Middle States Self-Study Working Group 1 Standard 1: Mission and Goals The institution’s mission clearly defines its purpose within the context of higher education and indicates who the institution serves and what it intends to accomplish. The institution’s stated goals, consistent with the aspirations and expectations of higher education, clearly specify how the institution will fulfill its mission. The mission and goals are developed and recognized by the institution with the participation of its members and its governing body and are used to develop and shape its programs and practices and to evaluate its effectiveness. Summary of Findings and Conclusions Hostos’ mission, last updated in 2002, clearly defines the College’s purpose, who it serves, and what it intends to accomplish. The goals, activities, and outcomes of Hostos’ new 2011-16 Strategic Plan clearly specify how Hostos will fulfill its mission.1 The mission was created through a participatory process, and the new strategic goals, activities, and outcomes were set with input from all major campus constituencies. The plan includes five-year outcomes as well as annual performance indicators that will shape ongoing evaluation practices. Working Group 1 also noted:
The mission is reasonably well known by faculty, staff, and students. The goals have been well established and are known by many faculty and staff on departmental and divisional levels, but not fully across the college.
The six themes of Hostos’ mission statement are reflected across all key divisional plans and goals. The strength of the link between these themes and divisional plans depends on which aspects of the mission are applicable to the specific divisions.
Hostos’ programs, services, and operations are consistent with the themes of inclusivity, diversity, socioeconomic mobility, and transitional language instruction in the mission. However, the extent to which Hostos’ bilingual, developmental, and ESL offerings address the needs of the community it serves warrants further examination. Hostos will examine the effectiveness of its bilingual, developmental and ESL offerings as a major focus of its new five-year Strategic Plan.
The new strategic planning process produced goals more closely aligned with the college’s mission than the last Strategic Plan. The simultaneous strategic planning and self-study processes allowed those engaged in Middle States to share recommendations for how to strengthen the new plan. Primary recommendations included engaging more of the campus community in goal and activity setting, and creating processes for continued engagement and data analysis/assessment. These processes will include matching goals, initiatives, and outcomes with the thematic areas of the mission.
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Since the formulation of the new college-wide Strategic Plan happened after Working Groups conducted most of their analysis, some of the commentary on the new Strategic Plan reflects additions by the Self-Study Steering Committee toward the end of the Self-Study process.
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