CU-Denver has a particular responsibility in an urban environment to adapt its role in the development, assessment, transmission, and preservation of knowledge to urban needs while maintaining the highest standards of education and scholarship. The urban location is a fertile ground for advancing and disseminating knowledge and CU-Denver's role and mission is a covenant with the people and institutions of the urban community. Its boundaries are flexible and permeable, with knowledge flowing to and from the institution and the community. Its view is global rather than parochial as it seeks to link teaching, research, and service to urban issues and needs of the state, the nation, and the world. Nineteen percent are minority students and six percent are international students.
New freshmen represent only four percent of the student population each term.
The largest group of incoming undergraduate students is composed of transfers from community colleges and other four-year institutions. The majority of degree programs offered can be completed in the evenings and weekends as well as during the day. Services are reviewed frequently and reorganized to provide faster, more convenient access to students. Phone registration, web access for students to their own records information, and the Student Service Center are all examples of efforts undertaken to improve service to students. Interpretation of the statewide and institutional indicator data should take into consideration the urban nature of the campus and the students it serves.