Introduction
II. Strategic Advantages of UCI
Great public research universities generally resemble one another in their array of first-rate faculty and academic programs, excellent students, dedicated staff, and administrative structure. To these attributes, UCI adds significant strategic advantages that distinguish the campus from its peers and that will be essential to our success in achieving the ambitious objectives described in this plan.
- UCI’s extraordinarily rapid rise to distinction in its first 40 years, including:
- membership in the Association of American Universities;
- ranking among the top 50 research universities in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report and 10th among public universities (2006 edition);
- ranking among the top 50 research universities in the world in the widely respected Academic Rankings of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2005);
- more than 40 programs across the campus ranked among the top 50 in their fields, including eight in the top 15;
- three Nobel Prizes in the last 10 years;
- 22 national titles in eight sports;
- fifth largest number of undergraduate applications received by a U.S. university;
- consistently rising SAT scores and graduation rates.
- Reputation of the University of California system, with outstanding faculty and students.
- Reasonable expectation of aggressive state-funded growth at UCI at least for the next decade, which supports ambitious planning.
- Outstanding infrastructure and physical resources, including a state-of-the-art, high-speed campus network and technology services, and ample land with effective land-use management.
- Excellent faculty/administrative co-governance structure and working relations, and productive connection between decentralized decision-making in the units and the centralized coordination of planning and allocation of resources.
- Historical and continuing commitment to innovation and collaborative interdisciplinary research and teaching.
- Strong community of founding and early faculty in the area who remain active in university life.
- Supportive and accomplished local community promoting increased philanthropic support for UCI.
- Physical location on the Pacific Rim in one of the nation’s most desirable areas, surrounded by expanding high-tech companies with tremendous potential for economic growth and a highly educated, upwardly mobile population.
- Demographic changes in the population of California that will lead to increasing diversity among students, faculty and staff.
