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A University for the Future

UCF aspires to become the world’s leading public, metropolitan university and a Top 50 public research university, determined to foster success for students of all backgrounds and to produce research and creative works that positively impact lives across our community and across the world.

In Fall 2021, President Alexander Cartwright initiated a comprehensive strategic planning process that seeks to gather input from our campus community and identify long range priorities and goals. UCF’s vision is to become a University for the Future: one that is integrated with its community and the region; emphasizes student access and success; pursues excellence in research and teaching; excels in applied, basic, and interdisciplinary research; is affordable; and operates with transparency.

Input from UCF’s Board of Trustees, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners has begun to coalesce around four interrelated priorities for the next strategic plan:

  1. Student Success: Academic Progression, Academic Achievement, Holistic Development, Launch-to-Career
  2. UCF’s Knowledge Enterprise: Broad engagement in basic and applied research and scholarship: collaborative, interdisciplinary, applied, basic, engaged, and user-inspired research
  3. Impactful Engagement: Strategic and reciprocal partnerships, engagement with local sports and the arts, philanthropy and alumni engagement, brand awareness, reach, and impact
  4. Institutional Innovation: World class facilities, infrastructure and operating systems, organizational culture, employee well-being, sustainability and energy efficiency

These priorities rest on two core and fundamental pursuits: (1) Inclusive Excellence and (2) Innovation in Higher Education. A representation of these emerging themes is presented below.

4 images, from left to right: Student Success & well-being, knowledge enterprise, impactful engagement, institutional innovation