Berkeley Global Edge, a program that allows freshman students to take summer courses on campus and spend their first semester abroad in London, is officially sunsetting. The program hosted its final cohort in December 2025.<\/p>\n
UC Berkeley study abroad will continue to offer the Freshman Edge program, which provides incoming students with the opportunity to take summer courses on campus. The end of Global Edge will not impact other study abroad opportunities.<\/p>\n
According to Jessica Bauer, assistant dean of UC Berkeley Summer Sessions, Global Edge is ending as part of a \u201cbroader shift in strategic priorities.\u201d The closure of the program is unrelated to federal funding cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision follows extensive evaluation of current student demand, financial sustainability, and alignment with departmental and campus goals for supporting first-year students,\u201d Bauer said in an email.<\/p>\n
Patrick Kanaley, a Fall 2023 cohort participant and current junior, described the independence he gained from the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sense of exploration also grew, as a lot of the classes were on-site field trips focused on the many historic neighborhoods of London,\u201d Kanaley said.<\/p>\n
The closure of Global Edge brings an end to one of the few freshman study abroad programs offered by UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n
Kanaley shared his disappointment over the program ending.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closure of this program makes me disappointed that other students won\u2019t have the great opportunity to study abroad so early in their college career,\u201d Kanaley said. \u201cNobody I know has ever regretted studying abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katherine Clemente, a junior in the Haas Global Management program, enjoyed her time abroad \u2014 however, she said she felt like the closure of the program was expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate, but makes sense in a way. I don\u2019t think many people would choose to study abroad in the first semester in college because it delays that transition from high school to college,\u201d Clemente said. \u201cIt makes it super difficult to adjust when you come back to Berkeley\u2019s campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The University of California Education Abroad Program is a UC-wide program that continues to provide study abroad opportunities for students.<\/p>\n
Students can go abroad at any point in their undergraduate career, including both the summer term and the full academic year. Locations for UCEAP include Argentina, Jordan, Korea and many more.<\/p>\n
The Berkeley Global Internships program will also continue. The program places students in different locations over the summer based on academic and career interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berkeley Global Edge, a program that allows freshman students to take summer courses on campus and spend their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[91003,91011,91006,91004,91007,91005,91009,143,145,144,91008,91010],"class_list":{"0":"post-194838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-berkeley-global-edge","9":"tag-berkeley-global-internships","10":"tag-berkeley-summer-sessions","11":"tag-freshman-edge","12":"tag-haas-global-management-program","13":"tag-jessica-bauer","14":"tag-katherine-clemente","15":"tag-oakland","16":"tag-oakland-headlines","17":"tag-oakland-news","18":"tag-patrick-kanaley","19":"tag-university-of-california-education-abroad-program"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}