University History Under President Sproul Releaved In Annual Report

By El Gaucho, March 7, 1958

Although the state’s population pressures have caused the eight-campus University of California to expand enormously in size and scope during the past 27 years, its academic quality has remained as high as ever.

This is the story told in “The University of California Summary Report of Operations, 1956-57,” released last week by the Controller’s Office of the Regents.

An introductory statement comments:

“Since this summary report of operations for the year 1956-57 is the last to be published by the Regents of the University of California before the retirement of President Robert Gordon Sproul on June 30, 1958, it provides a brief review of the progress made during the 27 years of his administration.”

The report points out that in 1934 a survey of the nation’s universities, conducted by the American Council on Education, showed the University of California to be one of the top-ranking institutions of higher learning in the nation.

Again in 1956, a survey rated the University of California among the best in the nation for the eminence of its faculty and the scope and quality of its facilities.

These are some of the changes that have occurred since 1930:

1. Enrollment in regular sessions has increased from 19,626 to 45,303 full-time students.
2. Graduate enrollment has increased from 3,200 to 11,100.
3. More than 160,000 graduate and undergraduate degrees have been conferred during the period.
4. A total of $8,989,247, almost entirely from gifts and bequests, was expended for student aid in the form of scholarships, fellowships and other grants.
5. The UCLA campus was expanded and developed to full university stature, and a new Medical Center, including a 320-bed teaching hospital, was established there.
6. Four-year liberal arts colleges were established at Riverside, Davis and Santa Barbara.
7. Nineteen new schools and colleges were added; 144 new departments and divisions were created; 38 additional bureaus, institutes, foundations and special libraries were set up.
8. The number of major subjects of instruction was increased from 77 to 220.

During the time this unprecedented expansion was taking place, the University of California’s quality of instruction did not suffer. For example, six members of the faculty are Nobel Prize winners, 58 belong to the National Academy of Sciences (10 per cent of that elite body), and the University has led all other universities in the number of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded faculty members.

In the field of public service, University of California Extension has provided instruction for some 3,000,000 adults who have participated in classes, correspondence courses, institutes and conferences. The number of California communities it serves has been expanded from 50 to 142.

In addition, the University of California’s library facilities are rated as the third best in the nation. They consist of nearly 4,000,000 volumes with an aggregate value of $19,303,000.