Minority-Serving Institutions

Minority-serving institutions share a common mission to educate the growing number of racial- and ethnic-minority American students, most often within their own communities. The stated missions of these schools address the issues that form a well-recited litany of the failures that characterize many mainstream institutions in their attempts to educate minorities. Recognizing that mainstream institutions were built for nonminority populations, minority-serving institutions have attempted to structure and organize educational experiences for students within their own social and cultural contexts. These institutions--including historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and Hispanic-serving institutions--have unique histories, purposes, and operating structures. Despite these differences, minority-serving institutions share many common goals in educating underserved populations. These goals make it important to understand the shared visions and missions as they build for the future. This volume serves as a primer on the growing group of minority-serving institutions, with the goal of educating leaders at mainstream institutions, analysts, and those at minority-serving institutions themselves about their distinct purposes and common goals. An increased understanding of minority-serving institutions and their roles in educating underserved populations is important as the nation's demographic profile becomes increasingly diverse. This is the 102nd issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Higher Education.