TAIPEI (TVBS News) — University of California, Berkeley (加州大學柏克萊分校) Chancellor Richard K. Lyons highlighted how artificial intelligence revolutionizes global higher education, including Taiwan partnerships, during a Thursday (Nov. 7) interview. Berkeley leads universities in integrating AI technologies into research and teaching by breaking academic barriers rather than automating processes.
Lyons quoted Nobel Prize winner Omar M. Yaghi describing AI's research impact: "It helps me understand what my faculty colleagues in adjacent fields are doing." The technology connects laboratories in unprecedented ways rather than enhancing individual capabilities, Lyons explained. AI enables deeper conversations between researchers across disciplines more quickly than traditional methods.
Berkeley launched multiple science incubators, housing 35 startups within university facilities, representing a fundamental shift in academic-industry collaboration. "This is economic activity and scientific activity that used to take place outside the boundary of the university; now it's taking place inside the boundary of the university," Lyons said. Companies retain full intellectual property rights while operating from Berkeley buildings.
Berkeley maintains its commitment to international collaboration despite shifting U.S. higher education policies, Lyons emphasized. "The connectivity through exchanges — academic, or among our students, educational — it's really fundamental to what Berkeley is," he said. Berkeley attracts global talent and seeks to maintain connections with Taiwan through faculty and student exchanges.
Berkeley's undergraduate program comprises 10% international students, which is significantly lower than that of many U.S. universities, which typically have 25-40% international enrollment. "Berkeley is part of the University of California system, and 80% of the seats in our undergraduate program are for California residents," Lyons explained. Berkeley remains less dependent on international student revenue than peer institutions.
Berkeley's excellence stems from cultural emphasis on breakthrough research rather than publication quantity, Lyons added. "At Berkeley, that's not the way it works. The idea is, if you've had one enormous breakthrough, if you've taught the whole profession something, we're going to give you tenure," he explained. This approach contrasts with universities requiring multiple publications for tenure decisions.
Lyons, Berkeley's first graduate-turned-chancellor, accelerates institutional adaptation by shifting campus culture from "no, because" to "yes, if." "But the default is yes. The default isn't no anymore," he explained. This entrepreneurial mindset addresses bureaucratic slowness in rapidly evolving academic environments.
"Berkeley is the kind of place that grabs you by the shirt or the coat and shakes you and says 'you have more degrees of freedom to live your life than you realize,'" Lyons said. "People come to Berkeley to be lifted and liberated," he explained. The institution emphasizes personal agency and global engagement over prescribed success formulas.
Berkeley attracts high numbers of international PhD students despite sector-wide reductions at other U.S. universities, Lyons noted. The institution maintains a strong appeal among Taiwanese students seeking advanced degrees in science and technology fields. Graduate student funding is provided by university sources, ensuring continuity of research regardless of fluctuations in enrollment. ◼
