Undergraduate Bulletin > University Requirements > General Education Program (GEC)

General Education Program

The UNCG General Education Program, approved by the UNCG Faculty Senate in March 2000, is effective for new undergraduates entering UNCG in Fall 2001 and thereafter. The Speaking Intensive (SI) General Education Marker requirement became effective Fall 2002.

Philosophy of UNCG’s General Education Program

The faculty and staff of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro are dedicated to student learning and believe that the best evidence of this commitment is the caliber of UNCG graduates. A UNCG graduate should combine specialized education in a major with the skills, knowledge, and understanding necessary to be a lifelong learner, an ethical and independent decision maker, a critical and creative thinker, a clear and effective communicator, and a responsible citizen.

The character and abilities of an educated person are the product not solely of a specific battery of courses but of an entire process of education. The mandate to foster the knowledge, character, and sensibility of a university-educated person belongs to the entire university, not to a single department or unit. To the extent possible, learning in the General Education Core should provide foundations and alternative perspectives for the more specialized knowledge gained in the major, while learning in the major should build upon and extend the work that is done in general education courses.

UNCG General Education Mission and Goals

The faculty and staff of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro embrace student learning as its highest priority. Our General Education Program provides students with the foundational knowledge, skills, and values necessary to be critical and creative thinkers, ethical decision-makers, effective communicators, and collaborative and engaged global citizens. The breadth of General Education empowers our students to thrive as lifelong learners who lead personally fulfilling lives. The mandate to foster an educated person belongs to the entire university, not to a single department, unit, or cocurricular program. Thus, the General Education Program provides foundations and alternative perspectives for the more specialized knowledge gained in the major. Likewise, the major builds upon and integrates knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned in General Education courses and the cocurriculum.

Learning Goals

LG1. Foundational Skills: Think critically, communicate effectively, and develop appropriate fundamental skills in quantitative and information literacies. [GRD, WI, SI, GLT, GFA, GPR, GHP, GMT, GNS, GSB, GL, GN]

LG2. The Physical and Natural World: Understand fundamental principles of mathematics and science, and recognize their relevance in the world. [GMT, GNS]

LG3. Knowledge of Human Histories, Cultures, and the Self: Describe, interpret, and evaluate the ideas, events, and expressive traditions that have shaped collective and individual human experience through inquiry and analysis in the diverse disciplines of the humanities, religions, languages, histories, and the arts. [GLT, GFA, GPR, GHP, GSB, GL, GN]

LG4. Knowledge of Social and Human Behavior: Describe and explain findings derived from the application of fundamental principles of empirical scientific inquiry to illuminate and analyze social and human conditions. [GPR, GSB, GL, GN]

LG5. Personal, Civic, and Professional Development: Develop a capacity for active citizenship, ethics, social responsibility, personal growth, and skills for lifelong learning in a global society. In so doing, students will engage in free and open inquiry that fosters mutual respect across multiple cultures and perspectives. [GFA, GPR, GNS, GSB, GL, GN]

To ensure that students attain these Student Learning Goals by graduation, UNCG requires that they complete the General Education Core (GEC) requirements listed in this Bulletin. Other requirements and opportunities in the major program, the minor program (if any), and the total undergraduate experience build on the foundation of the GEC and contribute to the attainment of these goals. Students are thus given the opportunity to work toward each goal not just in one course, but in a series of courses and learning experiences encountered from the freshman through the senior year. Alternative ways to demonstrate competencies will be available to students with documented disabilities.

Approved by Faculty Senate on April 1, 2009; Approved by the General Faculty on April 29, 2009.
Amended by the Faculty Senate on April 7, 2010, pending final approval in September 2010.