Media Room

For Journalists

UCSD Extension offers three major areas of service: professional education and training, cultural enrichment, and regional economic solutions. If you are a journalist developing an article and need additional resources for any of these areas such as interview leads or background material, please contact Henry DeVries at hdevries@ucsd.edu.

UC San Diego Extended Studies and Public Programs
Fact Sheet (May 2007)

At UC San Diego Extension, we believe great social and economic prosperity comes from integrating the collective knowledge of the university, community leaders and professionals.

UC San Diego Extension focuses on integrating knowledge in four areas that enable the San Diego region to reap the benefits of today's dynamic changes and shifting global realities:

• Assuring a globally competitive talent pool
• Accelerating economic vitality
• Fostering community-building conversations
• Improving quality of life for all citizens

As the continuing education and public program arm of the university, Extension plays a major role in the quality of life and economic vitality of the San Diego region and state of California. Extension strives to combine local impact with national reputation and global reach.

As part of the new knowledge-based economy, Extension is recognized nationally and internationally for linking the community to expert professionals and the knowledge resources of the university. Innovative programs such as Global CONNECT™ and San Diego Dialogue play a key role in connecting disparate communities by conducting timely research and providing new business assistance to regions around the world, including our own San Diego-Baja California region.

UCSD Extension By The Numbers

• Extension assures a globally competitive talent pool by educating 40,000 people a year through innovative local, corporate and global programs. For the convenience of working adults, most courses are held evenings and weekends on the UC San Diego main campus and three other locations: the Extension Sorrento Mesa Center, the Extension Rancho Bernardo Center and the Extension Mission Valley Center.
• Extension enrolls about 20,000 students per year in university-level professional and enrichment courses, including about 100 certificate programs and 12 specialized study programs. Another 20,000 are reached through Extension's educational outreach programs, public lectures and UCSD-TV.
• In 2005-06, Extension awarded 850 certificates in numerous niche programs created in partnership with local industry, including Project Management, Drug Discovery and Development, Human Resource Management, Embedded Computer Engineering, Clinical Trials Design and Management, Technology Business Creation and Nuclear Medicine Technology.
• About 3 out of 4 Extension students have at least a college degree or higher, and about half have graduate or post-graduate degrees. Students range in age from 15 (pre-college students in Academic Connections who spend summers at UC San Diego) to 80+ (the young at heart retirees in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute).
• Extension enhances the international reach and global integration of the university and the region by annually serving more than 2,200 visiting students from more than 45 countries and through the rapidly growing online learning course offerings.
• Since 1966, Extension has delivered the education and training that has shaped this region as a premiere life sciences and technology innovator. With just over 100 offerings in its first year, to more than 2,000 annually, Extension represents a vibrant nexus of new classes and programs attracting both organizations and individuals alike. Offerings range from leading-edge courses and professional certificates, to degree-related programs and customized on-site training.
• Though an integral part of UC San Diego, Extension does not receive any state support. As a not-for-profit public service organization, Extension relies on the revenue it generates from fees, contracts, grants and the generous assistance of sponsors and other donors. Annual revenues from these sources are approximately $25 million, about $19 million for continuing education and $6 million for public programs (second largest in the UC system for total budget behind UCLA and third largest in UC system for student fee income behind UCLA and Berkeley). Our instructor base of more than 2,000 faculty members and expert professionals has an annual payroll of more than $6 million.

Programs of Distinction

Assuring a globally competitive talent pool

• Designed in partnership with leaders in the pharmaceutical and biomedical research industry, the Clinical Trials and search Programs celebrates a 10th anniversary in 2007. This signature program offers specialized certificates in clinical trials administration and clinical trials design and management.
• The UC San Diego Online Learning program develops and delivers courses using online technology for the university as well as other strategically selected organizations. Through partnerships with the main campus and the school of medicine, online learning makes the UCSD educational experience available to students from 28 states, Canada, Mexico, Europe, India and China.
• Known globally as a leader in life and health science continuing education, Extension offers 150 courses throughout the year including signature programs in medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical development and systems biology that attract enrollees from around the world.
• Our newest of four master's degrees, the joint Health Law Master's Degree conferred by UC San Diego and California Western School of Law is the first of its kind in the Western United States. The Health Law Master's Degree equips participants with a comprehensive understanding of scientific, ethical, regulatory and management practices that intersect the healthcare and legal arenas.
• Funded by the US Department of Labor, Extension's OSHA Training Institute offers high quality, standards-based OSHA training to employers from across the United States. OSHA's role is to assure the safety of American workers by setting and enforcing workplace safety and health standards.
• Extension provides customized corporate training for large-scale companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Sempra Energy, Northrup-Grumman, SAIC, Raytheon, Sea World, Disney, Callaway Golf and Pfizer, or come to us for EPSE and LAMP.

Accelerating economic vitality

• Global CONNECT assists with the development of worldwide technology commercialization and facilitates US market-entry. The program is an outgrowth of the highly successful CONNECT program, which was spawned by UC San Diego Extension.
• Extension's Defense Technology program serves the nearly $18 billion annual San Diego defense industry (which accounts for about 15% of the regional economy). The finest such academic program West of the Mississippi, the Defense Technology program works with the university's renowned Jacobs School of Engineering to provide advanced technical training to the government, military and industry personnel who work in support of the men and women in the nation's high-tech armed forces.
• The UCSD Economics Roundtable provides a forum for local business professionals and community leaders to exchange ideas and information with world-class economists and financial experts. Past speakers have included Ben Bernanke, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Robert Shiller, professor of economics, Yale University.

Fostering community-building conversations

• Thomas Jefferson said the best protection for the nation is an informed citizenry. In accordance with a major gift from a late philanthropist, the Helen Edison Lecture Series presents ongoing free public lectures on issues that advance humanitarian purposes and objectives. Attended annually by thousands, speakers include former Vice President Al Gore, linguistic scholar Noam Chomsky, former secretary of defense Robert McNamara, Nobel Prize in Literature winner Toni Morrison and Hispanic dramatist Luis Valdez, just to name a few.

Improving quality of life

• UCSD-TV is offered on cable, online, and on-demand. Locally UCSD-TV reaches 1 million homes with award-winning, in-depth information on a variety of topics including public affairs, health and medicine, humanities, science, arts and music and world cinema. Additionally, Extension also manages UC-TV, which provides similar services for the entire University of California and nationally reaches about 14 million homes. UCTV's 1,000 hours of programming represents Google Video's largest collection of educational video content.
• Extension is home to Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a community educational outreach program serving the retired community in San Diego County. OLLI combines the academic strength of UC San Diego with community-based expertise to offer more than 100 classes a year in a broad spectrum of subjects. OLLI has more than 525 members who are 50 years or older who attend programs taught by distinguished active and emeritus faculty, scholars and professionals in the field.