Preamble

The University of Houston, located in the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area, is a public urban institution of higher education, chartered by the State of Texas. As a major comprehensive university, UH is committed to four shared values: excellence, integrity, innovativeness, and responsiveness, in accomplishing the traditional triad of teaching, research, and service. These together form the higher purpose and underlie our three-fold mission which is designed to address the challenges of an environment characterized by increasing complexity, diversity, and global interdependence.

Mission

The mission of the University of Houston is to:

Provide a range of educational programs that foster an intellectually and culturally diverse environment that enhances individual growth and development. To prepare a broad community of students (undergraduate, graduate, professional and non-degree seeking) to make lifelong learning commitments that result in personal, social, economic and community contributions to an increasingly globally interdependent world.

Create, discover, disseminate, and preserve knowledge and understanding by engaging in basic and applied research, scholarly and artistic activities that benefit students, scholars, and external constituencies.

Serve as a major resource for local, state, national and global communities by applying scholarly analysis and experience to community problems. Recognize its special responsibility to the Houston metropolitan area by making the knowledge base and other resources of the institution readily accessible to its citizens.
 

Meet the challenges of educating a dynamic mix of nontraditional and traditional students.

Promote excellence within the context of basic and applied research and scholarship.

Identify and respond to the economic, social and cultural challenges affecting the quality of life in Houston, the state of Texas and the world through its education, research, and service.
 

Undergraduate Education
 
Improve the quality of instruction and facilities to enhance undergraduate educational programs in each academic unit.
 
Graduate Education
 
Ensure that the quality of instruction and facilities result in high quality, nationally ranked graduate and professional education programs.
 
Research
 
Improve the quality of research and enhance the level of productivity to qualify for Carnegie Level I stature among higher education institutions.
 
Campus Environment
 
Build an environment that is inclusive, positive, humane, and physically accessible where all participants (students, staff, faculty and visitors) feel welcome.
 
Outreach And Access
 
Increase the dissemination of knowledge and problem solving skills between UH and society. Improve the accessibility of UH resources to society in general and to the Houston community in particular.
 
Enrollment Management
 
Ensure the proper balance of growth, retention, and graduation of a diverse, knowledgeable, and skilled undergraduate, professional and graduate student body.
 
Accountability
 
Recognize the need for accountability at all levels by establishing and maintaining comprehensive and systematic methods of assessment for: educational programs, institutes and centers, human resources, organizational structures, and fiscal integrity.