityofcalifornia.edu |access-date=July 15, 2016 |archive-date=July 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716080418/http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Approximately one out of three UC students begin at a community college before graduating.<ref name=":0" /> In evaluating a transfer student's application the universities conduct a "comprehensive review" process that includes consideration of grade point averages of the generally required, transferable and or related courses for the intended major. The review may also include consideration of an applicant's enrollment in selective honor courses or programs, extracurricular activities, essay, family history, life challenges, and the location of the student's residence. Different universities emphasize different factors in their evaluations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/reviewed/index.html |title=How applications are reviewed {{!}} UC Admissions |website=admission.universityofcalifornia.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326154514/http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/reviewed/index.html |archive-date=March 26, 2016 |access-date=July 14, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Freshmen ===
Before 1986, students who wanted to apply to UC for undergraduate study could only apply to one campus. Students who were rejected at that campus but otherwise met the UC minimum eligibility requirements were ''redirected'' to another campus with available space.<ref name="RobinsonNina">{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Nina |title=Undergraduate Access to the University of California After the Elimination of Race-Conscious Policies |date=March 2003 |publisher=University of California Office of the President |location=Oakland |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED476308.pdf |access-date=August 28, 2020 |archive-date=June 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617080734/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED476308.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Trombley2">{{cite news |last1=Trombley |first1=William |title=Enrollment Drop Poses Crisis at UC Riverside: Faced With Loss of 50 Faculty Positions, Campus Has Begun Strong Recruiting Drive |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 6, 1972 |page=B1}} Available through [[ProQuest]] Historical Newspapers.</ref> Students who did not want to be redirected were refunded their application fees.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} UC Riverside chancellor [[Ivan Hinderaker]] explained in 1972: "Redirection has been a negative rather than a plus. Some come with a [[Chip on shoulder|chip on their shoulders]] so big they never give the campus a chance. They poison the attitudes of the students around them."<ref name="Trombley2" />
[[File:Jacobs School of Engineering, UCSD.jpg|thumb|[[Jacobs School of Engineering]], at San Diego, is one of the top-ranked engineering schools in the country.]]
Therefore, in 1986, the undergraduate application system was changed to the current "multiple filing" system, in which students can apply to as many or as few UC campuses as they want on one application, paying a fee for each campus. This significantly increased the number of applications to the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses, since students could choose a campus to attend after they received acceptance letters, without fear of being redirected to a campus they did not want to attend.<ref name="RobinsonNina" />

The University of California accepts fully eligible students from among the top one-eighth (1/8) of California public high school graduates through regular statewide admission, or the top 9% of any given high school class through Eligibility in the Local Context (see below). Part of the eligibility process is completion of the [[California A-G requirements|A-G requirements]] in high school. All eligible California high school students who apply are accepted to the university, though not necessarily to the campus of choice.<ref name="ELC">{{cite web |title=Undergraduate Admissions: Local Eligibility |url=http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/local_eligibility.html |publisher=University of California |date=May 31, 2007 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |archive-date=February 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222022133/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/local_eligibility.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Master Plan Renewed |url=http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/MPComm1987.pdf |publisher=University of California |date=July 1987 |access-date=April 9, 2009 |archive-date=July 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706161153/http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/MPComm1987.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Eligible students who are not accepted to the campus(es) of their choice are placed in the "referral pool", where campuses with open space may offer admission to those students; in 2003, 10% of students who received an offer through this referral process accepted it.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.ucop.edu/news/archives/2004/sep03.htm |title=Freshman admission of GTO students |publisher=University of California Office of the President |access-date=March 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706191621/http://www.ucop.edu/news/archives/2004/sep03.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2007, about 4,100 UC-eligible students who were not offered admission to their campus of choice were referred to UC Riverside or the system's newest campus, UC Merced.<ref>{{cite web |last=Agha |first=Marisa |title=UC system fall '07 freshman admission numbers up |publisher=The Press Enterprise |url=http://www.pe.com/localnews/highereducation/stories/PE_News_Local_C_ucadmit06.3bbf195.html |date=April 5, 2007 |access-date=August 22, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623114519/http://www.pe.com/localnews/highereducation/stories/PE_News_Local_C_ucadmit06.3bbf195.html |archive-date=June 23, 2007 }}</ref> In 2015, all UC-eligible students rejected by their campus of choice were redirected to UC Merced, which is now the only campus that has space for all qualified applicants.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28421818/uc-admission-rates-fall-lowest-levels |title=UC admission rates fall to lowest levels |first1=Sharon |last1=Noguchi |first2=Sophie |last2=Mattson |newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |date=July 2, 2015 |access-date=July 2, 2015 |archive-date=July 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704031125/http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28421818/uc-admission-rates-fall-lowest-levels |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:UCLA School of Law library tower 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[UCLA School of Law]] is one of the top ranked law schools in the United States.]]
The old undergraduate admissions were conducted on a two-phase basis. In the first phase, students were admitted based solely on academic achievement. This accounted for between 50 and 75% of the admissions. In the second phase, the university conducted a "comprehensive review" of the student's achievements, including extracurricular activities, essay, family history, and life challenges, to admit the remainder. Students who did not qualify for regular admission were "admitted by exception"; in 2002, approximately 2% of newly admitted undergraduates were admitted by exception.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/exception.pdf |title=University of California. ''Admission by Exception''. |access-date=April 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830010032/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/exception.pdf |archive-date=August 30, 2008 }}</ref>

