The Outreach Mission in Higher Education

Advances in technology, fiscal challenges, declining public confidence, changing demographics, and a host of other societal changes are forcing critical reviews of the mission and purpose of America’s colleges and universities. As a consequence of this review process, much greater importance has been assigned to institutional missions as a guide to implementing many of these changes.

This project reports on an empirical assessment of college and university mission statements. A sample of 500 mission statements from institutions of higher education (stratified by Carnegie classification) was selected for content analysis and review. This analysis was driven by several basic questions which included the following: 1) How do colleges and universities describe their missions? (2) How do these missions differ by type of institution (using the Carnegie classification)? 3) How do these various institutions describe their outreach and service missions?

The implications of these findings are noted and discussed in light of recent criticisms from state legislators and public concerns with higher education. Implicit in this review is an exploration of the fundamental question of how well the missions of institutions of higher education match public expectations as well as addressing the growing research, and service needs of American society. educational, research, and service needs of American society.