Six goals and 21 steps define the university’s role for the 21st century:

GOAL 1: Place Students at the Center

• Students First – adopt a philosophy and key mechanisms that put the priority on students’ needs; develop a real and virtual, university-wide concept of one-stop service.
• Selectivity with Clear Opportunity Pathways – enhance UC’s national rankings and ability to attract the highest-quality students, while maintaining clear pathways for students who seek opportunity.
• UC Anytime/Anyplace – create a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-week learning, living and social environment.

GOAL 2: Grow Our Research Excellence

• Research Excellence – develop research and discovery as core activities that illuminate all we do.
• Interdisciplinary Centers – establish high-profile centers that cross disciplines to best address societal challenges.
• World Class Faculty – recruit, develop and retain the best faculty.

GOAL 3: Achieve Academic Excellence

• Guiding Principles of Academic Programs – integrate UC|21’s core principles into academic programs.
• Liberal Education at the Core – reaffirm liberal education as the core to preparing students as life-long learners.
• Cultural Competence – foster students’ ability to appreciate, investigate and understand a cultural background different from their own.
• Teaching Matters – identify, examine and support “best practices” for the university community to enhance teaching effectiveness and learning.
• National Presence and Recognition – pursue marketing efforts beyond the Cincinnati region that draw attention to the university’s unique assets and help move UC into the top tier of rankings.

GOAL 4: Forge Key Relationships and Partnerships

• Exchange Programs – bolster efforts to encourage intercultural experiences for students, faculty and staff.
• Experiential Learning – become an internationally recognized leader in experiential learning, leveraging our co-op expertise and reputation to an even higher level of excellence in all undergraduate and graduate programs.
• Community Connections – create a “front door” to UC resources for the community and develop meaningful partnerships.
• Experts-in-Residence – strengthen our bonds to the community by inviting faculty, staff and students to work in community organizations and vice versa – inviting community experts to serve within the university.
• Seamless Transitions and Educational Preparation – become a national leader in the reform and revitalization of the PK-16 system by creating seamless transitions from pre-school through college.
• Healthy Cincinnati – work to improve the health of the UC community and surrounding Greater Cincinnati region.

GOAL 5: Establish a Sense of “Place”

• We’re All UC – develop a “UC Community” to unify and create a sense of belonging for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.
• East-West Connections – build programmatic bridges, people-to-people access and incentives for collaborations and joint programs that promote a unified campus.

GOAL 6: Create Opportunity

• Economic Delta Force – strengthen UC as an educator of a skilled, principled workforce, as a catalyst for entrepreneurship and as a partner in economic development.
• Performance-Enhanced Budgeting and Revenue Enhancement – provide incentives for performance with effective accountability and identify alternate ways to generate revenue.