This page explains enrollment policies for Design Innovation (DES INV) courses offered by the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. Contact Tyshon Rogers, Assistant Director, Academic Affairs at trogers@berkeley.edu if you have further questions about DES INV policies. For questions regarding non-DES INV courses, please contact the department administering the course.
Reservation categories:
Enrollment restrictions:
Most DES INV courses have enrollment on a first-come, first-served basis, i.e., no application is required and no enrollment codes are distributed to students. The policies in this section apply to DES INV 10, 15, 21, 22, 23, 25, 95/195, 97/197 and some DES INV 190 and DES INV 290 courses.
Process and timeline:
A small number of DES INV courses use an application process to ensure adequate student preparation and an appropriate mix of skillsets and experience for team-based project courses.
Are DES INV courses only open to students in certain majors?
In the spirit of supporting interdisciplinary learning, DES INV courses are open to students from all disciplines. We reserve seats for students from all colleges, though seats in some reservation categories tend to fill more quickly than others. To see the breakdown of reserved seats for a particular class, look up its listing in the Class Schedule and scroll down to the Reserved Seats section. The chart displayed in this section shows the breakdown of how many seats are reserved for various categories of students, as well as any changes over time.
Why can’t I enroll in this class even though CalCentral/the Class Schedule says that there are seats still available?
Though there are still some open seats in the class, they are reserved for other groups of students. Please see the answer to the previous question for more information on how you can see the breakdown of reserved seats for a particular class.
Can I audit the class, if I can’t enroll in it?
Enrolled students, visiting research scholars, emerita/us faculty, staff members, and post-doctoral scholars on the Berkeley campus are free to audit classes subject to the approval of the instructor. Members of the public may audit classes only through concurrent enrollment with a no-credit option that will be administered by UC Extension; please see the question and answer below for more details. The full campus policy for auditing classes at UC Berkeley can be found here.
Can non-UC Berkeley students enroll in DES INV courses?
Visiting students and members of the general public are welcome to enroll in UC Berkeley courses, including DES INV courses, during the summer term through Berkeley Summer Sessions. Our summer courses typically have a mix of Berkeley and non-Berkeley students enrolled.
During the fall and spring semesters, visiting students and members of the general public can apply to enroll in Berkeley courses through Concurrent Enrollment, which is administered by Berkeley Extension. However, Concurrent Enrollment students can be admitted only if seats are still open after Berkeley students have enrolled. Applicants may need to wait until the fourth week of the semester to find out if they can be admitted into a course, and enrollment cannot be guaranteed, especially for popular courses.
Can I take two courses that meet at the same time?
The campus enrollment system allows students to have time conflicts in their initial course schedule. However, this is only a temporary solution for the beginning of the semester. Students are expected to attend DES INV class meetings, so you must resolve any time conflicts to stay enrolled. Instructors are in no way obligated to accommodate issues that arise from students’ decisions to enroll in classes with time conflicts.
Do Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation (BCDI) candidates get enrollment priority for DES INV courses?
Unfortunately, we cannot give enrollment priority to BCDI candidates. If you have questions about fulfilling BCDI course requirements, please contact Tyshon Rogers (trogers@berkeley.edu), student services advisor for the BCDI.