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Section 2.04.01: General Guidelines for Core Curriculum Areas A-E

SUBJECT: General Guidelines for Core Curriculum Areas A-E
SOURCE: Memoranda from Senior Vice Chancellor to Academic Vice Presidents, June 5, 1996; August 22, 1996; October 4, 1996; November 18, 1996; January 15, 1997; November 13, 1997; and October 22, 1999; Memoranda from Deputy/Sr Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, July 2, 2000; May 4, 2001

General Education in the University System of Georgia

From the origins of intellectual study to the present, general education has been a key to a fulfilling life of self-knowledge, self-reflection, critical awareness, and lifelong learning. General education has traditionally focused on oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning and mathematics, studies in culture and society, scientific reasoning, and aesthetic appreciation. Today, general education also assists students in their understanding of technology, information literacy, diversity, and global awareness. In meeting all of these needs, general education provides college students with their best opportunity to experience the breadth of human knowledge and the ways that knowledge in various disciplines is interrelated.

In the University System of Georgia, general education programs consist of a group of courses known as the Core Curriculum as well as other courses and co-curricular experiences specific to each institution. The attainment of general education learning outcomes prepares responsible, reflective citizens who adapt constructively to change. General education programs impart knowledge, values, skills, and behaviors related to critical thinking and logical problem-solving. General education includes opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and experiences that increase intellectual curiosity, providing the basis for advanced study in the variety of fields offered by today's colleges and universities.

Approved by the Council on General Education, October, 2004
Approved by the Chief Academic Officers, December, 2004

These guidelines are intended to ensure quality and consistency with national patterns of excellence and to ensure that transferability does not emerge as an issue between System institutions.

Since the aim of the core curriculum is to provide students with a broad background in general education, neither Core Areas A-E nor specific courses may be designed or required for special groups of students such as those within programs, departments, schools or colleges within universities. All exceptions must be approved by the Council on General Education.

Courses in the core curriculum must be taught at the collegiate level and clearly address general education outcomes for the institution. They should also show consistency with the institutional mission statement and with the System's core curriculum, principles, vision, and guiding principles.

Institutional proposals for the addition of courses to Areas A through E are to be sent to the Council on General Education for approval.

Institutions may not permit the completion of any course to fulfill requirements in more than one core area (A - F) for any student. Where the same course is authorized in more than one core curriculum area, the student completing the course to meet the requirements of one core area must take another course in the second core area to meet the requirements of the second core area.

Courses with pre-requisites may not be required unless the pre-requisite course is also required in the Core in Areas A through E. Exception: First Semester of foreign languages.

For students who take foreign language to meet a degree requirement, courses beyond the first elementary course must fit into the 60-hour limitation for the transfer associate degree or the 120-hour limitation for the baccalaureate degree. If a student starts at the first elementary course level, an institution or major has the option of whether to include the course within the appropriate hour limitation.

Foreign language courses are not to be included under the core area designated for the social sciences but may be included in Area C.

Courses in the core curriculum are not to have primary emphasis on studio, performance, field study, or internship components, or otherwise be applied in nature.

Courses in the core curriculum must not carry a fraction of a semester hour of credit.

Pre-calculus or Calculus courses may be required in Area A for specific programs or institutions with the approval of the Council on General Education. Approval will be based primarily upon institutional or program mission, admission requirements and national patterns for similar programs. Programs approved for pre-calculus or calculus in Area A may specify higher-level mathematics requirements in Area D-II.

Mathematics courses other than College Algebra, Introduction to Mathematical Modeling, Calculus, or Pre-calculus may be included in Area A only with the approval of the Council on General Education.

Institutions or programs requiring an advanced mathematics course in Area A having more than three semester credit hours must show these excess credit hours in Area F, if applicable, or in the general degree requirements.

Institutions or programs requiring an advanced mathematics course in Area D having more than three semester credit hours must show these excess credit hours in Area F or in the general degree requirements.

Further clarification of mathematics and science requirements in Areas A and D:

  • For students majoring in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering technology, architecture, computer science, geology, geography (B.S.), forestry, pharmacy, or physical therapy, pre-calculus will be the required mathematics course in Area A (Essential Skills) at all institutions.

