The mission of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, as an institution of higher education, is to provide training and research opportunities leading to graduate degrees in applied linguistics and development of languages.
In fulfilling its mission, GIAL considers the following to be important ingredients:
a) Graduates of GIAL degree programs will have acquired skills to learn another language and culture effectively (possibly through completion of the Certificate program).
b) Graduates of GIAL degree programs will be equipped to participate in development of the minority languages of the world.
c) Graduates of GIAL degree programs will have basic skills necessary to pass on knowledge and skills they have learned at GIAL to others in a cross-cultural environment.
d) Students who complete GIAL graduate programs will have attained a level of professional competence at the graduate level, allowing them to participate actively in scholarly activity and/or professional service in one of more of the following areas – Bible translation, literacy, Scripture engagement, language survey, sociolinguistics, language acquisition, descriptive linguistics and cross-cultural service.