ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Excelencia in Education, a national organization focused on helping Hispanic students, has awarded the University of Central Florida with the Seal of Excelencia. 

What You Need To Know

  •  UCF was recently awarded the Seal of Excelencia from Exelencia in Education

  •  The school is one of only 24 nationwide who have received the distinction

  • The Seal of Excelencia is awarded to schools that go above and beyond to serve Hispanic and Latino students

So far, only 24 institutions nationwide received the Seal of Excelencia. Schools earn the seal by demonstrating evidence of effective and intentional institutional practices that serve Hispanic and Latino students; positive momentum for Hispanic and Latino students; and a dedication to transform the institution where Hispanic and Latino students flourish.

“I think all these programs were integral to the success that I’ve had as a Hispanic student," said 22-year-old UCF senior Julian Duque.

Some of the programs UCF invested according to the university include:

  • A Latinx Leadership track within LEAD Scholars, a selective 2-year leadership development program for undergraduate students where they learn about Latinx leadership and principles
  • CREAR Futuros Peer Mentoring Program that pairs freshmen with trained and knowledgeable upperclassmen who introduce them to campus resources and the opportunity to network with local Latino professionals
  • DirectConnect to UCF, a nationally recognized model where students who earn an associate degree from a partnering state college earn automatic admission to UCF. Since its launch in 2006, there has been a 432% increase in degrees earned by Direct Connect Latino students (356 in 2006-07 to 1,313 in 2019-20).
  • Transfer Connect is one of the newest resources. It’s designed to help all transfer students through the process of switching institutions to UCF, and includes bilingual success coaches among the staff. This is one other way UCF intentionally serves Hispanic/Latino students and meet them where they are

“We’ve had conversations about what’s next, how do we keep the momentum going, how do continue to grow, expand, scale the programs that we have for our students, increase bilingual offerings, increase bilingual staff, etc," UCF spokeswoman Cyndia Morales Muñiz said. 

The university retention rate among Hispanic students is about 92% higher than the national average, and the university reports every semester about a quarter of the graduates are Hispanic.

Muñiz said the Seal of Excelencia can result in the university being considered first in terms of funding and grants from nonprofit institutions that partners with Excelencia in Education.