The process for determining admissions varies. At some campuses, such as [[UC Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]] and [[UC Santa Cruz|Santa Cruz]], a point system is used to weight [[Grading in education|grade point average]], [[SAT]] Reasoning or [[ACT (examination)|ACT]] scores, and SAT Subject scores, while at [[UCSD|San Diego]], [[UC Berkeley|Berkeley]], and [[UCLA|Los Angeles]], academic achievement is examined in the context of the school and the surrounding community, known as a holistic review.

[[Race and ethnicity in the United States Census|Race]], [[gender]], [[Nationality|national origin]], and [[Ethnic group|ethnicity]] were not used as UC admission criteria due to the passing of [[California Proposition 209 (1996)|Proposition 209]]. This information was collected for statistical purposes.

Eligibility in the Local Context, commonly referred to as ELC, is met by applicants ranked in the top 9% of their high school class in terms of performance on an 11-unit pattern of UC-approved high school courses. Beginning with fall 2007 applicants, ELC also requires a UC-calculated GPA of at least 3.0. Fully eligible ELC students are guaranteed a spot at one of UC's undergraduate campuses, though not necessarily at their first-choice campus or even to a campus to which they applied.<ref name="ELC" />

In 2021, the University of California freshmen class was its most diverse and largest ever, with 84,223 students.<ref name=Diverse/> Latinos were the largest group at 37%; Asian Americans at 34%; white non-Hispanics at 20%; African-Americans at 5%; and 4% composed of American Indians, Pacific Islanders or those who declined to state their race or ethnicity.<ref name=Diverse>{{Cite news |first= |last= |author-link= |title=UC system admits largest, most diverse undergraduate class |newspaper=[[Associated Press]] |date=July 20, 2021 |url=https://apnews.com/article/education-race-and-ethnicity-79f7d0e7eb812ce36538b9e112c38956 |via= |access-date=June 29, 2023 |archive-date=June 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629181451/https://apnews.com/article/education-race-and-ethnicity-79f7d0e7eb812ce36538b9e112c38956 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Student profile===
{| style="margin:auto; text-align:center; width:45%;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Percentage of students and comparisons statewide-nationwide
! !! data-sort-type="numeric" | Campuses
(2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fall enrollment at a glance |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/fall-enrollment-glance |access-date=May 31, 2023 |website=University of California |archive-date=May 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529151335/https://universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/fall-enrollment-glance |url-status=live }}</ref>
! data-sort-type="numeric" | California
(2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: California |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA |access-date=May 31, 2023 |website=U.S. Census Bureau |archive-date=September 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926181617/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA |url-status=live }}</ref>
! data-sort-type="numeric" | United States
(2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/US |access-date=May 31, 2023 |website=U.S. Census Bureau |archive-date=March 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328181807/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/US |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| '''[[African Americans|African American]]'''
| 4.7% || 6.5% || 13.7%
|-
| '''[[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]]'''
| data-sort-value="0%" | 0.6% || 1.7% || 1.3%
|-
| '''[[Asian American|Asian]]'''
| 33.0% || 16.5% || 6.4%
|-
| '''[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic/Latino(a)]]''' (of any race; including [[Chicano]]s and [[White Hispanic]]s)
| 23.3% || 40.4% || 19.5%
|-
| '''[[Non-Hispanic whites|Non-Hispanic White]]'''
| 21.6% || 34.3% || 58.4%
|-
|[[Pacific Islander Americans|'''Pacific Islander''']]
|0.3%
|0.5%
|0.3%
|-
| '''[[International student]]'''
| 13.9% || data-sort-value="0%" | N/A || data-sort-value="0%" | N/A
|-
| '''Unknown'''
| 2.7% || data-sort-value="0%" | N/A || data-sort-value="0%" | N/A
|}

