UC System

Founded in 1868, the University of California now comprises 10 campuses, five medical centers, three national laboratories and cooperative extension offices across the state as well as community and academic programs across the state. UC campuses offer programs in more than 150 disciplines — many of which are ranked among the top 10 nationally. The UC system is administered through shared governance of the regents, the president and the faculty.

UC by the numbers
• 220,000 students
• 170,000 faculty and staff
• 37,000 retirees
• 1.5 million alumni
• 50 Nobel laureates
• 2007-08 annual budget: $18 billion

As a premier institution of higher education, UC’s wide spectrum of facilities and programs create a rich environment for learning and discovery. But those places are also great public resources. With collections totaling 34 million volumes, the more than 100 libraries throughout UC are surpassed in size on the American continent only by the Library of Congress collection. UC also has dozens of museums, performing arts spaces, botanical gardens, observatories and natural reserves covering 130,000 acres of protected land in ecologically diverse regions throughout California.

Factsheets
> UC’s contributions to California 
> Undergraduate admission to UC
> Affordability of an undergraduate education
> UC and the state budget: Investing in California’s future

> More on UC and the economy
> More on UC and health

UC Newsroom