The Citadel

Mission
As a higher education institution, The Citadel’s mission is to educate and develop our students to become principled leaders in all walks of life by instilling the core values of The Citadel in a disciplined and intellectually challenging environment. A unique feature of this environment for the South Carolina Corps of Cadets is the sense of camaraderie produced through teamwork and service to others while following a military lifestyle.

The Citadel strives to produce graduates who have insight into issues, ideas, and values that are of importance to society. It is equally important that Citadel graduates are capable of both critical and creative thinking, have effective communication skills, can apply abstract concepts to concrete situations, and possess the methodological skills needed to gather and analyze information.

Throughout its history, The Citadel’s primary purpose has been to educate undergraduates as members of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets and to prepare them for post-graduate positions of leadership through academic programs of recognized excellence supported by the best features of a military environment. The cadet lifestyle provides a structured environment that supports growth and development of each student’s intellect, discipline, physical fitness, and moral and ethical values. The four pillars which define The Citadel experience for cadets consist of these four developmental dimensions.

A complementary purpose of The Citadel, realized through The Citadel Graduate College, is to provide the citizens of the Lowcountry and the State of South Carolina opportunities for professional development by offering a broad range of educational programs of recognized excellence at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. These programs are designed to accommodate the needs of non-traditional students seeking traditional and demanding academic challenges.