Food systems emerged as a distinct area of graduate study relatively recently, gaining momentum in the 2000s and 2010s. Universities in the United States and internationally have recognized the need for interdisciplinary programs that address the complex challenges facing food systems, such as sustainability, food security, justice, and resilient supply chains, and to do so through a whole-systems perspective.  

In 2018, the Berkeley Food Institute launched the Graduate Certificate in Food Systems (GCFS), in collaboration with faculty from the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy. UC Berkeley graduate students interested in obtaining the certificate must complete 9 credits of food systems courses, including the core course offered in the fall, Transforming Food Systems: From Agroecology to Population Health. Since the first graduating class in 2019, the GCFS has become an established program, attracting students from across the UC Berkeley campus and graduating nearly 200 holders of the Graduate Certificate in Food Systems. 

Last year, we conducted our first comprehensive assessment of the program. Here, we describe how we conducted our assessment, what we found, and the program changes we’re making to expand food systems educational opportunities on campus.

Seeking Student Input

Working with me and lead Faculty for the Certificate, Dr. Kris Madsen, Sofia Lyons, a BFI Graduate Student Fellow and MBA candidate, coordinated the GCFS assessment project over the 2024-2025 academic year.  

To help us measure the Certificate program’s impact, we redefined the objectives into four categories: 1) promote student accessibility and awareness of the certificate program, 2) provide workforce development opportunities, 3) support community building with peers and faculty, and 4) offer interdisciplinary food systems classes.  

Informed by these program objectives, we updated student surveys that help us evaluate the Certificate and inform programming revisions. Our surveys for the assessment included: 1) an exit survey required for graduate students upon their completion, including questions about how well the program met its stated objectives, as described above, 2) a survey for those students who didn’t complete the Certificate to help us better understand barriers to access, and 3) an alumni survey to understand how many graduates have gone on to pursue food systems careers and what propelled them, or didn’t. Ms. Lyons also conducted a literature review and stakeholder interviews. 

Strong Student Support, Many Pursue Food Systems Careers

Overall, we found strong student support for the Graduate Certificate in Food Systems. In our required exit survey of last year’s graduating class, 86% said that they agreed strongly with the following statements: 

• The Certificate augmented their primary degree by expanding their knowledge about food systems. 
• The core Certificate course provided them with a broad understanding of food systems.
• They are motivated to consider a job in food systems, and
• They were provided with a supportive network outside their home degree program. 

We also found strong food systems career engagement among Certificate alumni. Of our alumni surveyed, twenty nine responded.  We found that 67% currently work in food and agriculture, and 100% said they would like to actively support our students. 

Need for More Diverse Course Offerings, Improved Access

The assessment identified some areas for improvement related to career preparation and enrollment in classes. Students told us that they are interested in taking courses related to measuring climate impacts on food supply chains, food distribution, agronomics, sustainable resource economics, and regenerative farming practices. This reflects some of the gaps in classes offered.  We also learned that students with rigorous home degree schedules experienced difficulty enrolling in classes. Finally, we found that the Certificate currently has low representation from the following schools and colleges: Environmental Design, Letters and Science, Engineering, Developing Economies, Social Welfare, and Information (see Figure 1). There’s currently no student representation from the Schools of Law or Journalism. These are critical areas of expertise needed to advance just and sustainable food systems, and we aim to attract more students from these schools in partnership with key faculty and staff from across campus. 

Enhancing the Food Systems Educational Experience 

To address the gaps in available food system courses, we are actively working with our partners on campus to develop new innovative courses, including the Improving Our Food System Through Values-Based Supply Chains, offered to upper-division undergraduates and graduate students this fall.  We are exploring additional opportunities, including a potential food systems policy course and an online course offered through the Online Only Master’s of Public Health (OOMPH).  Finally, in response to the collective feedback throughout this work, we have developed a new Food Systems Mentorship Project that connects students with alumni and provides targeted professional development.

Along the way, Ms. Lyons also highlighted various “no regrets” activities that BFI could add to our programming now that would address some additional needs of students that we identified through the assessment. We added field trips and workshops to address students’ desire for more community-building events. And to ease our implementation of the program, Ms Lyons created an administrative handbook that documents how BFI manages the Certificate. Additionally, Ms. Lyons also conducted an electives course audit after finding that 40% of the courses previously listed were no longer offered, allowing BFI to update our course offerings information for students. 

Overall, the program assessment demonstrates how participation in the Certificate and related programming provides invaluable opportunities for students to be part of a larger UC Berkeley community of food systems students, faculty, and staff. 

BFI staff and affiliated faculty, as well as Ms. Lyon’s leadership, were indispensable to the assessment project. The assessment now provides a baseline against which to measure our future successes and challenges. Additionally, feedback from Dr. Kris Madsen, Professor of Public Health and past BFI Faculty Director, was pivotal for the final iteration of the report, found here. For more information on the Graduate Certificate in Food Systems, please visit our website.