Deukmejian Helps Open UCSD Pacific Rim School

The first new University of California graduate school in 20 years and the first in the country to concentrate exclusively on the Pacific Rim was formally inaugurated Thursday at UC San Diego.

Gov. George Deukmejian, UC President David P. Gardner, UCSD Chancellor Richard C. Atkinson and other university administrators were on hand for the ceremonial opening of the UCSD Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

The graduate school’s curriculum will address economic, trade and public policy issues between countries in the Pacific region--including China, Japan, and all of Latin America--and the United States, particularly California.

“Americans are only now beginning to recognize that the best jobs, the largest markets, and the greatest profits belong to those who understand the country in which they are doing business,” Deukmejian said at the ceremony.

Policy Expectations

Those involved in the school’s establishment expect its graduates to assist the Pacific Rim’s private and public institutions in conducting business and public policy, rather than merely provide an academic analysis of cultural and political differences in the region.

The school’s first 35 students actually began their studies last fall, with their areas of study almost equally divided among Latin America, Japan and China, school officials said. More than 400 applications have been received for the 60 spaces available in the program this fall, according to officials.

The graduate school’s dean, Peter A. Gourevitch, said the establishment of the school is “a historic occasion for all of us.”

“The creation of our graduate school symbolizes clearly the recognition of a nation’s need to know,” he said. “A need to better understand America’s place in a rapidly changing and Pacific-oriented international world.”

Universities are the perfect forum for analyzing the United States’ changing attitudes toward trade and international economic issues, Gardner said.

First to Respond

UC San Diego was chosen as the site for the unique graduate school because it was the first to act on Gardner’s urging for increased emphasis on the Pacific region and submit a proposal for such a school to the UC Board of Regents.

“The technological revolution in communications and travel has brought us all closer together and is changing our world not temporarily, or at the margin, but permanently, and at the core,” Gardner said.

“In such a world, universities have a matchless opportunity to transmute what might otherwise be a passing interest into something more enduring,” he said. “The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies is an investment in our future ability to adapt to the winds of change that are blowing across the world.”

Deukmejian said every American is affected by the world economy, and a quality education in international affairs provides the basis for technological advances and improvements in communication and transportation.

“Italian typewriters are built in Indonesia for sale in the United States,” Deukmejian said. “American fashion designers sew their sports clothes in Malaysia. Even the 1987 Pontiac LeMans was designed in Germany and built with Japanese parts in Korea.”

“So you can see that the term ‘interdependent global economy’ is more than just a snappy little cliche whipped up by some world high-powered financial consultant,” he said. “Every day in every way, trade and investment affect each of us--from the food that we eat and the clothes that we wear to the cars we drive.”

After the ceremonies, the governor said protectionist measures are not the answer to the country’s trade imbalance, and he favors instead increasing the quality of American products and services.

“There is no question that protectionist-type legislation would be extremely detrimental to the working people of this country and especially California, where we have such a heavy dependency on international trade,” Deukmejian said.

” . . . I think that American business leaders have finally come around to the realization that perhaps we got too complacent in past years and that we did not continue to work at improving the quality and keeping our products and services at reasonable prices. While we’re coming around to this a little late in a way, it’s not too late.”

Students who complete studies through the graduate school can receive a master’s degree in Pacific international affairs or a doctorate in philosophy.

The UC Board of Regents approved the establishment of the graduate school in January, 1986. Construction of the $8.5-million, 62,000-square-foot facility to house the school will begin later this year, with completion slated for late 1989.