Mission Statement

A local university with global outreach

Master Plan Goals

Grounded in its signature cooperative education program, Northeastern today provides unprecedented experiential learning opportunities around the world. The university’s rapidly growing research enterprise is strategically aligned with three national and global imperatives: health, security and sustainability.

Northeastern offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in nine schools and colleges.

It is the purpose of the IMP to provide an organizational framework for creating a physical plant and infrastructure that strengthen and celebrate the University’s mission, as a global, academic research university.

Achieve the Transformation of NU as a Leading Research University

  • An Emphasis on Academic Space
  • Facilitate Interdisciplinary Connections
  • Create State of the Art Research and Learning Facilities

Improve the Student Experience

  • Emphasis on the total student experience
  • Increased Athletic presence and opportunities
  • Expanded and Distributed Student Space

The Physical Campus

  • Plan for Multi-use buildings: An Integrated Campus
  • Vitality at the Core and the Edges
  • Realize Growth Potential Across the Tracks
  • Ensure a Sustainable and Innovative Campus
  • Explore Development Possibilities & Potential Partnerships

Our Urban Context

The University Campus located at the center of many leading educational, and research institutions, as well as diverse residential neighborhoods that include Roxbury, Mission Hill, the Fenway and the South End.

Our Urban Context

Northeastern’s campus is adjacent to the Fenway, Mission Hill, South End and Lower Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston and has a variety of residential, commercial and institutional neighbors. The university and surrounding neighborhoods are connected through the activities of many students and faculty of Northeastern, who contribute greatly to the community.

Northeastern’s Long Range Plan (the “Plan”) to implement its institutional goals advances a new model for excellence in higher education, based on leadership in global experiential education and use-inspired research. The Plan covers four primary areas of focus — education, research, faculty, and the student experience — and is grounded in the Northeastern values of innovation and connection to the world. Projects proposed in this master plan are representative of the physical articulation of those goals – providing cutting-edge research and teaching facilities and enhancing the experience of students at an urban residential campus.

Matthews Arena

Immediately following a 1pm basketball game, Northeastern University facilities staff member Jake Negrotti prepares Matthews Arena for a 7pm hockey game. The arena, constructed in 1910, is the world’s oldest multi-purpose athletic building and houses the world’s oldest artificial ice sheet.

Relationship to Major National and Global Trends

U.S. higher education has entered a period of swift, profound and often disruptive change, to which institutions must respond nimbly to maintain their reputation for excellence. This IMP proposes projects that will advance use-inspired research and teaching focused in the critical fields of health, security and sustainability, responsive to the needs of a national and global population that is aging, facing environmental challenges and the conflicts that arise in a multipolar world. At the same time, the proposed projects allow Northeastern the flexibility to respond to shifts such as the growth of distance learning for both undergraduate and graduate education.