Drawing distinguished professors

The outstanding quality of Berkeley’s graduate students also constitutes a prime incentive for world-renowned faculty to come to the University — and to remain here even when peer institutions make them attractive offers.

Keenly engaged and innovative thinkers, Berkeley’s graduate students are prized as up-and-coming junior colleagues who collaborate with professors on research and scholarly projects; as insightful young scholars whose research shows professors new possibilities in their own fields of specialization; and as lively participants in the advanced courses and seminars that allow professors to explore subject areas in great depth.

Berkeley faculty know that, in all these roles, graduate students will energize and inspire them — helping professors to be their best, not only in pursuing their own work, but also in teaching courses at all levels. Berkeley undergraduates are the primary beneficiaries of the synergistic relationship between our excellent graduate students and outstanding faculty.

When you’re pushing the boundaries of knowledge, working with talented graduate students is sheer joy. If we couldn’t keep getting the top graduate students, if for financial reasons they gravitated to our competitors, it wouldn’t be long before the faculty followed them. Berkeley would be much the poorer for it. - George Breslauer
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Professor, Department of Political Science