The strategic decision taken on the part of the board of directors to substitute the model of a strictly vocational university for one that emphasises the importance of knowledge.  An institution in which the core academic disciplines – teaching, research and outreach – make up the essence of the university and are devised in a systematical way so that they may work together and maintain channels of exchange.  In this way it is considered that the process of development will benefit the students and the society into which they integrate, a society which this university is a part of.

The ever-growing commitment that the university displays towards the quality of its academic programmes.  This commitment is visible in the recently renewed accreditation of Medicine and Industrial Engineering degrees as well as in the accreditation of a further six degree programmes in the last five years.  This has come as the result of a rigorous process of self–evaluation and an unstinting will to improve at the level of the institution as a whole.

In agreement with the aims and objectives of the Institution, the university has over the last few years made great advances in its organisation and distribution of resources.  It has also made significant progress in the evolution of research projects thanks on the one hand to the schema of research groups and lines of investigation set up by the university; and on the other hand due to the mechanisms created to encourage student participation in these projects.

Recently the university reconsidered the role of the five year Development Plan and decided to integrate it into its long-term strategy.  This with the aim of making it more flexible, able to respond to changes as they arise.  It serves no function as the normative requirement of an institutionalised and regulatory body.

UTP endeavours to establish a relationship with its students such that it transcends its institutional and academic role and takes on a holistic function concerned with the ethical and emotional education of its students.  It seeks to support them in their personal and financial lives and in their overall wellbeing.

The university has chosen to adopt a method geared towards institutional development and better, more efficient use of its current buildings and resources.  A period of sustained growth over the last five years is testimony to this.

The leaders, teachers, students and civil servants display a high degree of loyalty and commitment to the university.  Equally its graduates, their employers and the population of the region as a whole, whatever their profession, recognise the contribution and commitment of the university to the current social situation and to the challenges that lie ahead.

The creation of additional management, training and organisational competencies to facilitate academic tasks, these include: institutional management, financial management, maintenance and development of the physical environment and infrastructure.

The gradual construction of a culture of academic and institutional pedigree backed up by processes of self-evaluation and continued improvement.