Mission Statements: A Cross-cultural Comparison
Mission statements tell a lot about an organization regarding its culture and future goals. Definition given in Wikipedia is “a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation.” In the high education context, the service is quite clear – it is education. How is it delivered and what are the most important aspects of an education organization are the specific issues that should be addressed in a mission statement. Mission statements are updated each one to three years (reference). An exploratory study shows that as they are updated, the mission statements seem to be are catching the world trends in higher education, such as becoming a globally recognized institution. Now, let’s take a look at two mission statements from different countries, and see how similar (or different) they are:
Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey (reference)
“METU’s mission is to attain excellence in research, education and public service for society, humanity and nature by nurturing creative and critical thinking, innovation and leadership within a framework of universal values.”
Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT), USA (reference)
“The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.”
METU is a nationally recognized school in Turkey, while MIT is a globally recognized school. This fact comes into play when we look at METU’s mission statement of “attaining excellence” because the excellence will be something that will increase the recognition; while in MIT’s mission statement, “advancing knowledge” implies that MIT’s goal is to maintain its current state, and go with a similar trend.
Another important difference between the mission statements is the main focus. MIT has its focus on education and scholarship that will serve the nation and the world while METU has its concentration on not only education and scholarship, but also public service for society, humanity, and nature. In my opinion, this difference stems from the location of these schools. METU is n a developing country, and for this reason, it aims to contribute to the advancement of the Republic of Turkey. On the other hand, MIT is in the United States, which is one of the most developed countries in the world. Therefore, MIT focuses on not the advancement of the United States, but to serve various needs of the nation.
Shortly, it looks to me like METU has a lot of goals to attain and duties to fulfill, while MIT aims to keep doing what they are already doing with a primary focus on scholarship and relevant research to the world. In the end, the mission statement will always provide us a handful of information about its owner.
February 12, 2020 @ 7:09 am
It is fascinating to find that aspects of education remain similar despite differences in region, international, cultural aspects.
February 13, 2020 @ 3:13 pm
I interpreted the two statements you posted slightly different than what you discuss here. To me “attaining excellence in research” is a similar phrase to advancing knowledge. If your faculty are known for their excellent research it isn’t a far stretch to assume that they are advancing knowledge with that “excellent research”. I agree that MIT directly states how they want to affect the world with their research, METU seems to hint at this with their phrasing of “universal values”. If what they are doing at METU is in a “framework of universal values” than these teachings could be applied around the world. I think these statements are are saying the same thing, but just in slightly different ways. I think the largest difference between these two statements are the connotations behind the words they choose.
February 14, 2020 @ 1:40 pm
I think you have an interesting interpretation of these two mission statements in the context of the needs of the communities that the universities serve. I see METU’s mission as similar to the mission of a land grant university, that seeks to meet the needs of its own community and the world, with the priority on the local and regional community. I wonder if the focus of MIT on scholarship for the world is also related to its prestige throughout the world, as well as its location in a developed country.
February 17, 2020 @ 3:31 am
I think your analysis is very good and you do a great job showing how each mission statement reflects the current “status” of the school and its goals. I find that I like METU’s mission statement though. I think that it really says something about the school to recognize who they are, where they are and that they have goals and desires to keep moving forward. I find MIT’s mission statement to be more at like a 1000 ft level in that they serve the “world” and all of “human kind”. Although this is true and they are very prestigious and and well known, I like the more down to earth and personable style of METU’s mission statement.
February 17, 2020 @ 7:55 pm
Your analysis of the mission statement of the two different universities is very interesting and reflective. I agree with your idea that the focus of MIT is different from METU and obviously, MIT is more likely to remain its current situation whereas METU is still seeking recognition around the world. In addition to that, I would like to mention that MIT is one top university that it doesn’t need to struggle for education resources yet still has the best, whereas I think METU may have fewer educational resources compared with MIT so it needs to keep improving itself to gain more. That is probably another reason why the mission statement of these two universities is different.
February 17, 2020 @ 8:48 pm
Definitely, the wording in each of their mission statements effects the way they come across exponentially. I deciphered the two mission statements, and to me, MIT seems to align itself with the notion of expression to propelling information. As for METU, it is nice that they are easier to understand, and from there, it seems as though they are more approachable in manner than MIT.
February 17, 2020 @ 10:23 pm
It is interesting to consider the relationships universities have with their regional politics and how these affect universities’ missions and priorities. You bring up important points that pertain to contexts of an individual or local institution(s). I think these points often go underrecognized because I know I hardly identify universities outside of institutional categories like private, public, land-grant, and other state-recognized universities or from perspectives different than my home institutions. Your comparison of mission statements highlights how the university is not only thought of by the state but how the state can also be framed by the university based on the university’s roles and responsibilities to the state.