Statewide General Education Requirements
Approved 26 April 2001
Amended 25 March 2004; 23 May 2012
The Board of Regents recognizes that all undergraduate academic credentials should contain a broad-based common educational experience that enhances students’ ability to describe, interpret, and analyze their world. In addition to building awareness of a wide range of material and enriching the academic experience, general education should promote intellectual inquiry through basic content and methodology and contribute to the graduate’s ability to communicate effectively in oral and written English.
General education courses should provide an introduction to a discipline, as in a survey course that covers a wide range of material within a specific discipline or area of inquiry and acquaints students with a broad section of the information or skills available in that area, or an appreciation course that introduces students to a creative field and leads to a general understanding and appreciation of work by others.
Depending on the level of the academic credential awarded, education in composition, mathematics and analytical reasoning, natural sciences, humanities, social/behavioral sciences and fine arts is required as part of undergraduate degree and certificate curricula at state colleges and universities. (See the table of Statewide General Education Requirements.) Specific course offerings may vary from one institution to another as the faculty at each campus designates courses that are to be included in the General Education inventory, but such courses share common characteristics essential to the study of academic disciplines.
- English Composition. Effective written communication skills are essential to prepare students to effectively and intelligently communicate in a variety of contexts.
- Mathematics/Analytical Reasoning. As a cornerstone for the liberal arts, engineering, and sciences, mathematical/analytical reasoning skills are an essential component of all disciplines.
- Natural Sciences. Natural sciences study both life and physical sciences in an approach to understanding the universe by studying objects, phenomena, laws of nature and the physical world.
- Humanities. Humanities offer a broad-based study of cultural traditions and the human condition, including everything from language, literature and religion to history, philosophy and communication.
- Social/Behavioral Sciences. Social and Behavioral Sciences study human behavior and the relationship between individuals and their societies.
- Fine Arts. The Fine Arts provide an opportunity to explore and to value aesthetic creation and form as an essential means of conceiving and expressing the human experience.
In addition to specifics of this policy, all applicable general education requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges shall apply.