=== Admissions practices ===
[[File:Lawn - University of California, Davis - DSC03312 (cropped).JPG|thumb|Mrak Hall serves as the administrative seat of UC Davis.]]
In many recent years, the University of California has faced growing criticism for high admissions of out-of-state or international students as opposed to in-state, California students. In particular, UC Berkeley and UCLA have been heavily criticized for this phenomenon due to their extraordinarily low acceptance rates compared to other campuses in the system.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-audit-admissions-20160328-story.html |title=UC schools harm local students by admitting so many from out of state, audit finds |first=Teresa |last=Watanabe |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 29, 2016 |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231073331/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-audit-admissions-20160328-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At a Board of Regents meeting in 2015, California Governor [[Jerry Brown]] reportedly said about the problem: "And so you got your foreign students and you got your 4.0 folks, but just the kind of ordinary, normal students, you know, that got good grades but weren't at the top of the heap there—they're getting frozen out."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/23/gov-brown-says-normal-californians-cant-get-berkeley-problem-some-californians-blame |title=Gov. Brown says 'normal' Californians can't get into Berkeley, a problem some Californians blame on Brown |website=Inside Higher Ed |date=January 22, 2015 |first=Ry |last=Rivard |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622232337/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/23/gov-brown-says-normal-californians-cant-get-berkeley-problem-some-californians-blame |url-status=live }}</ref> State lawmakers have proposed legislation that would reduce out-of-state admission.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Michael |title=Legislators crafting deal to reduce numbers of out-of-state students at University of California |url=https://edsource.org/2021/legislators-crafting-deal-to-reduce-numbers-of-out-of-state-students-at-university-of-california/655522 |access-date=May 23, 2022 |website=EdSource |language=en |date=May 28, 2021 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603021509/https://edsource.org/2021/legislators-crafting-deal-to-reduce-numbers-of-out-of-state-students-at-university-of-california/655522 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A 2020 California [[auditor's report]] indicated that at least 64 wealthy students were wrongfully admitted to UC schools as favors to powerful figures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Auditor: UC Wrongly Admitted Well-Connected Students, 55 at Berkeley |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11839078/state-auditor-uc-wrongly-admitted-well-connected-students-42-at-berkeley |access-date=May 23, 2022 |website=KQED |language=en-us |date=September 22, 2020 |first1=Jocelyn |last1=Gecker |first2=Juliet |last2=Williams |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523204353/https://www.kqed.org/news/11839078/state-auditor-uc-wrongly-admitted-well-connected-students-42-at-berkeley |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Teresa |date=September 22, 2020 |title=UC admitted 64 well-connected or rich students over more qualified ones, audit finds |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-22/uc-fails-prevent-admissions-fraud-state-audit |access-date=May 23, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523204353/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-22/uc-fails-prevent-admissions-fraud-state-audit |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Elana Lyn |title=The University Of California System 'Unfairly' Admitted 64 Well-Connected Students, State Audit Found |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/09/22/the-university-of-california-system-unfairly-admitted-64-well-connect-student-state-audit-found/ |access-date=May 23, 2022 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523204353/https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/09/22/the-university-of-california-system-unfairly-admitted-64-well-connect-student-state-audit-found/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of the admissions were justified by falsely classifying the applicants as student athletes. The incidents disproportionately (55 of 64) occurred at [[UC Berkeley]].

