Hunter College is a comprehensive teaching, research and service institution, long committed to excellence and access of undergraduate and graduate students in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as in several professional fields: education, health sciences, nursing and social work.

Founded in 1870, Hunter is one of the oldest public colleges in the country, dedicated from its earliest days to serving a student body which reflects the diversity of New York City. Hunter takes pride in the success it has had over the years in enabling the people of New York to combine the strengths of their varied experiences with the skills they need to participate effectively in the wider society. Committed to the achievement of a pluralistic community, Hunter College offers a curriculum designed to meet the highest academic standards while also fostering understanding among groups from different racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The goal of a Hunter College education is to encourage the fullest possible intellectual and personal growth in each student. While preparation for specific careers is an important objective of many programs, the fundamental aim of the college experience as a whole is to develop a student's rational, critical and creative powers. Such development involves the abilities to conceptualize and analyze, to relate the concrete and particular to the abstract and general, and to think and write logically and coherently. It also includes a broadening and deepening of outlook; an awareness of one's own and other cultures as well as of the enduring questions and answers concerning being, purpose, and value that confront humanity. Finally, the educational experience at Hunter is intended to inspire a zest for learning as well as to bring the recognition that learning is pleasurable and knowledge is useful.

As a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences college, Hunter offers 70 programs leading to a BA or BS degree; 10 BA-MA joint degree programs; and 75 graduate programs.