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CUNY Lifting NY

In the summer of 2021, following nearly 18 months of disruption and innovation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, The City University of New York (CUNY), under the leadership of Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, began preparing for a bigger, better, bolder future.

The University’s objective was clear: by 2030, CUNY will transform into the nation’s foremost student-centered urban University system. By expanding access, accelerating student success, strengthening academic quality and scholarly excellence, focusing on outcomes beyond graduation, engaging our communities, and modernizing across the system, we will amplify our impact as the nation’s greatest higher education engine of equity and upward mobility and advance the well-being of all residents of the City and State of New York.

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Goal #1

Goal #2

Goal #3

Goal #4

Introduction

In the summer of 2021, following nearly 18 months of disruption and innovation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez charged the Office of Academic Affairs with preparing the City University of New York (CUNY) for a bigger, better, bolder future.

The directive was clear: create a strategic plan for CUNY that expands the frontiers of knowledge, accelerates our role as the nation’s greatest educational vehicle for equity and upward mobility, and amplifies the well-being of the citizens of the City and State of New York.

Guided by the Chancellor’s vision, a talented group from across the University explored emerging trends and opportunities affecting public colleges and universities nationwide. The group engaged in a deep review of the strategic plans, self-studies, and notes from more than 70 convening bodies, taskforces, and working groups from across the University. Together, they identified a series of common patterns, shared opportunities, and challenges across our 25 campuses.

From this work, one inescapable conclusion emerged: CUNY is singular in its ability to uplift the trajectory of its students, the City and State of New York, the nation, and the world through life-changing education. The University’s unique combination of access, affordability, academic success, and research and innovation, infused by an unrelenting focus on equity and upward mobility, generates and magnifies transformational outcomes for our constituencies.

Six key thematic areas from our review emerged as focal points:

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Creating a student-centered, equity-driven university

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Catalyzing upward mobility and prosperity

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Nurturing and renewing the academic core

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Designing a convergent research and innovation ecosystem

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Reimagining University finance and infrastructure

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Promoting college differentiation and university integration

The Strategic Roadmap Steering Committee, representing a cross-section of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences from the entire University community, led more than 140 leaders from around CUNY in developing strategic roadmaps for each of these areas over the course of one year. More than 2,000 members of the University community engaged with the committees and provided meaningful input during themed town halls, listening sessions, and engagement opportunities. The discussions were robust, thoughtful, and inspired.

From this community vision, CUNY Lifting New York, our new strategic plan, now emerges.  The plan will shape our future as a modern University consistent with the ideals that created CUNY 175 years ago. We will invest in and support each college’s individual, differentiated institutional identity to collectively meet the diverse needs and interests of students across our region. We will elevate our system to magnify the collective impact of our 25 campuses in ways that exceed the sum of our parts. By leveraging scale economies, developing platforms and incentives for collaboration, and focusing the totality of our resources on serving our students, communities, and an inclusive economy for New York, CUNY will amplify its position as the nation’s premier urban university and a force for equitable social, economic, and civic impact.

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University Mission

The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility and scholarship that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education and united as a system in 1961, CUNY today has 25 colleges spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving 226,000 degree-seeking students, 153,000 continuing education and certificate students, and awarding 55,000 degrees each year to individuals of all ages. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic, and cultural life, and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a public first-rate education to all students, regardless of means or background.

The mission of The City University of New York is embodied in state education law, Article 125, Section 6201, as the finding and intent of the New York State Legislature. Here is the text of the law.

Our Goals

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Goal #1.

Be a National Leader in Providing Access to Higher Education for Diverse Populations of Students.

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Goal #2.

Improve Our Ability to Exceed Predicted Student Outcomes and Eliminate Academic Equity Gaps With Innovative Curriculum and Support for Our World-class Staff and Faculty.

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Goal #3.

Advance Our Community Through Comprehensive Research, Engagement and Services.

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Goal #4.

Modernize the CUNY System

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Executive Summary

This strategic plan sets forth our high-level community vision and goals for the future of the City University of New York to the end of this decade. CUNY will publish detailed action plans each year that identify the concrete steps, metrics, and progress expected to be achieved annually for each goal identified. This multi-layered approach will provide the flexibility, creativity and discipline necessary to meet this exciting, vital period of change for CUNY.

The strategic plans of CUNY’s 25 colleges were part of the process