Mission of the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico
(Academic Senate, Certification Number 67, 1989-90)
The Río Piedras Campus, founded in 1903 as the Insular Normal School, is the oldest, and most heterogeneous and complex unit in Puerto Rico’s public system of higher education. By law, the campus must pursue and uphold the general mission of the University as set out in Article 2.b of the University of Puerto Rico Act of January 20, 1966; but within this framework, the Río Piedras Campus, like the other units of the University of Puerto Rico System, is given the greatest possible autonomy, academic freedom, and liberty to pursue research goals. While the Río Piedras Campus is guided by the general mission of the UPR system, it also has a particular mission which emerges from and is based upon the specific historical and cultural circumstances that distinguish it from the other campuses and administrative units. The campus mission holds that the UPR-RP will:
- Foster the integrated education of its students through programs of study, which promote intellectual curiosity, the capacity for critical thinking, constant and ongoing learning, effective communication skills, an appreciation for and cultivation of ethical and aesthetic values, involvement in campus governance, and a sense of social awareness and responsibility.
- Provide graduate education of the highest quality, with research and creative activity as key elements that strengthen undergraduate education; offer postbaccalaureate programs for the education and training of professionals of the highest caliber, persons who will be committed to the ideals and values of Puerto Rican society.
- Provide an undergraduate education of excellence, which offers students a unified vision of knowledge that brings general education and specialization into harmony; foster in students a capacity for independent study and research.
- Develop teaching and research skills; promote participation in the life of the community as well as service to that community; promote respect for the historical and social conditions of Puerto Rico, taking into account its Caribbean and Latin American surroundings yet reaching out into the international community; enrich and strengthen the storehouse of knowledge associated with the consolidation of Puerto Rican nationality, history, language, and culture; and simultaneously foster the growth and dissemination of knowledge at an international level.
- Develop innovative, relevant programs of research, community service, and continuing education which will support and contribute to the academic and professional activity of the campus; contribute to the transformation and continuing progress of Puerto Rican society, to the analysis of its socioeconomic and political problems, to the formulation of solutions to these problems, and to the improvement of quality of life.
Vision of the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico
A university community, with a strong doctoral character and endowed with first-rate resources, dedicated to research, creation, and the dissemination of knowledge; committed to the comprehensive education of students and their lifelong learning; and recognized for the excellence of its contribution to the development and intellectual enrichment of Puerto Rican and Caribbean society.