The University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB), brings the University of South Carolina's statewide mission of teaching, research, and public service to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. USCB offers baccalaureate degrees that respond to regional needs, draw upon regional strengths, and prepare graduates to contribute successfully to communities locally and around the globe. The curriculum is designed to promote acquisition of knowledge and the intellectual dispositions and skills that encourage depth of understanding, tolerance of others, and individual accountability. 

USCB is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associates, baccalaureate and masters degrees. The college became a two-year regional campus of the University of South Carolina system in 1959 and a full four-year comprehensive university in 2004. In 2018, the university launched Beaufort College Honors with cohorts in Nursing, Biology, and Lowcountry Studies and expanded the Honors program with a Business cohort in 2020. USCB launched its first graduate program in 2019: the M.S. in Computational Science and began offering a second graduate program, the M.Ed. in Literacy, in 2020.