UC pilots "Degree Plus" career-readiness program at UCSB and UCSD to pair degrees with certificates and paid internships

Provost Richard Newman described Degree Plus as a pilot that pairs a demanding bachelor’s degree with a professional certificate and a paid internship to strengthen career readiness. "We are asking, does this combination make a difference in hiring outcomes?" Newman said.

Two campuses will run pilot programs this year: UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. At UC Santa Barbara, Executive Vice Chancellor David Marshall said the College of Engineering’s Technology Management department and the Carsey Wolf Center will help build certificates focused on how artificial intelligence is changing work. Marshall said UCSB will hire staff to create internship opportunities and leverage campus relationships that have placed students with agencies and studios including CAA, HBO and Warner Brothers, and with local employers such as Deckers and Raytheon.

At UC San Diego, Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth Simmons outlined a winter 2026 launch for a two-year pilot that will serve 240 juniors and seniors across three pathways: arts majors paired with a certificate in arts management; political science paired with a data-science certificate; and physics or chemistry paired with a certificate in process improvement for biotech and medical-device industries. Simmons said certificates will be self-paced online, internships will be sourced through campus and employer partners, and labor-market analytics will guide program decisions.

Funding and evaluation: Newman said the UC Office of the President is providing startup resources, philanthropic organizations including Lumina and Strata are supporting the experiment, and Lumina will fund two external evaluations to measure employer participation, job placements, completion rates and comparative outcomes for participants versus nonparticipants. Newman said the program’s designers aim to make Degree Plus eligible for federal financial aid so costs can be covered for students, and that philanthropic subsidies and president's-office funds will help cover internship stipends and pilot staffing in the near term.

Questions from regents focused on eligibility, cost and selection. Regent Brooks asked whether nontraditional students would qualify; Newman replied, "Well, it's any student who's a junior or senior. Any of them." Regent Park asked about per‑student cost and whether federal aid would cover the full cost after the pilot; campus officials said accurate per‑student costs are not yet available and that the goal is eventual federal financial‑aid coverage. Regent-designate Craven asked how students would be prioritized; campus leaders said the pilot will start broad and use advising and targeted outreach to reach students who might otherwise not access internships.

Student observer Tisha Sriram, a UCLA transfer undergraduate, called Degree Plus “very important,” urging that federal funding be secured so opportunities are equitable and noting that certificates give employers clearer evidence of students’ applied skills.

Why it matters: Regents framed Degree Plus as a response to employer demand for demonstrable applied skills and internships and to concerns about undergraduate return on investment. The pilot is designed to test whether the three-part model (degree + certificate + paid internship) improves hiring outcomes and supports scaling across more campuses if evaluations are positive.

Ending: No formal vote was taken at the committee meeting. Provost Newman and campus leaders will return data from the pilots and the external evaluations to inform a decision about scaling and financial-aid eligibility.