UC Berkeley’s sustainability course offerings make up almost 50% of all campus courses. At the undergraduate level, UC Berkeley offers 683 sustainability-focused courses and about 1,200 sustainability-related courses, making 49% of all undergraduate classes sustainability-focused or -related. At the graduate level, UC Berkeley offers over 425 graduate sustainability-focused courses and 970 sustainability-related courses, making about 46% of all graduate classes sustainability-focused or -related. Together, the percentage of courses offered that are sustainability-focused or sustainability-related at UC Berkeley totals 47% of all campus courses offered at the graduate and undergraduate level. Moreover, sustainability course offerings come from 101 different departments, totaling 78% of all departments; and these classes don't come only from perhaps more predictable departments such as Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
Students can dive into the global history of ecologically conscious art, architecture, cinema, sustainable design, and urban planning (HISTART 105) or learn how environmental concerns have shaped the history of American landscape architecture since 1850 (AMERSTD C171). Through the American Cultures course requirement, every Berkeley undergraduate takes a course with material that is sustainability-supportive, preparing students with specific skills that are critical for addressing sustainability challenges (e.g., social and ethical responsibility).
This inventory, covering courses from the 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 academic years, will be a product of UC Berkeley's 2024 submission to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System v.3.0, or STARS, which judges campuses on academic coursework and dozens of other sustainability metrics. The inventory uses the following definitions to categorize courses:
“Sustainability-focused”: a course that views topics through the lens of sustainability. The course title or description does not have to use the term “sustainability” to count as sustainability-focused if the primary and explicit focus of the course is on the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems or a major sustainability challenge.
“Sustainability-related”: a course that devotes at least one unit or section to a sustainability topic or has direct applications in sustainability fields.
In this inventory, users can finally appreciate just how deeply sustainability - of all kinds - is addressed in classrooms across UC Berkeley. See the full list of courses.
UC Berkeley Sustainability Academic Course Inventory AY 2020-21 to 2022-23 |
3 Year Data | |
| Summary | ||
| Total number of undergraduate courses offered by the institution | 3890 | |
| Number of undergraduate courses offered that are sustainability-focused | 683 | |
| Number of undergraduate courses offered that are sustainability-related | 1209 | |
| Total number of graduate courses offered by the institution | 3064 | |
| Number of graduate courses offered that are sustainability-focused | 425 | |
| Number of graduate courses offered that are sustainability-related | 970 | |
| Percentage of courses offered that are sustainability-focused or sustainability-related | 47% | |
| Total number of academic departments that offer courses | 129 | |
| Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings | 101 | |
| Percentage of academic departments that have sustainability course offerings | 78% | |
View the previous STARS Analysis' course offerings results.
View the previousSTARS report.