The Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies will benefit from and augment UC Berkeley’s longstanding and extensive ties with East Asia and rich resources in East Asian studies. With its location strategically poised at the gateway to the Pacific, the University is in a unique position among the world’s top research institutions featuring Asian studies to provide a strong Pacific Rim perspective.
Berkeley’s programs in East Asian studies have been ranked first in the nation by the US Department of Education. More than 60 faculty members teach about 200 courses in the languages, history, politics, and related aspects of East Asia, enrolling over 5,500 undergraduate and graduate students annually. Each year, more than 300 Berkeley students receive degrees in some area of East Asian scholarship, and the University awards the most doctorates nationwide in these fields.
The campus currently has international exchange agreements with a dozen institutions in Asia and, at any given time, hosts nearly 700 visiting Asian faculty and scholars. Berkeley graduates hold leading faculty and research positions in universities throughout Asia. Berkeley’s own faculty collaborate with Asian colleagues to promote technological and economic advances and find solutions for pressing global problems.
Of Berkeley’s current international student body, more than 58 percent are from Asia; the top eight home countries of foreign students at Berkeley are China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, India and Singapore. In addition, the campus is proudly home to a large and ever growing Asian American student community.
Berkeley graduates are well represented around the Pacific Rim. Alumni clubs exist in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The campus sponsors special events across Asia, from the biannual Haas Business School Symposia and Asian Leadership Conferences to speaking tours of Nobel laureates.
Furthermore, Asian alumni and friends are changing the campus with their philanthropy. As state support for California’s system of higher education decreases, Berkeley will look even more to its friends in the private sector to ensure its margin of excellence. Berkeley’s scholarships and endowments, and buildings like Tan Kah Kee Hall and the Tang Center, increasingly reflect the names of Asian families who are helping to keep Cal at the forefront of higher education.
Berkeley is proud of its long-standing relationships not only with individuals, but also with companies and businesses throughout Asia. The University is a major resource for global commerce, trade, technological innovation and other key business interests that transcend national and disciplinary borders.
For further information please contact:
Director of Development