Mission and Vision Statements of Foundation Universities in the Context of University Roles: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Higher education institutions are associated with social transformation throughout the history. In this sense, universities, as the most crucial constituent of higher education system, are known to have three main functions, teaching and training, research, and public interest. Today, it is important for these institutions to have a strategic planning with mission and vision statements in order to declare their reason for being and their future goals due to the competitive educational market. The objective of this study was to conduct a content analysis regarding mission and vision statements of foundation universities in the context of university functions. The study included 72 foundation universities from Turkey. Foundation universities do not have a long history in Turkey and strategic planning is still under development in these institutions. The study data were collected from mission and vision statements published on the official websites of the foundation universities. The results of semantic content analysis demonstrated that foundation universities put greater importance on the teaching and training function in their mission and vision messages compared to research and public interest functions. The results of the present study suggest that foundation universities should improve their strategic planning with well-defined mission and vision statements, and should not ignore the other two main functions in this process.