2.7.3 General Education

Core Requirement:  In each undergraduate degree program, the institution requires the successful completion of a general education component at the collegiate level that (1) is a substantial component of each undergraduate degree, (2) ensures breadth of knowledge, and (3) is based on a coherent rationale. For degree completion in associate programs, the component constitutes a minimum of 15 semester hours or the equivalent; for baccalaureate programs, a minimum of 30 semester hours or the equivalent. These credit hours are to be drawn from and include at least one course from each of the following areas: humanities/fine arts; social/behavioral sciences; and natural science/mathematics. The courses do not narrowly focus on those skills, techniques, and procedures specific to a particular occupation or profession.  If an institution uses a unit other than semester credit hours, it provides an explanation for the equivalency.  The institution also provides a justification if it allows for fewer than the required number of semester credit hours or its equivalent unit of general education courses.

X Compliance
    Partial Compliance
    Non-Compliance

Narrative:

The Core Curriculum provides a common learning experience for all undergraduate students at Georgia State University, [1] and is a substantial component of each undergraduate degree. At 42 hours, it comprises just over one third of the hours required for the vast majority of undergraduate degree programs. (A few majors require 127 hours.) The Core Curriculum includes courses from each of the following required areas: Essential Skills; Institutional Options; Humanities and Fine Arts; Science, Mathematics, and Technology; and Social Science.

Area A: Essential Skills (9 semester hours)
            English Composition (6 semester hours)
            Mathematics Requirement: (3 semester hours)

Area B: Institutional Options (4 semester hours)
 Two 2-semester-hour courses in the areas of critical thinking, speech, comparative
  culture and science.

Area C: Humanities and Fine Arts (6 semester hours)
 Two courses from groups 1, 2, and 3 below. The two courses may not come from the
  same group.
            1. Humanities
            2. Fine Arts
            3. Foreign Language

Area D: Science, Mathematics, and Technology (11 semester hours)
 A two-course laboratory science sequence (8 semester hours) and an additional 3
   semester hour science course.

Area E: Social Science (12 semester hours)
            1. United States Politics and History (6 semester hours)
            2. Global Economics, Global Politics, and World History. (3 semester hours)
            3. Social Science Foundations: Select one course (3 semester hours)
The complete list of courses in each area is set out in the Undergraduate Catalog. [1]

The Core Curriculum’s coherence comes from its focus on Georgia State’s General Education Learning Outcomes.[2]

Goal I. Communication
 • Students communicate effectively using appropriate writing conventions and formats.
 • Students communicate effectively using appropriate oral or signed conventions and
   formats.

Goal II. Collaboration
 • Students participate effectively in collaborative activities.

Goal III. Critical Thinking
 • Students formulate appropriate questions for research.
 • Students effectively collect appropriate evidence.
 • Students appropriately evaluate claims, arguments, evidence, and hypotheses.
 • Students use the results of analysis to appropriately construct new arguments and
  formulate new questions.

Goal IV. Contemporary Issues
 • Students effectively analyze contemporary issues within the context of diverse
  disciplinary perspectives.
 • Students effectively analyze contemporary multicultural, global, and international
  questions.

Goal V. Quantitative Skills
 • Students effectively perform arithmetic operations, as well as reason and draw
  appropriate conclusions from numerical information.
 • Students effectively translate problem situations into symbolic representations and use
  those representations to solve problems.

Goal VI. Technology
 • Students effectively use computers and other technology appropriate to the discipline.

Georgia State’s Core Curriculum meets the requirements for core curricula set by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. [3] Changes to the Core Curriculum are reviewed by the Committee on Academic Programs to ensure coherence. [4]

Supporting Documentation:
  1. Undergraduate Catalog, Section 1410
  2. Undergraduate Catalog, Section 1405
  3. Board of Regents, Core Curriculum Principles and Framework
  4. Georgia State Univeristy Policy for Changes and Additions to the Core Curriculum