At the end of the year 2013, the School of Sociology of CCNU started the cooperation with UC Berkeley in their Berkeley International Study Program in Letters and Science (BISP), and has sent 27 students to study at UC Berkeley from Spring 2014 to Fall 2015.
  

The Berkeley International Study Program was first established by the UC Berkeley Sociology Department in which international students at a number of different universities in East Asia (and a few from other countries) are invited by Professor Trond Petersen to take courses in the participating departments. These students take UC Berkeley courses through the UC Berkeley Extension International Concurrent Enrollment program on a space availability basis, in which there is almost always space (with a few exceptions).

The Berkeley International Study Program has the capacity to admit a limited number of students for Fall and Spring semesters, as well as the Summer Session. The students will be accepted as visiting students by agreement with the UC Berkeley Sociology Department and are required to take 12 credits in courses that are in the participating departments. The program is able to admit students both at the BA and the MA level, however, courses at the graduate level are limited and most students take bachelor- level courses.

Both BA and MA students must pay tuition for 12 credits at UC Berkeley’s participating departments. These 12 credits may not include courses taken in non-participating departments at UC Berkeley. If this, for some or other reason, cannot be fitted into your study program in your home country, perhaps this program is not the right one for you, or you can do studies for which you will not later be credited in your home country.

All students participating in BISP are required to take a one-unit course called “Strategies for Cross-Cultural Learning,” Sociology 198. This course provides information and tips that will help students succeed in a new academic environment and help them make the most of their cultural experience here in Berkeley. It is also a great way for students to meet and talk with other students in English and practice new skills they are learning. The instructors also provide academic support advising to students. There will be space in this course for all of the visiting BISP students and should be the first course you enroll in when registration opens.

Almost all students are admitted to the courses they choose, but some departments occasionally have a few courses that will not have space due to high demand by UC Berkeley students. For this reason, UC Berkeley does not guarantee admittance to any particular course.