How Are We Doing?

Our heritage, our Christian identity and our potential to influence our state, nation, and world require that we must set our sights high. By 2012, Baylor will become an institution informed, energized, and motivated by a Christian identity that makes a striking difference in the character of our academic life. This difference will be obvious to discerning observers, who will see a university whose students, faculty, and staff serve the world and make it better, yet whose values are not simply the world’s, but reflect the will of God for all creation.

Our objective is to be faithful to the original mission of Baylor to be a Christian university “fully susceptible of enlargement and development to meet the needs of all ages to come.” While rankings in national publications and acknowledgements by outside organizations are certainly desirable, they are not the primary objective of Baylor 2012. With that in mind, the criteria in many national publications can be helpful benchmarks, as they are student friendly and aligned with many of our goals related to student-faculty ratios, graduation and retention rates, average class sizes, and instructional expenditures.

Each year, the academic and administrative units within Baylor University review issues, priorities, and goals related to the imperatives of Baylor 2012. In Fall 2007, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness introduced a mid-point assessment of the 10-year vision, taking stock of progress and answering the question of "How is Baylor doing in achieving the ambitious 2012 goals?" Based on positive responses to that mid-point assessment, the University now publishes an annual report of progress on Baylor 2012.