Higher education must fulfill its essential role in creating the conditions for a healthy state economy, a productive society and a high quality of life for the people of the state. While serving these greater societal needs, the department and the state’s institutions understand that their main purpose is the rigorous instruction of students. The department, working together with the state’s institutions of postsecondary education, seeks a future for Colorado in which its institutions are accountable for continued improvement in the quality, efficiency and results of postsecondary education and are adequately funded to do so.