For Immediate Release
May 25, 2017
Berkeley, Ca
The College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley announces a new undergraduate program for international students titled the Global Access Program (CED-GAP). This program is for students interested in developing their studies in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Sustainable Design. The program can be attended for one semester or a full academic year at the UC Berkeley campus in the Bay Area. Either choice enables students to take a variety of courses toward completing their undergraduate requirements, refine their environmental design skills and gain a rich American cultural experience.
The CED-GAP Program is looking for inquisitive, self-motivated students from diverse international backgrounds with a passion for learning about solving the big problems that will face the environment in the future. The program offers a study-abroad opportunity that combines academic instruction with a full immersion experience in the United States, including unique access to the greater University of California, Berkeley. The program may also be customized to meet curricular needs. Enhancements may include: professional development, graduate school admissions workshops, cohort lunches and immersive California field trips.
The CED-GAP program provides unique access to top-notch Berkeley faculty, courses and networks within the innovative ecosystem of the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Through CED-GAP, top qualifying international students can gain knowledge, skills and connections necessary to excel as innovators and thought leaders in sustainable built environmental design. The program is designed for both majors and non-majors with the core curriculum emphasis of sustainability, design and social difference, and history and theory of cities and landscapes.
“The College of Environmental Design can help put international students at the forefront of creating a sustainable future. Today’s students have inherited unprecedented global and environmental challenges which require students to learn in radically new ways to fashion buildings and neighborhoods, cities and regions, and landscapes that will harbor our diverse ways of life,” stated Jennifer Wolch, Dean of the College of Environmental Design. “Our Global Access Program has shaped its curriculum to help students tackle these challenges and think in new ways about the future.”
Each CED-GAP cohort will be small with a maximum of 15 students, allowing for close mentoring relationships and a tight-knit community. Opportunities beyond the classroom include access to:
- Experts and innovators visiting from around the world
- Symposia, conferences and exhibits of cutting-edge work
- A superb Environmental Design Library
- Blake Garden, a large teaching garden in the Berkeley Hills
- The Environmental Design Archives, one of the nation’s leading archives of architectural and landscape plans and drawings
- The Visual Resources Center, an extensive slide, photograph, and digital image collection
- Computer-aided design and manufacturing technology in CED’s advanced digital fabrication laboratory,
- Learning about traditional wood and metal techniques in the fabrication shop
At the same time, students will have access to the unique culture of the Bay Area. San Francisco is a 30-minute train ride from Berkeley with major museums, music venues, cuisine from around the world and more. Silicon Valley is just several train stops further and is host to such companies as Apple and Google.
More information about the program, and how to apply, is available at the Global Access Program page on the College of Environmental Design Website