==Research==
[[File:Qualcomm Institute.jpg|thumb|right|The [[California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology]], jointly run by UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside.]]
In 2006 the [[Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition|Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)]] awarded the University of California the SPARC Innovator Award for its "extraordinarily effective institution-wide vision and efforts to move [[scholarly communication]] forward", including the 1997 founding (under then UC President [[Richard C. Atkinson]]) of the [[California Digital Library|California Digital Library (CDL)]] and its 2002 launching of CDL's [[California Digital Library#eScholarship|eScholarship]], an [[institutional repository]]. The award also specifically cited the widely influential 2005 [[academic journal publishing reform]] efforts of UC faculty and librarians in "altering the marketplace" by publicly negotiating contracts with publishers, as well as their 2006 proposal to amend UC's [[copyright]] policy to allow [[open access]] to UC faculty research.<ref name="SPARC">{{cite web |title=SPARC Innovator: University of California (July 2006) |url=http://www.sparc.arl.org/initiatives/innovator/uc |website=[[Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition]] |publisher=[[Association of Research Libraries]] |access-date=October 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021140055/http://www.sparc.arl.org/initiatives/innovator/uc |archive-date=October 21, 2015 |date=July 2006}} [http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/UC_pdf.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114857/http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/UC_pdf.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref>

On July 24, 2013, the UC Academic Senate adopted an [[open-access mandate|Open Access Policy]], mandating that all UC faculty produced research with a publication agreement signed after that date be first deposited in UC's eScholarship [[open access repository]].<ref>{{cite web |title=UC Open Access Policy |url=http://escholarship.org/about_open_access.html |website=eScholarship |publisher=University of California |access-date=October 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013155757/http://escholarship.org/about_open_access.html |archive-date=October 13, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

University of California systemwide research on the [[SAT]] exam found that, after controlling for familial income and parental education, so-called achievement tests known as the SAT II had 10 times more predictive ability of college aptitude than the SAT I.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Geiser |first1=Saul |last2=Studley |first2=Roger |title=UC and the SAT: Predictive Validity and Differential Impact of the SAT I ad SAT II at the University of California |publisher=University of California, Office of the President. |date=October 29, 2001 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~rag/ed351B/sat_study.pdf |access-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305072123/https://web.stanford.edu/~rag/ed351B/sat_study.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Peripheral enterprises==

The University of California has a long tradition of involvement in many enterprises that are often geographically or organizationally separate from its general campuses, including national laboratories, observatories, hospitals, continuing education programs, hotels, conference centers, an airport, a seaport, and an art institute.

===National laboratories===
[[File:Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (52230758982).jpg|thumb|[[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] in the [[Berkeley Hills]].]]
The University of California directly manages and operates one [[United States Department of Energy National Laboratories|United States Department of Energy National Laboratory]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucop.edu/laboratory-management/ |title=Office of the National Laboratories {{!}} UCOP |website=www.ucop.edu |language=en |access-date=August 15, 2017 |archive-date=December 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207150243/http://www.ucop.edu/laboratory-management/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] (LBNL, or Berkeley Lab) ([[Berkeley, California]])

UC is a limited partner in two separate private [[Limited liability company|limited liability companies]] that manage and operate two other Department of Energy national laboratories:
* [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] (LANL) ([[Los Alamos, New Mexico]]) operated by Triad National Security, LLC.
* [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] (LLNL) ([[Livermore, California]]) operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.

[[File:University of California Radiation Laboratory staff on the magnet yoke for the 60-inch cyclotron, 1938.jpg|thumb|Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory staff on the magnet yoke for the 60-inch cyclotron, 1938; Nobel prize winners [[Ernest Lawrence]], [[Edwin McMillan]], and [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]] are shown, in addition to [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] and [[Robert R. Wilson]].]]
The '''Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory''' conducts unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines with key efforts focused on fundamental studies of the universe, quantitative biology, nanoscience, new energy systems and environmental solutions, and the use of integrated computing as a tool for discovery.

The '''Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory''' uses advanced science and technology to ensure that U.S. nuclear weapons remain reliable. LLNL also has major research programs in supercomputing and predictive modeling, energy and environment, bioscience and biotechnology, basic science and applied technology, counter-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and homeland security. It is also home to the most powerful supercomputers in the world.

