Accelerating social mobility for all UIC students
The Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative was launched last fall with goals to increase the six-year graduation rate by 10 percentage points over the next decade and eliminate gaps in enrollment and graduation. This continues UIC’s long-standing trajectory of being intentional about creating and sustaining a student-centered culture across campus. Since opening at Navy Pier as Chicago’s first public university to provide access to postsecondary education closer to home for World War II veterans, many of whom were first generation college students, the UIC has focused on providing access and excellence at-scale.
In the years since the previous Student Success Initiative began in 2012, we have experienced significant growth and progress in broadening access and fostering a culture of continuous improvement centered on student outcomes. From 2014 to 2024, the Office of Project Management for Student Success Initiatives supported faculty and staff in collaboratively implementing numerous projects and practices that transformed our capacity to support students.
Building on this exemplary foundation, the newly established Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative aims to enhance coordination and scale support to better serve all students, improving their time to graduation with cutting-edge learning opportunities and responsive supports throughout their educational journey.
Goal Heading link
Our goal is to improve graduation rates for all students, while eliminating gaps in enrollment, retention, graduation and debt for students from underserved communities.
UIC's Journey of Access and Excellence Heading link
2010
UIC becomes a federally-designated Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) by the U.S. Department of Education; a status given to universities that serve high enrollments of underrepresented and low-income students. That same year, UIC is designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
2012
A transformation in the university’s approach to student success begins with research and planning under a university-wide Student Success Initiative.
2014-2017
UIC implements a wide range of projects under its Student Success Plan, including major investments in advising, curriculum reforms, holistic student supports, and success coaching.
2018-2020
UIC implements its first integrated planning and advising system, begins building an Early Alert intervention system and expands the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.
2020
UIC earns the Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education, with recertification in 2023, demonstrating intentionality and impact in serving Latino students while serving all.
2021
UIC a finalist for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Degree Completion Award.
2022
The University of Illinois System announces the ACCESS 2030 initiative with a goal to increase the number of graduates from underrepresented groups by 50% by the end of the decade.
2023
UIC looks back on over a decade of work that resulted in a 13 percentage point gain in the 4-year graduation rate and 50% growth in the entering class size since the start of the initiative.
2024
Chancellor Miranda elevates student success to UIC’s top strategic priority and launches a university-wide initiative focused on integrating and scaling a comprehensive portfolio
of program elements essential for student success. UIC marks a doubling of the number of degrees awarded to underrepresented students from 2014.
2025
The UIC Aspire program is launched, allowing new UIC students from Illinois with household income below $75,000/year to earn a life-changing 4-year degree 100% tuition free.
Going Forward
Seeking partners to support pilots and scaling of innovative ways to serve all students at-scale.