Scope and Mission
The California State University is the nation’s largest university system, with 23 campuses and seven offcampus centers, nearly 409,000 students and 45,000 faculty and staff. Stretching from Humboldt in the north to San Diego in the south, the CSU is renowned for the quality of its teaching and for the job-ready graduates it produces.

While part of the CSU system, each campus has its own unique identity.

The CSU offers nearly 1,800 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in some 240 subject areas. A select number of doctoral degrees are offered jointly with the University of California or with private universities in California.

Master Plan for Higher Ed
The CSU system was created in 1961 under the state Master Plan for Higher Education. That plan directs the CSU to draw its students from the top third of California’s high school graduates, and also directs the CSU to focus on offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees and to make admitting upper-division transfer students from community colleges a priority. The plan also directs the CSU to focus on offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees and to make admitting upper-division transfer students from community colleges a priority.

Workforce Preparation
The CSU historically has played a critical role in preparing highly qualified candidates for the job market.

The CSU prepares the majority of the teachers in the state, 40 percent of its engineering graduates, almost half its business graduates, and more graduates in agriculture, communications, health, education and public administration than all other California universities and colleges combined. Altogether, approximately half the bachelor’s degrees and a third of the master’s degrees awarded annually in California are from the CSU.

The CSU is a national leader in producing students who later earn doctoral degrees in science and engineering. Twelve CSU campuses are among the top 20 universities nationally in number of graduates who later earn doctorate degrees.

Diversity
CSU is the nation’s most diverse university system with students of color topping 53 percent—more than twice the national average for four-year public universities. CSU students represent every state in the nation and well over 100 countries. A recent survey showed 40 percent of CSU students come from households where English is not the main language spoken, and more than one-third consider themselves to be multiracial.

Several CSU campuses are annually among the nation’s leaders in the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to students of color, and almost every CSU campus is annually cited as “Hispanic Outlook’s Publisher’s Picks,” a national list of colleges and universities that are doing the best job of serving Hispanic students.