UCR contributes to the growing regional workforce in a number of ways, including its highly-skilled alumni, jobs created by University spending, providing continuing education for professionals, addressing the statewide shortage of teachers and physicians, and by being a top employer in the Inland Empire.
UCR's Alumni
The highly skilled graduates of UCR’s colleges and schools are perhaps UC Riverside’s most significant contribution to the Inland Empire and California economies.
Of UCR's 65,906 alumni,, about 75% lived in the state of California in 2007. Of these alumni, over 18,500, or about 38%, lived in the Inland Empire.
In 2006-07, UC Riverside conferred 3,892 degrees, including 3,337 bachelor’s, 378 master’s, and 177 doctoral degrees.
In that same year, UCR helped support the burgeoning high-tech, biomedical, pharmaceutical, aerospace and other knowledge-intensive industries in the Inland Empire by graduating nearly 800 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students in the fields of computer science and engineering, biochemistry, biology, biological sciences, chemistry, neuroscience, physics, chemical and environmental engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and in several interdepartmental graduate programs.
UCR as a Top Employer
UCR is the second-largest employer in the city of Riverside and the tenth-largest employer in the entire Inland Empire.
The campus employed 6,618 people during 2006-07.
UCR is somewhat buffered from economic downturns in the local economy as most jobs are funded from revenue sources outside of the Inland Empire region, and are not market-dependent.
We work here and we live here...
$198.4 million, or 86% of UCR’s payroll went to Inland Empire residents in 2006-07.
78% of UCR's faculty and 75% of its staff live in the Inland Empire.
Jobs Created by Spending
Spending by UCR, its students, visitors and retirees created more than 13,000 full-time jobs statewide. This includes faculty, staff and students directly employed by UCR, but also those indirect jobs supported by the University’s spending as well as spending by students, retirees and visitors.
Nearly half of the full-time equivalent jobs created by UCR were in the city of Riverside.
Continuing Education
In addition to graduates of UCR’s degree programs, the University contributes to the development of the regional workforce through its University Extension continuing education programs.
In 2006-07, close to 33,000 students enrolled in over 3,000 courses in fields such as Human Resources Management, Geographic Information Systems, and Crime and Intelligence Analysis.
Shortage of Teachers
California continues to face a teacher shortage, especially in the areas of special education, science and math.
UCR has made considerable strides in addressing this shortage through the following efforts:
UCR's Graduate School of Education offers full-time teaching credential programs in multiple subjects, single-subject teaching and special education, and over the past 15 years has awarded over 2,000 teaching credentials. In addition, the Graduate School of Education offers a Master’s degree in Education.
The Graduate School of Education and the ALPHA Center both offer numerous programs aimed at improving teacher quality through collaborations between UCR professors and local schools.
Shortage of Physicians
UCR’s planned School of Medicine will have a transformative impact on Inland Southern California, which is facing a projected physician shortage of up to 53 percent by 2015. Anticipated to enroll its first students in Fall 2012, the medical school will utilize a distributed model of clinical education in partnership with regional hospitals and clinics. It is also expected to stimulate additional campus research on health-related topics.
UCR has unique assets that comprise a solid foundation in medical education:
- The UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences that currently sends 24 undergraduates annually to the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
- A core of 100 faculty members who currently do research and teach in health-related fields
- A student body that reflects the diverse face of California, rated third nationally in diversity by US News & World Report
- UCR has room to grow with ample space for its medical school buildings
- A community that strongly supports a new School of Medicine at UCR