  • Institutions may require pre-calculus in Area A for majors in agricultural science, environmental science, science education and mathematics education. (They must file these requirements with their core proposals.) Effective with students entering in summer 2001, pre-calculus will be required in Area A for majors in secondary science or mathematics education at all institutions.

  • Calculus is required in Area A for all engineering majors and for all programs at Georgia Institute of Technology.

  • All "science" programs approved system-wide for pre-calculus in Area A may specify a higher level math course in Area D.II. (The rest of D.II may not be specified for any particular science).

  • In institutions in which trigonometry serves as an immediate prerequisite for Calculus I, then the completion of trigonometry will be regarded as completion of pre-calculus in Area A. Institutions do not need Council on General Education approval to add such trigonometry courses to Area A, but the course catalog and the institution’s listing of Area A courses on the core curriculum website (http://www.usg.edu/academics/programs/core_curriculum/a-e.html) should indicate that the trigonometry course in Area A meets the pre-calculus requirement.

  • According to the Learning Support Administrative Procedures, students exiting Learning Support need to be prepared for the institution's first core curriculum course in an area. Thus, a student exiting Learning Support mathematics must be prepared to take College Algebra or Introduction to Mathematical Modeling. A student exiting Learning Support does not need to be prepared to take pre-calculus even if this is the first core curriculum course that counts in the student's major.

  • The Council on General Education recommended that the following courses proposed by institutions be rejected as substitutions for algebra or mathematical modeling in Area A; symbolic logic, elementary statistics, and math for liberal arts. (Mathematics courses other than college algebra, mathematical modeling, calculus, or pre-calculus require approval for inclusion in Area A.)

  • Area D requirements for health professions majors (D.II.b):

    • Students in the health professions, including nursing, must fulfill the Area D science requirement with a two-semester laboratory sequence in either physics, chemistry, or biology.

    • The only biology courses that may be used to fulfill this requirement are Introductory Biology (designed for non-science majors) and Principles of Biology (designed for science majors). Human Anatomy and Physiology is not an approved course for Area D of the core curriculum.

    • The Survey of Chemistry sequence (CHEM 1151 and CHEM 1152) has been designed for the Area D health professions track (D.II.b). Health professions majors have the option of taking the Survey of Chemistry sequence or the sequence appropriate for science majors (D.II), but they may not fulfill their D.II.b. requirements with chemistry courses designed for non-science majors under D.I.

    • Non-science majors may use the Survey of Chemistry sequence to fulfill the D.I. science requirement, but it may not be used to fulfill the D.II science requirements for science majors not in the health professions.

In Area D, two courses must be entirely science courses; the third course could be science, mathematics, or technology or an interdisciplinary blend of these three. Technology courses and those in the sciences for Core Area D are to be analytic in nature and have a problem-solving component.

Speech courses may be included in Area C if they include analytical, historical, critical and/or appreciative components. Creative writing and technical communication courses may not be included in Area D.

Courses in the fine arts, social sciences, humanities, and in the institutional options areas of the core should include analytical, historical, critical and/or appreciative realms. These courses should be introductory and broadly focused.

Institutional physical education activity/basic health requirements are not to be placed in Institutional Options. These requirements may be in excess of the maximum number of hours indicated for undergraduate degrees.

Further clarifications in physical education/health requirements:

  • Offerings in physical education/health outside the 120 hour limit (or greater if approved) shall be limited to activity, basic health information, first aid, CPR, and safety courses.

  • Wellness courses in Area B may contain some basic health and physical education components provided that these are not the primary focus.

  • Transferring students taking physical education hours at one institution must not be required to duplicate these hours at the receiving institution.

In addition to physical education activity/basic health courses, an orientation course may be required outside of Areas A through F in excess of the maximum number of hours indicated for undergraduate degrees. Transferring students taking an orientation course at one institution may be required to take an additional orientation course (outside the maximum hours indicated for the undergraduate degree) at the receiving institution.

All institutional categories and appropriate institutional and System literature must reflect the possibility that a student who changes his or her major may have to complete additional hours of coursework beyond those required for completion of the program.

Last Updated: 4/30/2001


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