The '''Los Alamos National Laboratory''' focuses most of its work on ensuring the reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons. Other work at LANL involves research programs into preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and US national security, such as protection of the US homeland from terrorist attacks.

The UC system's ties to the three laboratories have occasionally sparked controversy and protest, because all three laboratories have been intimately linked with the development of [[nuclear weapon]]s. During the [[World War II]] [[Manhattan Project]], Lawrence Berkeley Lab developed the electromagnetic method for the separation of uranium isotopes used to develop the first atomic bombs. The Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore labs have been involved in designing U.S. nuclear weapons from their inception until the shift into [[stockpile stewardship]] after the end of the [[Cold War]]. Historically the two national laboratories in Berkeley and Livermore named after [[Ernest O. Lawrence]], have had very close relationships on research projects, as well as sharing some business operations and staff. In fact, [[LLNL]] was not officially severed administratively from [[LBNL]] until the early 1970s. They also have much deeper ties to the university than the Los Alamos Lab, a fact seen in their respective original names; the University of California Berkeley Radiation Laboratory and the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Livermore.
[[File:Lick Observatory Shane Telescope.jpg|thumb|[[Lick Observatory]], atop [[Mount Hamilton (California)|Mount Hamilton]] in the [[Diablo Range]].]]
The UC system's ties to the labs have so far outlasted all periods of internal controversy. However, in 2003, the U.S. Department of Energy for the first time opened the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] (LANL) contract for bidding by other vendors. UC entered into a partnership with [[Bechtel Corporation]], [[BWXT]], and the [[Washington Group International]], and together they created a private company called [[Los Alamos National Security, LLC]] (LANS). The only other bidder on the LANL contract was a [[Lockheed Martin]] Corporation-created company that included, among others, the [[University of Texas System]]. In December 2005, a seven-year contract to manage the laboratory was awarded to the Los Alamos National Security, LLC.<ref>{{cite news |last=Broad |first=William J. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/national/22alamos.html |title=California Is Surprise Winner in Bid to Run Los Alamos |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 22, 2005 |access-date=February 10, 2008 |archive-date=January 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121073208/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/national/22alamos.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On October 1, 2007, the University of California ended its direct involvement in operating the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Management of the laboratory was taken over by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, a limited liability company whose members are Bechtel National, the University of California, Babcock & Wilcox, the Washington Division of URS Corporation, Battelle Memorial Institute, and The Texas A&M University System. Other than UC appointing three members to the two separate boards of directors (each with eleven members) that oversee LANS and LLNS, UC now has virtually no responsibility for or direct involvement in either LANL or LLNL. UC policies and regulations that apply to UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California no longer apply to LANL and LLNL, and the LANL and LLNL directors no longer report to the UC Regents or UC Office of the President.

===Observatories===
[[File:Keck and NASA Telescopes. Mauna Kea Summit - panoramio.jpg|thumb|right|[[W. M. Keck Observatory|Keck Observatory]], atop [[Mauna Kea]] volcano on the [[Hawaii (island)|Big Island]] of Hawaii.]]
The University of California manages two [[Observatory|observatories]] as a multi-campus research unit headquartered at [[UC Santa Cruz]].
* [[Lick Observatory]] atop [[Mount Hamilton (California)|Mount Hamilton]], in the [[Diablo Range]] just east of [[San Jose, California|San Jose]].
* [[Keck Observatory]] at the {{convert|4,145|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} summit of [[Mauna Kea]] in Hawaii.

===High-performance networking===
The University of California is a founding and charter member of the [[Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California]], a nonprofit organization that provides high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community.

===UC Natural Reserve System===
{{main|University of California Natural Reserve System}}
The [[University of California Natural Reserve System|NRS]] was established in January 1965 to provide UC faculty with large areas of land where they could conduct long-term ecosystem research without having to worry about outside disturbances like tourists. Today, the NRS manages 39 reserves that total more than {{convert|756,000|acre|km2}}.
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Selected reserves of the [[University of California Natural Reserve System]]">
File:Outdoors (5223138163).jpg|[[Campus Point State Marine Conservation Area|Coal Oil Point Reserve]]
File:Rancho Marino Reserve.jpg|[[Rancho Marino Reserve]]
File:Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve 167.JPG|[[Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve]]
File:Younger Lagoon Reserve (7184158388).jpg|[[Younger Lagoon Reserve]]
</gallery>

===UC Agriculture and Natural Resources===
{{visible anchor|University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources}}<ref name="UCANR">{{cite web |title=Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources |website=University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources |date=January 5, 2022 |url=http://ucanr.edu/ |access-date=January 8, 2022 |archive-date=January 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106113133/https://ucanr.edu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (UCANR, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources) plays an important role in the state's agriculture industry, as mandated by UC's legacy as a land-grant institution. In addition to conducting agriculture and [[Youth development]] research, every county in the state has a [[cooperative extension]] office with county farm advisors. The county offices also support [[4-H]] programs and have nutrition, family, and consumer sciences advisors who assist local government. Currently, the division's University of California 4-H Youth Development Program<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ca4h.org/ |title=University of California 4-H Youth Development Program |publisher=Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-date=November 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106133206/http://www.ca4h.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> is a national leader in studying [[thriving]] in the field of youth development.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://4h.ucanr.edu/About/Framework/PYD/Thrive |title=4-H Thrive |last=Resources |first=University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural |website=4h.ucanr.edu |language=en-US |access-date=February 4, 2020 |archive-date=February 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204173420/http://4h.ucanr.edu/About/Framework/PYD/Thrive/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Other national research centers===
From September 2003 to July 2016, UC managed a contract valued at more than $330 million to establish and operate a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) at the [[NASA Ames Research Center]] at [[Moffett Federal Airfield]] —the largest grant ever awarded the university. [[UC Santa Cruz]] managed the UARC for the University of California, with the goal of increasing the science output, safety, and effectiveness of [[NASA]]'s missions through new technologies and scientific techniques.

Since 2002, the [[National Science Foundation|NSF]]-funded [[San Diego Supercomputer Center]] at [[UC San Diego]] has been managed by the University of California, which took over from the previous manager, [[General Atomics]].

===Medical centers and schools===
[[File:UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, Mission Bay (July 2020) -2.jpg|thumb|right|[[UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital]].]]
The University of California operates five medical centers throughout the state:

* [[UC Davis Medical Center]], in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]];
* [[UC Irvine Medical Center]], in [[Orange, California|Orange]];
* [[UCLA Health System|UCLA Medical Center]], comprising two distinct hospitals:
** [[Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center]], in Los Angeles;
** [[UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica|UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center]], in [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]];
* [[UC San Diego Health|UC San Diego Medical Center]], comprising two distinct hospitals:
** [[UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest]], in [[San Diego]]; 
** [[Jacobs Medical Center]], in [[La Jolla]]; and
* [[UCSF Medical Center]], operating as a single medical center across three physically distinct campuses around San Francisco.

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Medical centers of the University of California">
File:UC Davis Medical Center.jpg|[[UC Davis Medical Center|UCD Medical Center]]
File:Jacobs Medical Center southwest.jpg|[[Jacobs Medical Center|UCSD Medical Center]]
File:Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center June 2012 002 (cropped).jpg|[[Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center|UCLA Medical Center]]
File:UCSF Medical Center and Sutro Tower in 2008 (cropped).jpg|[[UCSF Medical Center]]
File:Ucirvinemedicalcenter (cropped).jpg|[[UC Irvine Medical Center|UCI Medical Center]]
</gallery>
There are two medical centers that bear the UCLA name, but are not operated by UCLA: [[Harbor–UCLA Medical Center]] and [[Olive View–UCLA Medical Center]]. They are actually [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]]-operated facilities that UCLA uses as [[teaching hospital]]s.
[[File:Mattel UCLA Hospital.jpg|thumb|[[UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital]].]]
Each medical center serves as the primary teaching site for that campus's medical school. UCSF is perennially among the top five programs in both research and primary care, and both UCLA and UC San Diego consistently rank among the top fifteen research schools, according to annual rankings published by ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools |title=2013 Best Medical Schools |year=2012 |work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222164609/http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools |url-status=dead }}</ref> The teaching hospitals affiliated with each school are also highly regarded – the [[UCSF Medical Center]] was ranked the number one hospital in California and number 5 in the country by ''U.S. News & World Report''{{'}}s 2017 Honor Roll for Best Hospitals in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2010/07/14/best-hospitals-2010-11-the-honor-roll.html |title=U.S. News Best Hospitals 2012–13: the Honor Roll |last1=Comarow |first1=Avery |date=July 16, 2012 |work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-date=October 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010191637/http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2010/07/14/best-hospitals-2010-11-the-honor-roll.html |url-status=live }}</ref> UC also has a sixth medical school—[[UC Riverside School of Medicine]], the only one in the UC system without its own hospital.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the UC hospitals became the cores of full-fledged regional health systems; they were gradually supplemented by many outpatient clinics, offices, and institutes. Three UC hospitals are actually county hospitals that were sold to UC, which means that UC currently plays a major role in providing healthcare to the indigent. The medical hospitals operated by UC Irvine (acquired in 1976), UC Davis (acquired in 1978), and UC San Diego (acquired in 1984) each began as the respective county hospitals of [[Orange County, California|Orange County]], [[Sacramento County, California|Sacramento County]], and [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]]. As of 2025, UC medical centers handle each year about 10.8 million outpatient visits, 474,000 emergency room visits, and roughly 1.32 million inpatient days.<ref name="At a glance" />

