Commitment I

Equipping Students to Flourish

The Baylor experience is dynamic and distinct. With more than 20,000 students from 100 countries and all 50 states, our community represents a vibrant mosaic of people, ideas, intellects, cultures and aspirations. Baylor’s undergraduate educational experience is nationally recognized for its first-year experience, excellent teaching and quality core curriculum. Baylor’s graduate student population has grown and now represents a quarter of the student population.

Along with acquiring knowledge and skills that prepare them for worldwide leadership and service, Baylor undergraduate students and graduate and professional students grow in character as they acquire the virtues indispensable for learning and for lifelong flourishing. We understand they are on a formational journey – one focused on forming their hearts, minds and souls. Within this holistic approach, Baylor students acquire an education that is both cutting- edge and timeless. It is cutting-edge in its inclusion of advanced technologies, data science and the incorporation of the latest research that informs professional practice. It is timeless in its commitment to an environment in which students learn what it means to lead and serve in an increasingly diverse world from a place of faith, humility, justice and wisdom.

Growth in these and other virtues, as uniquely represented in our Christian faith, serves as the focus of Strategies under our first Commitment, laying a foundation upon which we equip Baylor graduates to inspire and influence the world for good.

Strategies

1. Prioritize character formation, leadership development, spiritual growth and holistic wellbeing throughout the student experience.
   1. Explore new and strengthen existing programs that invite our students into the breadth and depth of a Christian life.
   2. Build upon Baylor’s nationally ranked first-year experience to integrate formative experiences and opportunities in each sequential year that strengthen academic progress as well as the mental, physical and spiritual health of students.
   3. Serve the increasingly diverse needs of student-athletes with the creation of a best-in-class and distinctively Christian, interdisciplinary model for their care and formation.
   4. Develop leadership virtues in our students to equip them to lead for the common good in an increasingly complex world.
2. Develop cutting-edge academic learning opportunities that provide students a competitive advantage in their chosen professions.
   1. Strengthen and grow both undergraduate and graduate student populations in health and engineering-related programs given high market demand and mission alignment.
   2. Prepare students to boldly embrace and maximize the benefits of human-machine teaming, while recognizing that responsibility for moral agency and outcomes are the responsibility of humankind.
   3. Launch a University-wide writing initiative that elevates the importance of written communication and critical thinking and seeks to equip Baylor students with a distinct competitive advantage in their chosen profession.
   4. Increase the quality and quantity of academic co-curricular activities that challenge and deepen learning – studying abroad, research opportunities, discipline-specific mission trips, internships, community-based learning and student employment.
   5. Partner with undergraduate and graduate students, through the Baylor University Career Center, to help them access professional development opportunities that will empower them to transition from academia to the workforce with confidence, recognizing a student’s career is more than just a job, but also provides a significant source of purpose as he or she serves a broader community.
3. Expand access to a Baylor education to a wide range of student populations.
   1. Strengthen existing affordability initiatives such as the Baylor Benefit program and pursue new programs that support students with financial need.
   2. Maintain undergraduate enrollment in a range of 14,500 to 15,500 academically qualified students to preserve the full experience of a Baylor education and achieve net tuition revenue targets that support this experience.
   3. Develop and improve robust systems that actively guide undergraduate students toward graduation in four years.
   4. Grow enrollment in existing graduate professional programs and develop innovative multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary graduate programs.
   5. Explore expanding the visibility of the Baylor brand into growing major urban markets.
   6. Increase the number of international undergraduate and graduate students.
4. Provide holistic support for the University’s growing number of graduate students.
   1. Strengthen programs that support mentoring, spiritual growth and wellbeing.
   2. Address affordability for residential graduate students, including options to provide affordable on-campus meals and housing and competitive stipends.
   3. Provide more explicit student preparation for careers through internships, teaching and research.