The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of 10 campuses in the University of California system. Located 75 miles (120 km) south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz, the campus lies on 2,001 acres (810 ha) of rolling, forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay.
Founded in 1965, UC Santa Cruz began with the intention to showcase progressive, cross-disciplinary undergraduate education, innovative teaching methods and contemporary architecture. While still retaining its reputation for strong undergraduate support and student political activism, it has since evolved into a modern research university with a wide variety of both undergraduate and graduate programs. The residential college system, which consists of ten small colleges, is intended to combine the student support of a small college with the resources of a major university.