===Facilities outside of California===
[[File:Casa_de_California_en_México.jpg|thumb|right|Casa de California in [[Mexico City]].]]
UC operates several other miscellaneous sites to support faculty, students, and researchers away from its general campuses:
* UC Berkeley operates the Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station in [[Mo'orea]], [[French Polynesia]] on land donated in 1981 by the heir to the founder of the [[Gump's]] home furnishings store.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Geissinger |first1=Steve |last2=Geissinger |first2=Michael |title=Despite state budget crunch, UC runs 'Fantasy Island' station |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/04/14/despite-state-budget-crunch-uc-runs-fantasy-island-station/ |access-date=February 3, 2019 |work=East Bay Times |publisher=Bay Area News Group |date=April 14, 2008 |archive-date=February 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204014610/https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/04/14/despite-state-budget-crunch-uc-runs-fantasy-island-station/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* UC Davis operates UC Center Sacramento, which supports students from all UC campuses who are [[Internship|interning]] with the [[Government of California|California government]].
* UC Davis operates UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center in [[Providencia, Chile]], with support from Chilean government agency [[CORFO]].  The center is a nonprofit foundation which coordinates [[technology transfer]]s between Davis and partner institutions in Chile.  It is the latest in a series of "[[Development aid|technical assistance]]" programs between the California and Chile governments, dating back to the Chile-California Program of 1963.<ref name="Chile">{{cite news |title=California Signs Chile Aid Accord |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/12/07/archives/california-signs-chile-aid-accord.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 7, 1963 |page=8}}</ref>
* UC Irvine founded UC Washington Center (UCDC) in the federal capital at Washington, D.C. UCDC includes a dormitory to host UC students interning with the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]]. It is now jointly operated and supported by all nine UC campuses which admit undergraduates. 
* UC Riverside currently operates one overseas site on behalf of the systemwide Alianza MX program: 
** Casa de California in [[Mexico City]]. 
* UC Office of the President's Education Abroad Program (EAP) briefly operated California House in London during the early-to-mid 2000s.

===Hospitality facilities===
[[File:Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier, La Jolla , United States (Unsplash).jpg|thumb|[[Scripps Institution of Oceanography]] pier, in [[La Jolla]].]]
Unlike other land-grant institutions (e.g., [[Cornell University School of Hotel Administration|Cornell]]) UC does not provide a [[hospitality management studies|hospitality management]] program, but it does provide general hospitality at some locations:{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} 
* UC Berkeley's Cal Alumni Association operates travel excursions for alumni (and their families) under its "Cal Discoveries Travel" brand (formerly BearTreks); many of the tour guides are Berkeley professors. CAA also operates the oldest and largest alumni association-run family camp in the world, the Lair of the Golden Bear. Located at an altitude of 5600 feet in [[Pinecrest, Tuolumne County, California|Pinecrest, California]], the Lair is a home-away-from-home for almost 10,000 campers annually. Its attendees are largely Cal alumni and their families, but the Lair is open to everyone.
* Berkeley Lab operates its own hotel, the Berkeley Lab Guest House, available to persons with business at the Lab itself or UC Berkeley.
* The UCLA Hospitality Group operates two on-campus hotels, the 61-room Inn at UCLA and the 254-room Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, and the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Lodge at [[Lake Arrowhead, California|Lake Arrowhead]] (with a mix of chalet-like condominiums, lodge rooms, and stand-alone cottages). During the summer, Lake Arrowhead hosts the Bruin Woods vacation programs for UCLA alumni and their families. 
* Separately, UCLA Health operates the 100-room Tiverton House just south of the UCLA campus to serve its patients and their families. 
* UC Santa Cruz leased the University Inn and Conference Center in downtown Santa Cruz from 2001 to 2011 for use as off-campus student housing.

