Mission & Purpose

Mission

Thomas Edison State University provides distinctive undergraduate and graduate education for self-directed adults through flexible, high-quality collegiate learning and assessment opportunities.

Purpose

Thomas Edison State University was established by the State of New Jersey and chartered by the New Jersey Board of Higher Education in 1972. The University was founded for the purpose of providing diverse and alternative methods of achieving a collegiate education of the highest quality for mature adults. To this end, the University seeks:

1. To provide curricula and degree opportunities of appropriate level and composition consistent with the aspirations of our students, the public welfare, and the highest qualitative standards of American higher education.
2. To create a system of college-level learning opportunities for adults by organizing collegiate and sponsored non-collegiate instruction into coherent degree strategies.
3. To make available educationally valid learning opportunities which serve as alternatives to college classroom study and which are appropriate to the varied needs and learning styles of adults.
4. To develop and implement processes for the valid and reliable assessment of experiential and extra-collegiate college-level learning, and to provide appropriate academic recognition for knowledge so identified consistent with high standards of quality and rigor.
5. To serve higher education and the public interest as a center of innovation, information, policy formulation and advocacy on behalf of adult learners.
6. To fulfill the public service obligation inherent to American institutions of higher education.
7. To conduct its affairs in a manner which acknowledges the maturity, autonomy, and dignity of its students; assures a portal of access to higher education for adult learners; and celebrates the values, diversity and high qualitative standards of American higher education.