Page 119 - Self-Study Report for Institutional Accreditation

Introduction
The literature suggests that mission statements serve three critical roles, namely to: (1) communicate the purpose of an organization to its stakeholders;
(2) inform strategy development; and
(3) develop the measurable goals and objectives by which the success or failure of an organisation’s strategies will be accessed. (http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/chapter/4-3-the-roles-of- mission-vision-and-values/ last accessed 4 August, 2018).
The mission statement seeks to articulate to the stakeholders who we are and what we value as an organization; the vision statement, what we want to become; the strategy, how we will achieve our vision; and the goals and objectives, how we gauge our success. The diagram below, taken from Principles of Business (2015), shows the inter-relationship among the mission, vision, strategy and goals and objectives.
Diagram 3.1
Inter-Relationship between Mission, Vision, Strategy and Goals and Objectives
Over the life of The University of the West Indies, there have been several mission statements. Every mission statement, through the years, has been consistent and true to the origins of the University, that is, the development of the intellectual and other competencies of the Caribbean people.
In its Strategic Plan 2007-2012, the vision statement was articulated as:
By 2012, the UWI will be an innovative, internationally competitive,
contemporary university deeply rooted in the Caribbean, committed to
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