As a public institution, FGCU eagerly accepts the leadership opportunity and obligation to adapt to these changes and to meet the educational needs of Southwest Florida. The university is dedicated to the highest quality education that develops the whole person for success in life and work. Learner needs, rather than institutional preferences, determine priorities for academic planning, policies, and programs. Acceleration methods and assessment of prior and current learning are used to reduce the time it takes to earn a degree. Quality teaching is demanded, recognized, and rewarded.
Academic freedom is the foundation for the transmission and advancement of knowledge.
The university vigorously protects freedom of inquiry and expression, and categorically expects civility and mutual respect to be practiced in all deliberations. Diversity is a source of renewal and vitality. The university is committed to developing capacities for living together in a democracy whose hallmark is individual, social, cultural, and intellectual diversity. It fosters a climate and models a condition of openness in which students, faculty, and staff engage multiplicity and difference with tolerance and equity. Informed and engaged citizens are essential to the creation of a civil and sustainable society.