===University Airport===
[[File:Ucberkeleylifesciences (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|[[University of California Museum of Paleontology]] in Berkeley.]]
UC Davis operates the [[University Airport]] as a utility airport for [[air shuttle]] service in the contractual transportation of university employees and agricultural samples. It is also a public general aviation airport. University Airport's ICAO identifier is KEDU.

===Seaport===
UC San Diego's [[Scripps Institution of Oceanography]] owns a seaport, the Nimitz Marine Facility, which is just south of Shelter Island on [[Point Loma]], San Diego. The port is used as an operating base for all of its oceanographic vessels and platforms.

===UC Extension===
For over a century, the university has operated a continuing education program for working adults and professionals. At present, UC Extension has enrolled over 700,000 students, (500,000 of which are unique) in over 3,000 courses, with approximately 100,000 students attending during 2022-2023. One of the reasons for its large size is that UC Extension is a approved and the dominant provider of education for [[Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act|WIOA]] and [[Trade Adjustment Assistance|TAAP]] workers in California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UC ONLINE AND THE ECOSYSTEM OF ONLINE EDUCATION IN THE UC SYSTEM |url=https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jan24/a3.pdf |access-date=March 1, 2024 |pages=1, 20 }}</ref> Also, the systemwide portion of UC Extension (directly controlled by the UC Office of the President) operates [[CEB (Continuing Education of the Bar)|Continuing Education of the Bar]] under a joint venture agreement with the [[State Bar of California]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==See also==
{{Portal|California|San Francisco Bay Area}}
* [[History of education in California]]
* [[University of California Press]]
* [[University of California Student Association]]
* [[Police departments at the University of California]]

{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Douglass |first=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |location=Stanford, California |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780804731898}}
** Douglass, John Aubrey.   "Politics and policy in California higher education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan" (PhD dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1992. 9237800). [https://www.proquest.com/docview/303981391?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true online]
* Douglass, John Aubrey. "Creating a fourth branch of state government: The University of California and the constitutional convention of 1879." ''History of Education Quarterly'' 32.1 (1992): 31-72.
* Dundjerski, Marina. ''UCLA: The First Century'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/UCLA-First-Century-Marina-Dundjerski/dp/1906507376/ref=sr_1_1?Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=0&qid=1699717711&refinements=p_27%3A+Marina%5CcDundjerski&s=books&sr=1-1&unfiltered=1 guide to contents]; a major scholarly history
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Dean C. |title=The University of California: History and Achievements |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Printing Department |year=1996}}
* {{cite book |last1=Marginson |first1=Simon |author-link=Simon Marginson |title=The Dream Is Over: The Crisis of Clark Kerr's California Idea of Higher Education |date=2016 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520966208 |language=en |doi=10.1525/luminos.17 |doi-access=free}}
* Pelfrey, Patricia A. ''A brief history of the University of California'' (Univ of California Press, 2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qbEwDwAAQBAJ&dq=ucla+history&pg=PT7 online] .
* {{cite book |last=Stadtman |first=Verne A. |title=The University of California 1868–1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Co. |year=1970}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Stadtman |editor-first=Verne A. |title=The Centennial Record of the University of California |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Printing Department |year=1967}}

===Primary sources===
* Kerr, Clark. ''The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967'' (2 vol 2001, 2003)

==External links==
{{Commons category|University of California}}
* {{Official website|http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/}}
* [https://www.ucop.edu/index.html UCOP: Office of the President website]
* {{Wikisource portal-inline|University of California}}

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