Mission Statements of Two Different Universities in Two Different Countries
Each higher education institute has its own somehow unique mission statement. I was not aware of those statements before taking the Preparing Future Professoriate course this semester. When we discuss this subject in the class, I wanted to check my current and previous universities’ (Virginia Tech (VT) and Istanbul Technical University (ITU)) statements.
ITU is my previous university which I finished my masters in Turkey, and VT is my current university where I am doing Ph.D. in the U.S. Both of them are big, technical research-based public universities and they are very well-known in their own countries. Due to the similarities and differences between them, I wanted to compare their missions through their statements:
Istanbul Technical University:
“The purpose of existence for the Istanbul Technical University is to expand the borders of knowledge and its applications in science, technology, and art for contributing to the sustainable community.”
Virginia Polytechnic University:
“Our mission is to collaborate with communities, students, and faculty to cultivate sustainable, mutually beneficial partnerships through engaged service, learning, and reflection.”
Since I was not aware of those statements before, I kind of surprised when I first saw the similarities between the two. Their lengths are almost same: one is 30 words while the other is 22. When I read, the first thing I realized is both universities’ statements mention from communities and sustainability. Also, while ITU explains why it exists, VT emphasizes the strategy and plans of the institution. ITU says they are exists for the benefit of the community and its sustainability by increasing the knowledge and its applications, while VT mentions to create partnerships or collaborations between university’s community and other communities. Both universities are research-based, but neither of them used the words “research” and “teaching” in their mission statements. Only VT used the term “students”, while both used “community”.
