Nassau Hall on Princeton's campus

Mission Statement

Our Mission Statement

Princeton University advances learning through scholarship, research, and teaching of unsurpassed quality, with an emphasis on undergraduate and doctoral education that is distinctive among the world’s great universities, and with a pervasive commitment to serve the nation and the world.

The University’s defining characteristics and aspirations include:

  • a focus on the arts and humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and engineering, with world-class excellence across all of its departments;
  • a commitment to innovation, free inquiry, and the discovery of new knowledge and new ideas, coupled with a commitment to preserve and transmit the intellectual, artistic, and cultural heritage of the past;
  • a faculty of world-class scholars who are engaged with and accessible to students and devoted to the thorough integration of teaching and research;
  • a focus on undergraduate education that is unique for a major research university, with a program of liberal arts that simultaneously prepares students for meaningful lives and careers, broadens their outlooks, and helps form their characters and values;
  • a graduate school that is unusual in its emphasis on doctoral education, while also offering high quality masters programs in selected areas;
  • a human scale that nurtures a strong sense of community, invites high levels of engagement, and fosters personal communication;
  • exceptional student aid programs at the undergraduate and graduate level that ensure Princeton is affordable to all;
  • a commitment to welcome, support, and engage students, faculty, and staff with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, and to encourage all members of the University community to learn from the robust expression of diverse perspectives;
  • a commitment to support and promote the mental and physical well-being of its students, staff, and faculty so that they have a genuine opportunity to thrive and engage fully with the University’s mission of research, teaching, and service;
  • a vibrant and immersive residential experience on a campus with a distinctive sense of place that promotes interaction, reflection, and lifelong attachment;
  • a commitment to prepare students for lives of service, civic engagement, and ethical leadership; and
  • an intensely engaged and generously supportive alumni community.