Multicultural Immigrant Student Program





Immigrant Student Issues Coalition

ISIC consists of a group of students, staff, and faculty who advocate for immigrant students at Cal. The coalition raises awareness, builds alliances, and effects policy change through a variety of educational activities. We are committed to sustaining a dialogue that engages a diverse and representative population. ISIC welcomes individuals and departments to join the coalition, attend the meetings, and/or attend our guest lectures.

Immigrant Student Issues Coalition (ISIC) The Immigrant Student Issues Coalition (ISIC) is comprised of the.. career center • centers for transfer, reentry and student parents • college writing programs • multicultural immigrant student program • incentive awards pre-collegiate academy • multicultural student development • new student services • office of student life • student learning center • student life advising services/educational opportunity program • summer bridge program • university health services

Immigrant Students at Cal – Fact Sheet 2006-7

• 65% of all Berkeley undergraduates have at least one parent born in another country.

• 28% of all immigrant students at Cal are born outside the US; they will be less likely to know about or be acculturated to American culture than their classmates.

• 1/4 of all transfers to Cal are immigrant students in the US for less than 5 years; they will be less likely to be acculturated into American culture.

• 28% of all immigrant students at Cal are the first in their families to go to college.
• By far, most of the 1st and 2nd generation immigrant students who are the first to go to college come from lower-income homes (82% and 68% respectively); even by 4th generation, about half come from lower-income homes.

• Over ½ of 1st and 2nd generation graduating immigrant students report professors have rarely or never known their names.

• 27% of students learn a language other than English as their first language; while 24% learn both English and another language as their first language.

• 22% of students whose first language is other than English reported learning English at age 11or later in life.

• 84% of students born in other countries speak a first language other than English; in the second generation (students born in the US whose parents were born in another country), 38% still speak a first language other than English. By 4th generation, 1% or none speak a language other than English.
• There is a dramatic shift of top major from the 1st to 4th generations of immigrant students, especially those who are the first to go to college, from MCB in the first 2 generations to English and Political Science in the 3rd and 4th.

• Student Affairs Officers and other professional staff are the most culturally diverse portion of the UCB workforce: out of 580 employees, 45% are people of color: 1.6% American Indian, 13.4% API, 16.6% African-American, 13.4% Chicano/a/Latino/a. This offers some possibility for cultural bridges between immigrant students of color and staff. But in the absence of statistics for citizenship, immigrant status or first language of staff, it is to be assumed that most staff overall are native-born, raised in American cultures, and speak a native English.

(source: Office of Student Research and ISIC, 2005)