The development and use of a polytechnic mission statement

Abstract

My interest in institutional mission arose from the decision at Lancashire Polytechnic in 1986 to formulate a Mission
Statement. The Polytechnic was believed to be the first higher education institution in Britain to state its purpose
and alms in this way. A case study of this process - in which I was involved as a member of the small drafting
group - is therefore the core of this dissertation. The Mission Statement as finally approved some fifteen months
later doubtless contains no surprises in its content to anyone familiar with the ethos of the Polytechnic. The real interest lies instead in the motivation for embarking on the process, in the methodology used (particularly the influence of the Director himself) and in the ways in which it was felt the statement would be used. These, then, are the areas which I have tried to explore.