Mission Sucre was originally referred to as "El Plan Extraordinario Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre", shortened as "Misión Sucre". Named after the 18th century independence leader Antonio José de Sucre, Mission Sucre establishes as a strategy the mass education and graduation of university professionals in three years, as opposed to the traditionally mandated five or more years. The mission is thus an attempt to popularize, reform, and expand Venezuelan higher education beyond its traditional role of educating the children of a proportion of Venezuelans that can pay for collateral costs involved while studying in a college or university, due to uneven geographically distributed high education institutes (transportation expenses, housing). The program is thus geared especially towards economically excluded high school students and the poorest and most marginalized segments of society, providing an opportunity for all people desiring a higher education.