Goals UC is first and foremost a research university. Among California's public institutions, it is legally vested, via the Master Plan for Higher Education, with sole authority for doctoral education and the preparation of professionals.^* It also is granted responsibility as the state's primary academic agency for research.

Further, the vision of the University embraced by the Regents' Committee on Long Range Planning is of a research-intensive institution which by 2025 has a marked increase in the multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, intercampus and global nature of its efforts. The first goal considered by the committee is unparalleled quality and breadth in the University's research-intensive academic programs.

Measures This section is an initial step at presenting the scope, size and quality of the University's research endeavors. It shows UC's total research expenditures, including both direct and indirect costs associated with research carried out by UC campuses. These data were used because they conform to the definitions used in the National Science Foundation Research and Development Expenditures survey (which is a national benchmark), and because they portray the total cost of research conducted at UC.

In addition, a second major measure of research output is the number of patents, inventions and licensing income resulting from UC research. Although these are currently widely used as indicators of research output, a national effort is under way to develop better metrics for demonstrating successful technology transfer outcomes that better reflect the important goal of fostering industry-university relationships.

The University is developing a detailed sub-report on Research, which will include additional metrics on research and technology transfer as they are developed.

^* In 2006 the California Legislature authorized the California State University to offer the doctorate in education. All other doctoral education and degrees for professionals remain within the purview of the University of California.