Interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research are hallmarks of UC Irvine. Since its founding in 1965, UCI has been a driving force of innovation and discovery that benefits local, national and global communitites in multiple ways. The campus is a center for quality education that fosters passionate, enthusiastic and ongoing expansion of knowledge and approaches to scholarship, and attracts a stellar facutly and many of the most interesting and energetic students in the country to its incomparable Southern California location.

UCI is noted internationally for its rich academic programs and the quality of its faculty. The campus’s long-standing commitment to undergraduate education yields strong programs across all academic disciplines.

Irvine's distinctive undergraduate research programs allow students to work closely with faculty mentors as early as the freshman year. More than one-third of UCI's graduating class has participated in undergraduate faculty-mentored research or creative projects. In 2006, the undergraduate research program was strengthened further by the addition of programs in Public Health Policy and Public Health Sciences.

Course restrictions:
Information Management, Journalism and Law courses in all UC campuses are not available to exchange students.
In general, limited engineering, business/management, legal studies and architecture courses are available.

Course descriptions: http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/

Academic calendar:

• Fall Quarter: End September to Mid December
• Winter Quarter: Beginning January to End March
• Spring Quarter: End March to Mid June

*Note: Students may apply to start their exchange term in the Fall and Winter Quarter only. They may apply for 2 quarters of exchange in either the Winter Quarter (ie to start their exchange in the Winter Quarter and remain at UC for the Spring Quarter) subject to the approval of their faculties/schools.

Application deadlines:

On-campus:
For housing purposes, you are considered a "New Transfer Student". Options for Transfer Student housing are: Campus Village apartments, Arroyo Vista theme houses, and International Village. These are the designated options for "New Transfer Students" who are under 25 years of age. Descriptions of these options are available on the links above. Many questions can be answered on the Student Housing's General Information for International & EAP/Reciprocity Students page (http://www.housing.uci.edu/Prospective/transfer.asp).

On-campus housing contracts are for one academic year (fall, winter, and spring quarters) and cannot be broken. Students studying at UCI for only one or two quarters are not eligible to apply for on-campus housing. For housing purposes, you are considered a "Transfer Student".

Vista del Campo (http://www.vistadelcampo.com/) and Vista del Campo Norte (http://www.vistadelcampo.com/) are privately owned and managed apartment communities on the UC Irvine campus, offering furnished apartments to single students. They allow residents to sub-lease their room for one quarter maximum, and each quarter, they have some vacancies. The application process for this community is different from that which is described above. Housing is NOT guaranteed in this community. CIE provides EAP Reciprocity students with a biweekly list of students interested in subleasing.

For further details, please visit http://www.cie.uci.edu/reciprocity/housingonunder.shtml.

Off-campus:
If you choose not to live on-campus, it is your responsibility to find off-campus housing. UCI is largely a commuter campus and many students prefer to live off-campus at the beach, which is about 15-20 minutes away by car, or about 45-60 minutes away by public bus. A great way to start looking for off-campus housing before arriving to UCI is to use the California Housing Board (http://eap.ucop.edu/reciprocity/housingboard.shtm). This housing board provides a forum for EAP participants to share information about housing for rent and roommates wanted in California. Many UCI EAP students are using the site, so we encourage you to post your information and communicate with other students who have or need off-campus housing for the time you will be here.

For other options please go to http://www.cie.uci.edu/reciprocity/housingoffcampus.shtml.

Useful links:

• University homepage: http://www.uci.edu
• UC Education Abroad Programs Reciprocal Exchanges: http://eap.ucop.edu/
  
• Information on Reciprocal Exchanges: http://www.cie.uci.edu/reciprocity/index.shtml

Health insurance:
All students who attend US universities on exchange are required to purchase the health insurance recommended by their host university as part of the registration process. In addition, they can also purchase additional optional insurance from a private insurer for their term of study overseas. These short term optional insurance plans cover events such as personal accident, accidental medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation etc. In UCI, students are automatically enrolled in the University’s Student Health Insurance Plan unless they complete a waiver form and provide proof of equivalent coverage, and it is approved.

For further information regarding the insurance plan, please refer to http://www.shs.uci.edu/uship.html.

Estimated cost of living: