USC Columbia Mission Statement

Approved by the Board of Trustees - April 1998

Committed to becoming one of the finest universities in America, USC Columbia is dedicated to nationally recognized excellence in its student population, faculty, academic programs, living and learning environment, technological infrastructure, library resources, research and scholarship, public and private support, and endowment. The University is further resolved to enhance the industrial, economic, and cultural potential of the state so that South Carolina and the University can prosper together. USC Columbia recognizes its historic responsibility to achieve overall excellence and to provide South Carolina's citizens a university as good as any in the nation.

One of the oldest and most comprehensive public universities in the United States, the University of South Carolina Columbia is the major research center of the University and its largest campus, enrolling some 16,500 undergraduate students and more than 8,500 students in graduate and professional programs.

From its location in the state capital, the University offers a range of excellent programs and activities designed to enhance the intellectual, cultural, physical, and social development of its diverse student body. Students can pursue bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees in over 350 major degree programs. USC Columbia's professional programs in law, pharmacy, and medicine, and the magnitude of its graduate programs in areas such as the arts and sciences, international business, public health, social work, and library and information science distinguish it from all other institutions of higher learning in the state of South Carolina. Additional opportunities for personal and career development, including an associate degree program at Fort Jackson, are provided to the citizens of South Carolina through outreach and continuing education activities. USC Columbia offers the most comprehensive array of educational programs in the state and is the only South Carolina institution classified as a Four Year I by the Southern Regional Education Board.

Students at USC Columbia come from various backgrounds, with different career goals and levels of aspiration. The distinctiveness of USC Columbia lies in the conspicuous diversity that nurtures and stimulates students, faculty, and constituents. USC Columbia aspires to national and international stature as it provides equitable access to the full range of its opportunities, resources, and activities.

As a relatively selective institution, USC Columbia seeks to attract inquisitive students who have demonstrated academic ability, who are committed to learning, who are capable of self-discipline, and who wish to benefit from the variety of experiences provided by a major university with students, faculty, and staff drawn from throughout South Carolina, the nation, and the world. The University strives to educate graduates who are capable of excelling in their chosen fields, who are dedicated to learning throughout their lives, and who are responsible citizens in a complex society requiring difficult ethical and value-related decisions. By offering its students reasonable freedom to select from among the many experiences available in liberal arts, the natural sciences, the social sciences, the performing and creative arts, and the professions, USC Columbia encourages students to seek their full potential in the broad array of endeavors associated with our various schools and colleges.

A central mission to the University is to advance knowledge and enrich our cultural heritage. To achieve this mission, the University supports a faculty actively engaged in research in a breadth of disciplines including those listed above.

An important mission of the University is to engage its considerable resources in service to the state and society for the purposes of cultural enrichment, the dissemination of knowledge, and the enhancement of the overall quality of life. USC Columbia's teaching, research, and service programs affect every part of life in South Carolina.